Solstice, an idling engine
Thoughts around the peak of sunlight
Summer solstice brings planting. The crew direct sowed favorites like melons and winter squash, filled beds with fall brassicas, and transplanted lettuce. Today we continue with lettuce and fall chicories. This planting should mark the last of the prepared beds being planted.
Irrigation follows each succession of planting and the roar of gas pumps fade to background noise. We use two pumps to pull water from the ditch to fill drip lines and sprinklers. Near daily I am filling the gas tanks and putting water on something. This happens around all the other interworking’s on the farm and often without anyone else’s knowledge.
Summer heat means certain crops like spring greens and roots have met their inevitable end. Bolted, bitter, and cut through these beds must be turned over and prepared for the next plants. Â
This is where tillage comes in. The old crops are worked into the soil, left to decompose for a couple weeks, then the beds are replanted. It is fierce mechanical work sitting atop smoking hot tractors. Their angry engines abidingly pulling metal through the soil once again. Solstice heat combines with exhaust fumes making this a very loud and hot position, like riding a lumber fire breathing dragon. Â
I love our tractors. They alleviate so much labor from our bodies. But their impact is heavy, their metal greasy, and the shifting requires a firm soft touch. To run them, especially our 1970s John Deere 2010, is to be in relationship. We have been together for years and I have learned how she likes it. How long to warm up on a cool morning, when the appropriate time to shift is, how much throttle to give without blowing the lid, and even the smell when more lubrication is needed.
Vibrating over the farm, doing laps week in week out, a cyclical dance of working ahead of the crew’s planting, weeding, and harvesting. I am grateful every time she starts and more grateful every time the job gets done.Â
Tractoring is a job I was never formally taught but gleaned over many years working in agriculture. The first training was simply as showing me where the clutch was, how to engage the pto, and location of the brakes. During the heat of summer farmers are simply too busy to fully demonstrate the ins and outs. Since then, I have hit, run over, broken, yelled, kicked, and hugged tractors.
Over my seasons at Folks Farm I have become quite comfortable with the lurching behemoths. It has become intuitive how to angle the tools, which tool follows the next, and the inevitable bolt twisting of adjusting an implement.
The tools we pull are old. Disc, chisel plow, cultivator. Recently the PTO shaft of the mower snapped at 2 U joints. When the attendant at the tractor store asked for a serial number I replied, there isn’t one. Rust has dominated the outside of the mower, laying siege to anything resembling a brand or number. The tool has changed into something else, a wilder piece of metal nature is reclaiming.Â
These tractors are mostly reservoirs of oil on wheels. There are no lights telling the operator when impending doom is near. No gauges showing fluid levels. No safety features. Only one of them has power steering. I appreciate these attributes because they have forced skills of yanking metal and replacing parts that newer tractors wouldn’t allow.
We have grown together over the years. I have come to rely heavily on their horsepower and use the tractors weekly. I know deep in my bones that eventually, nature will reclaim this equipment just as she will once again reclaim the land.
The crutch of horsepower is real. There is always another implement to buy, a hopeful silver bullet for a new issue. But while we are here, I remain grateful for their power and will work towards wielding that force for regeneration rather than destruction.Â
Farm News
Thanks to everyone who has been supporting us at the Farm Stand or Larimer County Farmers Markets. We have a big week ahead and plenty to share.
The Farm Stand is now stocked with two options of grassfed beef and bison. In collaboration with Lehi Ranch and High Point Bison we are proud to offer the highest quality meat available. I can’t speak highly enough of these two companies and encourage anyone to give their meat a go!
Farm Stand Hours: 10-6pm Wed-Friday, 10-4pm Saturday and Sunday
Hopefully stocked this week:
Colorado Fruit: Organic Sweet Red Cherries
Greens: Hearts and Souls Salad Mix, gem lettuce heads, romaine, butterheads, kale, chard
Roots: Turnips, green garlic, grilling onions
Veggies: Sugar Snap Peas, garlic scapes
Herbs: Oregano, mint, thyme, sage, parsley, maybe BASIL!
Plant Starts: Flowers, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, hanging baskets, strawberries, herbs, perennials, and more! ALL ANNUAL FLOWERS AND VEGGIES 25% OFF at the Farm Stand
Lehi Ranch, High Point Bison, KREAM Kimchi, Jodar Farms Eggs, Rey Atelier Home Goods, Bread Chic Sourdough, Fox Den Coffee, Owl Tree Farm Worm Compost, Bee Squared Apiaries Honey, Abuelita’s Hot Sauce, Christie Leighton Jewlery