the artist's eye

Today there were artists amongst our tractor traffic... from some school in Poughkeepsie.  Check out this wonderful pastel work.  The view is looking up from fields Y and Z towards both barns... my room is the first window on the left.  And the right window is our kitchen.  I think she took some liberties with the lavender hues.

This morning I went over fields Y and S with the rototiller, after Dave spread fertilizer.  The reason we didn't do that yesterday was that it was so windy, the powder blows everywhere-- the fine dust that gets in your face & flies away is actually the nitrogen you want to stay right there in the soil.  It was a still morning so we took advantage.

We then transplanted (by hand) 2 beds of celeriac and one bed of bok choi.  The plants had healthy well-formed roots & the soil had good tilth.

In the afternoon we took rocks out of our new field F, and Nick started rototilling it.  But unfortunately the rocks left in the soil soon became a problem with that old rototiller.  They get stuck in the blades & there's a "slip clutch" which ceases up & then starts smelling like burning brake pads.  Nick stopped when it started smoking.  Dave has fears that the tractor has too much power for the implement, and is considering getting a more heavy-duty one that will not break so often & do a more thorough job.

I spent the afternoon mowing around field F.  Unfortunately I ran over a nest of baby bunnies.  One survived... I gently placed him outside of harm's way in hopes that his mother will return.  I told him not to eat our carrots though, in exchange for saving his life.