Field Clearing...

The CSA and farmers market have come to a close and the major work of clearing the field begins. 

Last week one of our CSA members came over to help with clearing the tomato area.  All the Velcro ties had to be removed before we could cut the trellis strings and pull the vines out.  This year we invested in metal poles to create a vineyard of tomatoes which really made a huge difference in yield and picking.  Only one problem is that it is back breaking work trying to pull 6ft metal poles out of the ground and we had about 100 to remove!  That is if you don't have a Michael in your life.

Michael with his invention!

We did start trying to pull them out with a wiggle back and forth and then a lot of grunting but the soil was holding on and it was going to take a month of Sundays to do, Michael thought he had seen a post puller but after a few phone calls thought it was a figment of his imagination. Well lucky for us he does have the imagination as he created his own one in 10 minutes with a bolt, two pieces of 4 x 2's and a heavy metal pole.  With the placement of the  bolt in the pole and the correct leverage it made lifting the poles out of the field easy work. 

Within a week we have cleared all of the field bar the brassica bed, as we still have crops growing there.  We are in the middle of processing several crops for our larder and the other root vegetables we are storing in our basement.

May & Lily have been watching the field clear up in great anticipation of getting out on the field to work.  The girls will start discing this weekend. We are not sure how we are going to spread manure yet as we are still looking for a horse drawn spreader, fingers crossed Michael might have another one of those great ideas!