Mulching for 2005

<p>No more shares to distribute in 2004, but that does not mean that there is no work left at the farm. One of the last field activities as this season ends has direct bearing on the 2005 season. We are mulching the strawberry and garlic fields. Actually, there isn't much mulching left. We are already done with our first strawberry field and yesterday we finished mulching the garlic field. It took 78 straw bales to mulch the entire garlic field. What's left for next week is to mulch the new (and larger) strawberry field, which will be harvested next spring for the first time. The mulch protects the strawberry plants and the recently planted garlic cloves by moderating soil conditions.</p> <p>We used to mulch these fields by hand, a process that used to take days. Not anymore. Well, it still takes a few days, but instead of several workers involved in hard physical labor, it's a job that can be done by a team of only two people. All that thanks to a used bale chopper acquired by Clagett Farm this summer. Mulching now is a quicker and more labor efficient process. Alas, it's also noisier.</p> <p>A few strawberry mulching scenes follow. The photo below shows the mulcher (bale chopper) on the wagon which also carries the bales of straw. Once an area has been covered with enough mulch the tractor pulls the wagon forward to cover the next spot.</p> <p><a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/mulcher_general_view.jpg"><img title="Mulcher_general_view" height="244" alt="Mulcher_general_view" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/images/mulcher_general_view.jpg" width="350" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>A closer view. Carrie is feeding straw into the mulcher while Rob is handling the hose from which the mulch blows.</p> <p><a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/mulching_strawberries_carrie_and_rob.jpg"><img title="Mulching_strawberries_carrie_and_rob" height="254" alt="Mulching_strawberries_carrie_and_rob" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/images/mulching_strawberries_carrie_and_rob.jpg" width="350" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>Carrie getting ready to grab a bale. Notice that the wagon is almost empty. Once there are no bales left, the tractor is driven to one of the barns and loaded with about 40 bales of straw.</p> <p><a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/mulching_carrie.jpg"><img title="Mulching_carrie" height="495" alt="Mulching_carrie" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/images/mulching_carrie.jpg" width="350" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>Rob in action. It was his idea to get the bale chopper. Some of us (this writer included) were skeptical, but he proved us wrong. </p> <p><a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/mulching_rob.jpg"><img title="Mulching_rob" height="262" alt="Mulching_rob" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/images/mulching_rob.jpg" width="350" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p>