It has been a super busy week here at the farm. It was the first week of the season and for the most part went without a hitch. A few people had a few questions but I heard of nobody having any problems. I am glad to hear that. Now on to week two!
The other major event last week was the three day project rebuilding the steering gear on our “newest” tractor – the Ford 4600 built in 1976. The Ford, or as we like to call it the F__d since it is missing the “or”, developed a leek in its steering gear the week prior. The drip was not huge but after much consideration I felt it was important to fix now rather than put it off until the end of the season. The main reason is the F__d is used all year, including plowing snow in the off-season.
One of our members, Scott, volunteered to help rebuild the steering gear. He has experience with wrenches due to the fact he owns a Russian motorcycle. It took us one day to remove the steering gear — it is buried pretty deep on the tractor. One day to rebuild it — we would be able to do it faster next time (hope there isn’t a next time) since we know what we are doing. And one day to reinstall it. Another way it would have been faster is if the rebuild kit I purchased had the right parts. A couple of the o-rings were the wrong size so about two hours of our time was driving around looking for the correct o-rings.
Well we accomplished the task and the tractor is now in service again. Unfortunately during this downtime the weeds have taken over and the workload has increased so there is just a whole bunch of work piled up.
What will we have this week? Lots of the same stuff as last week. Lettuce, bok choi, kale, kohlrabi, some radishes, green onions, some snap peas, some snow peas, summer squash/zucchini and garlic scapes.
What are garlic scapes? For those new to the farm who may not have had garlic scapes in the past, a garlic scape is the top part of the garlic plant. It has the same taste as garlic but far milder. They are delicious and can be used like garlic or simply cooked and eaten. I use them to flavor cream cheese — grind it up in a food processor, throw in some cream cheese and mix it up! There are hundreds of ways to use them. Be creative!
Speaking of garlic scapes, my son Alex was tasked with de-scaping the garlic. It is a repetitive task that can quickly lead to boredom. When I went to check on him he had had enough and was looking for a way out of finishing the job. So he said to me, “We should train the goats to do the de-scaping. They can be our scapegoats.” And now you know the rest of the story…
IceCreamShare, EggShare, FruitShare and CheeseShare are this week.
FlowerShare may start this week. I’ll take a look this morning to see if we have enough blooms.
I think that is all. As always, send in questions, comments, suggestions, scapegoats, etc.