Farming isn’t pretty and antiseptic as most have come to believe. It isn’t as simple as we make it seem. We farmers occasionally run into unforeseen difficulties – more often than you’d expect. Of course there are plenty of foreseen difficulties, like storms and insects and weeds and diseases and viruses and frosts and droughts and plagues and geysers and deer and floods and meteorites, which are actually not all that hard to handle. But the unforeseen difficulties are the ones that really put a damper on your day. Yesterday was one of those days of unforeseen difficulties.
The first unforeseen difficulty was self-inflicted; you’d think a self-inflicted difficulty would be foreseen but alas yesterday’s was not. The plan was to dig carrots yesterday morning. We needed carrots for the Monday pick-ups. This year, to make our lives a little bit easier, we developed an approach to carrot digging that utilizes the tractor and an implement we attach to the three-point hitch on the back of the tractor. Of course any job that uses the tractor has to be easier right? We pull the implement through the soil with a couple people standing on it acting as weights. As we pull the implement through the soil we swear and cuss and generally get discouraged since driving a tractor forward while looking backward is a talent that I have yet to master. Having two extra people share in the cussing really helps out.
Anyway, that was our plan yesterday. We started the day working on our vocal cords so as not to strain them during the actual swearing at the situation. The tractor is pretty loud so the swearing has to be louder to be affective. As the crew was limbering up their voices I was attaching the implement to the tractor. I started the tractor to raise the three-point hitch to enable the attachment of said implement. I knew I was running a risk doing this but I thought it was a small risk.
I attached the first of the hitch points (remember, there are three of them) without any problem. I breathed a sigh of relief. I then attached hitch point number two. Again, a quick sigh of relief, but I knew I had to move quickly. As I was attaching the third and final hitch-point my fear was realized; the tractor ran out of fuel.
Note that I did not say “gas” as in “The tractor ran out of gas”. I said fuel. And this is a clue as to why this is trouble, BIG trouble. Running out of gas is an easy fix. Just add more gas, then restart. Running out of fuel – as in diesel fuel – is far more problematic. Diesel engines are special. Actually more like extra-special. Unlike gasoline engines, diesel engines need no spark. Diesel engines work only with compression. As the air/fuel mixture is compressed in the cylinder the mixture ignites and drives the piston down, thus turning the crankshaft causing the process to continue on infinitum – or until you run out of fuel. The only way to stop a diesel engine is to stop providing fuel. Most of the time you do this by stopping the fuel pump. In this instance I did it by eliminating its access to fuel.
To get a diesel engine started after running out of fuel you have to first put fuel in the tank, then bleed the fuel pump and fuel lines. And as you would suspect, anything called bleeding has to be painful and messy. So I set about filling the tank and bleeding the fuel lines. Eventually I got the tractor running before the team got hoarse from their practice cussing (actually I think they went on to other things and I was alone in doing all the cussing). At the beginning of the day I knew I needed fuel – and needed to fix the fuel gauge – but I thought I had enough to attach the implement and drive to the garage. Alas that was not the case.
The second unforeseen difficulty was inside the farm office. I wanted to put a picture on the computer from my phone (who could have foreseen that sentence 10 years ago?) so I attached it to the computer using the appropriate attachment cord and clicked on “My Computer”. I selected the picture from the phone. Clicked on “Move Picture” then waited for the computer to bring up the disk drive where I place the pictures. Nowhere to be found. The cussing resumed as I realized all the important info about the farm was on that hard drive and it was gone. Vanished. Of course the first thing to do when this happens (actually the second after swearing) is to open up the computer to make sure the drive is still inside. Who knows. Maybe it physically walked away, no? Of course not you idiot. It is there. It just can’t be read. Yikes. Not good.
So with my quick thinking and savvy farmer knowledge I did what any farmer would do in this situation: I bled the fuel lines. It worked for the tractor, why not the computer? Low and behold it worked. It was a miracle! The drive reappeared and there was much rejoicing. But I still have yet to back it up.
Anyway, I figured I should pass this story on to all those people out there who use computers. Always, always, always make sure you have plenty of fuel in the tank, and if something doesn’t work, try bleeding the fuel lines first. You just never know.
Important Information! We have scheduled the annual Garlic Planting Gala for Saturday, October 6th. Time TBD. We are trying to decide between a lunch break while planting garlic or a bonfire dinner afterward. Either way it will be fun. Mark your calendars! And please RSVP.
What is on tap this week? I am so glad you asked. We will continue the mad, over-abundance of tomatoes. Maybe even more than last week. We will also have potatoes, tomatilloes, cherry tomatoes, beans, cabbage, onions, garlic, a whole bunch more sweet peppers and maybe a few other odds and ends. Oh, and edamame! What is edamame? It is immature, edible soy beans found frequently at Japanese restaurants. They can be eaten raw or more often boiled for a few minutes in salt water. Don’t eat the shell unless your doctor has advised you to eat a tremendous amount of roughage. Eat them by splitting open the pod and popping the beans into your mouth. Yum!
We have FruitShare this week! A variety pack of delicious, organic fruit!
CheeseShare arrives on Friday.
MeatShare arrives Friday as well.
And for AmphibianShare we will have tree frogs.
Comments, questions, ideas, suggestions, etc. are always welcome.