Summer Brain

I have “summer brain”.  It is a condition that afflicts this farmer every July through September.  A sort of mental tunnel vision.  I am sitting down to write the newsletter and my mind is a blank.  The newsletter requires more big picture thinking.  But at this time of the year my mind is clogged with farming minutia.   Part of the problem is that while we are in the middle of the tomato-fueled summer-time hustle and bustle, we also have to prepare and begin planting for fall.

Have you heard of decision fatigue? It is the idea that the quality of the decisions you make tends to decline and to get more impulsive the more decisions you have to make.  If you have a lot of decisions to make, the ones you make in the morning tend to be better than the ones you make in the evening.  The choices you make on a Monday might be better than the choices you make on a Friday.   And as the season wears on, and I get more fatigued, making decisions on the fly becomes a worse and worse idea.

A Plan Today prevents a dumpster fire tomorrow

The remedy for summer brain is good planning and robust systems.  Not very sexy, I know.  Last week I spent several hours shoring up the fall planting plan.   Each planting date is written out with varieties and quantities.  Greenhouse planting is coordinated with field planting, each date for field planting is set and the correct amount of space allotted each crop.  Things that will be direct seeded in the field are likewise assigned a date and planting area.  Every seed that will be planted in the greenhouse or the field is accounted for and orders are placed for seed that needed replenishing.  Now, I wont have to make any more decisions about what to plant and when and where and how much.  Did I mention I have maps?  I have maps, too.  Because making decisions on the fly in July and August can be dangerous.

Engineering my obsolescence

So what about those robust systems?  This is everything we do to take things off of my plate.  I need to be able to step away from the daily grind and have brain space, time, and physical energy to implement The Plan.  Here’s an example: we finally got the farm truck running again.  Now I don’t have to carry all the harvest crates and vegetables and t-posts and everything else around in my truck.  It also means training our crew to do tasks that I normally do.  Like setting up irrigation.  It means posting tasks in the wash/pack so employees can pick a job and get started independently.  We know there will be bumps and hiccups and mistakes, but our systems are getting more robust every year.   And we have a great team of workers right now who can meet the challenge.

Well, I’m feeling more optimistic about the coming months already!  The other strategy for beating “summer brain” is the one I struggle with the most: self care.  I am not good at prioritizing down time or proper rest.  I’ll work on that.

Small Shares

• Potatoes
• summer squash
• Basil
• Juliet tomatoes
• Slicing tomato
• Bell pepper

Full Share

• Potatoes
• Basil
• Summer squash
• Cucumber
• bell pepper
• Paste tomatoes
• cherry tomatoes
• Slicing tomato