Hoe-down

Today:

• Seeded lettuce, and spring onions (whilst listening to a This American Life episode on Testosterone).
• Hand weeded (via the hoe) the last bed of kohlrabhi we missed yesterday.
• Thinned the radish and the turnip.

Today was all about the hoe. It's a wonderful tool, I have to say. Used properly it replaces an squadron of bent fingers and backs. A tiny arm movement and suddenly you've scraped off the surface of the soil and along with it any flimsy weeds. I also used it to thin the turnip very successfully.

I also have my first real and persistent pain. And wouldn't you know it, it's in my hands. It runs in a band across the top of my palm where my knuckles are. It's more of a stiff feeling, as if my hands haven't been used in a long while. It's generally most painful in the mornings after the bike ride in the cool air and becomes unnoticeable once I've started working. Some of the others complain about this sort of pain too, so I suspect it just comes with the territory.