It’s planting time! This means spending hours of quality time in the seat of a tractor…going very…veerrrryyyyy slow. So slow, that if we went any slower, we’d be going backwards! There are some definite advantages to having time on your hands that doesn’t require an abundance of attention. It is amazing how the details of your surroundings come into focus…instead of just seeing the forest, you start to see the trees…the branches…the leaves. After hours of watching the pair of kestrels come and go, you see the patterns of their flights, their favorite places to perch, and where their nest is hidden. A doe has left behind shadowy holes as she walked across the rows of plastic, and now she stands guard next to the pond with a new fawn hidden in the grass. Judging by the number of planes going by overhead, it would appear that Summer travel is returning to normal. Gosh, there sure are a lot of Juniper trees growing on Cline Buttes…I wonder how much water would be returned to the rivers if their numbers were managed? A few more rounds with the planter and I should have all the world’s problems solved. Oh look…that beetle has passed us three times… Oh, but for an hour of carefree boredom to ponder the wonders of the imagination.
For those of you who don’t live close enough to see the planting process in person, let me give you a visual. The slow tractor, as mentioned previously, pulls a green vegetable transplanter (picture a low rider chariot that has two seats at the back next to the ground), racks for holding trays of plants, and two yellow tanks up above that hold an anti-shock/water solution that eases the stress of being pulled from the tray and stuck in the ground. We drive through the field straddling a plastic encased raised bed that holds a drip line. A water wheel turns as we travel, poking an evenly spaced hole in the plastic and depositing a dose of liquid right where it is needed. The two fabulous team members that ride the planting chariot place a handful of worm castings and a plant in the hole, cover the roots, and repeat…and repeat…and repeat.
We are fortunate to grow in Central Oregon. There is something special about farming Hemp here. The High Desert volcanic soil provides excellent drainage and allows the roots to stretch and breathe, while the plants thrive with the diurnal effect (the large temperature variant between hot days and cool nights), literally growing several inches in a single day. A relatively minor number of hoards and pestilence. Low humidity combined with a typically dry harvest season creates ideal conditions for producing niche quality flower both in the greenhouses and in open air, without the threat of mold that is common in some regions. Plus, the view from the field is hard to beat!
Thank you to Chloe, Lila, Nolan, and Sykes for riding the planter and getting the job done!
-Pam