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Nightshades

The past few weeks on the farm have been increasingly busy, the harvest growing in size as the season progresses. Over the past few weeks, I’ve gained a lot of independence as a crew leader. At the beginning of each harvest I’m handed a list and recommendations on how to proceed with my day in terms of bringing in the harvest efficiently, and on time.

After accruing practice and experience leading harvests, I’ve gained more freedom and responsibility in planning my day and learning about the harvest. Over the past two weeks, I’ve harvested a large variety of crops: lettuce, eggplant, herbs, potatoes, tomatoes, beets…in the heat of the summer, everything is in season and my days are diverse. Instead of spending hours harvesting one item, or hand-weeding on block of a field, I’m darting from one place to the next harvesting every vegetable that I can imagine.

There is a lot of extra stress on the farm because of the drought that continues to plague the area. While I’m not working on irrigation myself, I’ve been hearing about the struggle to set up large pumps and hoses, and the anxiety over low yields and wilting crops. Still, the plants continue to produce, albeit at a slower pace than expected. One of the more notable summer harvests I've participated in is the harvest of eggplant. It thrives in the heat of the summer that we're currently at the pinnacle of. Over the course of just a few hours, my coworkers and I brought in thousands of individual eggplants. It's interesting to begin to understand the characters of different vegetables as the season waxes: the cool-loving brassicas slow down and the "hot crops" are starting to boom.

I’m learning to identify the pretty little flowers of the summer nightshades, and their thick, veined leaves that veil full ripening fruits.


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