Day 28: Planting

Waking up was hard this morning, as it is getting cooler (in the mornings, its still 100 during the day) and the sun is coming up later, it's starting to feel like hibernation time! Although the hardest part really is just those first moves of getting out of bed, and resisting the temptation to sink down even further in my sleeping bag. Just like when I hose myself off, the hardest part is starting! This morning chores were not average! It was one of those days where all the things that you don't normally have to do, fall on the same day. I had to refill three different feed tubs from the main sources, which take about 45 minutes because I'm bucketing it out of the 1 ton bags into the 45 gallon trashcans on the back of the golf cart. Then I had to go get feeders and waterers for the new chicks that just got here this morning.

The same feeders and water tubs that I put in storage 3 days ago. Two of the chicks that arrived today were dead on delivery and a third was sick so Jim popped it's little head off and through them in the burn barrel which is right by my room. It's just a 50 gallon oil drum that gets filled with debris sticks and random bits of cardboard until it's full and then we burn it. There was a lot of mesquite wood in there though so when we were burning the dead chicks its smelled like mesquite roasted chicken! Yum! Also Jim had just picked up a new 1 ton bag of feed so I help him unload that from the truck, I was just a spotter though:

Today was also the day that all the pigs mud wallows needed refilling! which adds a good 40 minutes on to my watering of everyone! By the time chores were over it was about 9 o'clock, which is a good hour over what it usually takes. Oh, and while I was feeding the chickens in the pasture, I was startled by two fighter jets that was screaming right over head! It was not only startling but it made me realize that when hawks fly over head of the chickens, it probably incites the same reaction out of them that the fighter jets did in me! Granted this isn't a war zone, if it was I wouldn't have just been startled, but essentially those fighter jets are like birds of prey for humans.

Lunch break was a welcome relief, I ate lots of Tina's homemade pickles, Tina encouraged me to just stay inside till the heat of the day passed, she said the planting could wait, but I knew Jim would be out there planting in heat if he were here. He went to Tuscon for some stuff, and then he is working the market tonight. So I was back out there planting in the heat around 2. I was reminded today though of how I'm working in a desert climate, the hot dry winds were cracking my lips, and I couldn't get enough water in me. And then by 7 it started cooling off again! It's so extreme here. Before Jim left for Tuscon he showed me a trick for keeping my tools cool which is to lean them up against something or stick them in the ground if you can. It minimizes the amount of direct sun on them while letting them radiate heat out wards. Where as laying flat on the ground they get maximum solar exposure, can't radiate heat out, and in fact take in even more heat from the ground! His solution was common sense, but I guess not common enough for me to think of it. Perhaps there should be classifications of "common sense" like "desert conditions, common sense" or "arctic conditions, common sense etc.

After lunch I soaked my head and the top part of shirt to try and give my body a break from all the sweat it was generating, the water acted as a sort of artificial sweat that still accomplished evaporation cooling which is one of the purposes of sweat in controlling our body temperature. My plan work for about 30 minutes, then my shirt was dry, and I was sweating again!

The afternoon passed much in the same way as the morning, lot's of planting. Here's a shot of all the stuff Jim and I planted about two weeks ago

Today gave me another glimpse at the toils of a real farmer who plants everything by hand versus massive machinery. I continued to work on planting from 2 till about 4 when Tina came out to the garden and wanted me to help her harvest, we harvested till 5 when I broke off to do chores, this is Cristo's "happy/I want food face"

I came back to the garden at 6 to help Tina keep harvesting we finished about 7, just as it was getting dark.

The sun set and moon lined up tonight, here's a picture, it's not super great quality but it gives you a glimpse of the beauty, your imagination can fill in the rest!

I still had to corral the chickens but that was easy tonight because it was so dark by the time I went out, most of them were in there.

Guy sent me a message today saying he has boarded his bus and is en route to me! He will be on the bus from now until Saturday morning!

My shower was under the stars and moon which was nice and peaceful. Today was about a 14 hour day if you include my quick meal times and even still about 13 hour day if you don't include meal times. I'm just now getting to my dinner and it's 7:45! I'm going to choke down this ground beef and hopefully be asleep by 8, Goodnight!