Day One

Spent my first real working day at the farm today. Lots of weeding the seed trays -- about three hours of that. Time went by real quick, as it was relatively easy work. Just required concentration.

One thing I notice about repetitive tasks in general -- which I noticed today too -- is that they often start out easy because it's really sort of exciting and novel. My thinking for the first 30 minutes was mostly a series of different strategies for weeding. Should I move down the rows using both hands working one row at a time? Or maybe each hand to a row? Top to bottom, or side to side? Or maybe just an anarchy of search and destroy action. (Turns out the anarchy strategy mixed with a rough side-to-side sweeping is most efficient and entertaining for me).

After a while the novelty wears a little thin, I've picked a strategy, and then I start to feel vaguely restless. It's such a familiar feeling -- of wanting to change position, or shift out of what I'm doing because I've figured it out; it's solved. After staying with the restlessness for a bit the whole action eventually becomes rather fluid. Today I started just to think about how each seedling was probably going to be part of a meal for someone. Each time I'd clear a seedling I'd think, "meal", or "dinner". And that's really what it all became after a while. Pick pick pick, dinner. pick pick pick pick, a meal.

Then lunch. Then more weeding and reseeding some of the kohlrabi ("kongo" variety) that failed to germinate, and a few other random tasks like, seeding a few trays of onions, washing vegetables, and stocking the pellet stove in the greenhouse.