Coping to the Heat

Last week was a hot one.  Happily, this week has started on a more tolerable note.  How do we cope with the heat?

• We stay hydrated.  There are electrolyte drink mix packets for everyone to use, and a refrigerator to keep drinks cold.  We encourage everyone to bring a water bottle or drink into the field with them.  Being well rested helps a lot, too.  I also stay strictly sober in the summer, I already ask a lot of my body, I’m not going to ask it to process alcohol, too.
• We watch out for each other and take more breaks.  When it is hot, we take breaks before it becomes unbearable.  Some people are better than others at realizing and/or admitting when they have reached their limit.  Randy and I try to keep an eye on everyone to make sure no one looks like they are getting too hot, but we also encourage people to look out for each other.
• We do the hard work first.  We try to organize the morning so that if there is anything physically demanding, we do it first thing before it gets hot.  We try to finish out the morning with less demanding tasks, like picking cherry tomatoes.
• We finish early.  On days when the heat index hits 100, we are out of the field by 11 am.  That last hour of the morning can be spent in the wash/pack sorting tomatoes, cleaning harvest crates, or weighing and bagging vegetables for the CSA shares, and then work is over for the day.  We never work in the field past noon on hot days.
• We let things go.  Sometimes, when it is hot and we are working shorter hours, taking more breaks, and avoiding more strenuous work, not everything gets done.  Maybe we lose a crop.  But guess what?  We just grow vegetables.  And while I think what we do is important, nothing is worth risking the healthy and safety of ourselves and our workers.

It might sound a little odd, but I’m glad the hot weather is here.  Working through the heat is the hardest thing we do.  And while I have become my acclimated over the years, I still find the heat hard to cope with.   But I’ve always been the type to want to get the hard thing over and done with.   I no longer have to dread the arrival of summer, it’s already here.  The sooner we have to live through it, the sooner it will be over.  And then it will be fall which we can all agree is the best of the four seasons.

Small Shares

• Carrots
• Masquerade Potatoes
• Red Onions
• Juliet plum tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes

Full Shares

• Carrots
• Masquerade Potatoes
• Red Onions
• Juliet plum tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Okra
• Slicing tomatoes