The last of the trees are in. Granted, it took us a week to re-direct ourselves after the unfortunate incident on the stairs. I was getting ready to hand-dig the remaining 38 holes for the last batch of hazelnut trees. After all, before this year, almost all the trees were hand planted.
After last year, when we planted 36 orchard trees by hand, we bought an auger for the tractor. The auger is awesome. We’ve used it for concrete piers, for tree holes, and we’re having visions of new fencing. When the first batch of trees went in last month, we augured and planted 56 trees in a day. Not bad for two old farts.
But Rick is the guy skilled in tractor work; I can drive it, but I’ve never operated any of the implements. The power-take-off (PTO) on the tractor is at the back—meaning that any and all implements require that you use them with your body regularly turning around to watch your work. Rick does this with grace—he uses the snow blower and the brush hog like a pro—watching, forwards and back, like a ballerina. But this isn’t something I’d expect from someone with four broken ribs.
So I was surprised the other morning when he said we’d finish the planting that day. “But, but…” He shook his head. “I’m not dead—I’ll just be sitting on the tractor…you’re the one doing the actual planting.”
I was not convinced. I made him promise that if it was too painful, he could teach me to use the auger and I’d finish it. That wasn’t necessary. He dug all the holes and I finished putting in the trees. Then he helped me with the watering. I can hardly believe he did it—but we are both really pleased. Me, that the trees are all in. Him, that he could rally and be productive, despite his injuries. Win, win. It was mostly a matter of working deliberately, and carefully. (A good habit, which if we’d used it the week before, could have avoided the injuries in the first place. Sigh.)
Now we’re just waiting until he’s healed enough so that we can return to the concrete work needed for the new shed.
Both of you are tough! Just hearing you say, you were game to dig those last 38 trees by hand…you get full credit just being willing, and Rick, the fact that he did that w/ 4 broken ribs..same thing. Feisty and tough. Bet you both sleep (slept) good after that…or maybe not 😉 Enjoy your updates. You’re making me think maybe I should do more of that on my farm blog. I do enjoy hearing about the day today, happenings on each others acreages. I just got in from feeding 3 of my hives. I splt 2 a week ago, the 3rd one was just not ready. My concern is, if it’s too late into the summer when I split, they won’t have enough time to really get established going into the Fall.
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Generally, you’re safe to split until the end of June. After that, it gets dicey, especially if you hit a dry spell. I’ve actually done it as late as August, but had to sacrifice honey from the other hives to give it a shot for the winter. It worked.
We’re not so tough, but we are overly wed to productivity and schedule. It’s one of the things about starting such an adventure later in life–you know that the heaviest work–establishing the orchards, building, etc, needs to be done while you still can. We live without interior house trim…Rick reminds me that there’s plenty of time in his seventies to do light work, like trim.
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That’s good to know about splitting. I guess I was thinking of that little ditty..”swarm in May, worth a ton of hay, swarm in June, worth a silver spoon, swarm in July, not worth a fly. 🙂
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A definitive example of getting back on the horse after you have fallen off. Good for Rick. –Curt
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I’ll tell him.
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That is wonderful. So much work!
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It does seem sometimes that work is what we are about.
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Congratulations for the trees and your tenacity. Amelia
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