Thursday, May 5, 2016

A Good Pair

This morning I finished planting all the 57 tomato plants that will vine against the two long trellises. I enjoy this task. My small square spade slides into the dirt effortlessly as I press with a booted foot. It's a pleasant feeling to find loose, rich, ready soil. The bed is prepared, there's matted grass at hand to prevent weeds. I sprinkle a bit of organic fertilizer in the hole, gently press soil around the plant, and make it snug. Putting in five or ten tomato plants takes no time at all.

And that's because of Adam. He did all the prep. He worked the pasture soil before me: dig, double dig, incorporate compost (which he'd made all fall/winter), till, erect a massive trellis. I'd like to think he enjoys all that back-breaking work as much as I enjoy sprouting greenhouse seeds and transplanting them into the beds ... but I don't know that he does. He wants to be done with all the initial breaking of this sod in the next 2-3 years. It's hard work.

Still, I think we're a good pair. He strolled around the garden area with me this morning and several times said how happy, how proud he felt. "Proud of what?" I asked. "Proud of the garden? Me? Yourself?" "Of you," he replied. How sweet and encouraging that was! I didn't know how much (if at all) I would really assist him in this farming enterprise, but I've discovered I enjoy it a lot. He went to the grocery store this morning and when he returned I'd put in two hills of cucumbers, four hills of beans, two of cantaloupe, and two of zucchini. The last five tomato plants. Three squash. And he said, "This is starting to look like something!"
The greenhouse is mighty empty these days.
My still-in-pots tomatoes sit out during the day and go back in at night.

Clearly, what we have is a farm.

Farm: noun.  An area of land and its buildings used for growing crops and rearing animals typically under the control of one owner or manager.

However, we're not yet farming.

Farm: verb. To make one's living by growing crops or keeping livestock.

My brother and sister-in-law are farmers. And it's Adam's goal eventually to do just that -- to live off of what we do here. It may take many years. So as we learn and progress, at some point we'll look at each other and say, "Hey, I think we're farmers now." And we would have done it together, he with his skills and I with mine. It's so pleasant that they complement each other.


6 comments:

  1. You both deserve to be proud of what you have achieved. I never doubted that this year would show great progress in your farming enterprise.

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  2. You all are a great team! It must feel wonderful to look around and see the results of the work you have both put into your farm. Hope your garden does well this year.

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  3. I can hear the happiness you feel through your words. Your farm is coming along great and I enjoy reading about it. : )

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  4. It's a great gift to be able to work together on your farm, and to enjoy it. Your reward is already coming to you, even if you aren't fully farming yet. I pray this new and satisfying phase of your life together goes on and on and on....

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  5. I love it that you are working together, encouraging each other. THAT IS GREAT! Your love for each other and for life will grow ever stronger.

    Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

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  6. Toiling side-by-side in the good soil! You are much kinder to your tomatoes than I am to mine. I put two greenhouse tomatoes in containers on my balcony and left them over night. They've survived and flourished for two days, but I'll have to watch the night time temps. It's early for planting outside in Minnesota. Luckily, I can just drag them inside if I need to. I'm proud of you two!

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Welcome to the farm! Please let me hear from you ~