I remember the first time I hurt my back. It was an early June morning. I was loading a truckload of melon plants. While pulling trays two at a time from nursery shelves I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I had to take the rest of the day off. Driving to work the next day, I winced with pain every time I shifted gears. My back has never been the same since.
This was in 2015, and I have been dancing around the same injury since. Over the years I have managed to keep myself in one piece around the farm by practicing the protocol I will share below. The below advice is great for maintaining but I am now realizing that, to have an active life outside of work, my strategy will need to shift and move to actual strengthening.
Warm-up
Moving those melons and the damage incurred that day was simply because I hadn’t warmed up, was moving quick, and jerked the small muscles of my back. This was a different time in life marked by waking up 30 minutes before work, making a large cup of black espresso from a stovetop pot, smoking at least one cigarette on the drive, arriving before sunrise, and not leaving till the sunset was setting.
Now my day starts much earlier giving my body, and mind, time to wake up. I usually do some simple stretches in the morning like twisting side to side and swinging my arms. Walking, usually while getting a plan ready for the day, also helps get the body moving before starting physical tasks.
Pay Attention to the Body
Once the day is started, I am constantly thinking about my body position, and the bodies of my crew, making sure we are working ergonomically. This means tables are at the right height to avoid bending and boxes are moved up or on wheels to avoid excessive physical stress. I look for moments when lifting is happening and avoid any twisting. Lifting is done intentionally, engaging the legs and butt, to not strain the back.
As many of our farmers are just starting their careers in agriculture this all takes training and constant reminding. Part of my job is as an educator and mindfulness around movement is a crucial skill one must learn in this business.
Core and Butt
This may seem counter intuitive as we are moving, lifting, and using our bodies all day you would think it counts as a workout. This is somewhat true, but I have found targeted exercise to be crucial in maintaining the body.
When my back is getting sore, I know it is time to focus on my core. Having engaged abs makes the job of bending possible, offering support to the spine. Sit ups, planks, and leg lifts are a few examples of exercises that have become crucial to in agricultural longevity. To really take the training to the next level I have added weight to these exercises and started to build rather than maintain muscle.
Farmer booty is a real thing. We spend our days doing squat after squat pulling crops from the ground and getting them to your plate. Butt work is important a reliably helps carry the burden of the farm. That being said, I avoid dead lifts due to high injury risk instead opting for squats and lunges.
Tools
When considering tool investments, I am thinking about how this will help our team more comfortably grow food (avoiding short, handled tools at all costs). The more work we can do standing, the more efficient and easier on the body. Along these same lines I always ask our crew at the end of each season what was the most painful part of the process for them and put investments towards making that job easier. This past season weeding carrots came up more than once so we will be building a more efficient flame weeder to handle early flushes of annual weeds and avoid hand weeding.
Luckily ergonomically focused purchases overlap with streamlining efficiency, consistency, and make our overall process better. One example is the bed lifter we use to loosen root crops from the soil. Instead of costly laboring over digging forks we can use the tractor to dig carrots. The crew follows behind pulling the roots from the ground to be bunched or bulked. This not only saves physical energy but speeds up harvest.
I highly recommend people take the extra care required if getting into physical careers. Injuries suck, take time away, and erode mental capacity. I used to put the plants first at all costs, throwing my body at tasks and making it work, but have realized this will only get you so far. Farming is tough for many reasons, don’t let yourself be one of them.
Farm News
It has been extremely dry and windy on the Front Range, putting early plantings of field crops on hold. I am really hoping for another good spring snow here as our garlic starts to sprout under its blanket of straw mulch. Luckily, we have a strong snowpack which makes me hopeful for consistent irrigation water come May.
On a more exciting note Folks Farm has decided to attend the Lafayette Farmers Market this season! We had been considering adding a Sunday market to our line-up and when we saw this one starting we jumped on the opportunity. The couple who run the market, Peter and Margo, have absolutely revitalized the City Park Market in Denver putting farmers first. We are looking forward to meeting a new community of customers and entrepreneurs in this expansion. Also, you can use your CSA cards at our market locations so if you live in the Lafayette/Boulder/Denver area we are here for you!