“Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!” my mother used to say on the first of every month. I had no idea what it meant, still don’t, but I suppose it is to bring good luck. Today is May 1st, and we all could use all the luck we can get. So far, the pandemic here at the farm has really been a matter of inconvenience and not hardship. We like to think of this as hard times, but masks and gloves are an inconvenience. Hardship may lurk in the future…certainly for many small businesses. But here it has meant a lot of inconvenience and additional cost.
We are on the cusp of greenhouse retail season. The staff has done yeoman’s duty getting our system for retail spelled out as well as getting a whole on line platform up and running for curbside sales. This is no small feat, and yours truly had nothing to do with it other than look over a few shoulders and ask a question or two. Protocols for retail are now spelled out on line, and the scheme of how to move people around the greenhouse areas safely is set. We are ready…signage, display. To our regular customers this will be familiar but still different. Regulating traffic will take some discipline on ours and the customers part. The full bore service of years past will look very different this year with social distancing. But it will work out in the end, because humans are adaptable, if not always agreeable.
The stuff in the greenhouse looks really good. That, in a normal year, would be enough. But considering people have had to grow these plants as well as do all the Coronavirus related stuff is impressive. . There is a slightly haggard look to the greenhouse folks which is concerning but understandable. People go home, have dinner, and do online stuff- data entry, zoom meetings with DOL folks, University extension…. It makes for a long day. And the constant onslaught of info from the media and specter of actually contracting the illness and what that will look like is very stressful to all. But these guys are champs and have kept marshalling on and have not folded up in fear. They have immense pride in the product they have produced, and they want to see it through.
In the field…well….it’s always about the weather for farmers, isn’t it? One of this years’ main worries was whether or not the Jamaican Mob would be able to get here to help with planting and harvest. The planets aligned in the last hour. They have arrived, and other than planting some early cole crops and doing some handwork uncovering mulch off the strawberries they have been sequestered in their quarters watching wrestling. We all have our ways to unwind. Wrestling for Jamaicans is like Netflix for the rest of us. They will be out of quarantine in about a week, which will be just about heavy duty planting time. Roy assures me he lost weight over the winter…but I suspect no more so than I did. We have a summer competition regarding weight loss. His dieting restrictions have him drinking lite beer as opposed to Guinness. I don’t have any such discipline to restrict my eating or drinking whatsoever.. and it shows as we compare paunches…
Things wintered well; both strawberries and blueberries are beginning to break dormancy and looks like a good crop if we can bring the crop down the home stretch safely. George is back commuting from Bradford NH and helping getting the early spring tillage done and getting the fields fitted up for planting. No major breakdowns…yet (rabbit, rabbit, rabbit). Ray and Pete have completed the addition of 5 additional greenhouses and are planting them up as quickly as Mike is able to build doors for them.
So far, so good..