And so it begins.

[Snowshoe]

Snowshoe, once I worked on a tomato harvester for two days, filling in. It was very, very educational and worthy of its own post sometime. I think everyone should do such work at least once to gain a better appreciation for where our food comes from. It is not impossible that our grandchildren will have to - industrial, mechanized ag may gradually disappear once diesel fuel costs, say, $4.00/liter and petroleum-derived fertilizers see similar cost increases.

What tomato varieties are you growing?

Yep. I work in the garden, I worked on the farm, I can clean out a whole barn of horse stalls (or I could) but the OH assures me riding the contraption they used at the tree nursery for weeding would kill my back. He's a strong guy and marvels at the part time summer staff who do that job. Not just young students but middle aged women, only a very few men. And he's wondered often how many of the younger ones have skin cancer now from exposing briefly clad backs to the sun for so long. Some of the weeding things had no shade covers.

Tomatoes, I have Grape in planters at the front. I will buy them from now on, not as sweet as cherry but all the tag said was grape, no variety given. Same for my Roma's in back, no variety name on them. The eating tomatoes were supposed to be Early Girl and Glamour but The Glamour are awfully big and a bit bland tasting. They shouldn't be, they were good the last time I had them. I wonder if their tags were mixed up and I got beefsteak. The ones I really like are Heartland but my neighbour has retired his little nursery business and no one near me has them. Maybe I should buy seed and try starting my own, we have talked about a small greenhouse.

[windycanyon]

Agriculture is a tough life no matter what the crop. "Make hay while the sun shines" applies to more than just cutting the hay. Which farmers here are getting their third cut of; again, despite the drought. OH worked in a provincial tree nursery and ran the shipping barn in spring. For three weeks I wouldn't see him except for part of one day of the weekend as I worked shifts, long days and early days.

I also grow a bit of grass/ alfalfa hay in my field and will easily get a 4th cutting this year because 1st cutting was clear back in lt April!!! We have irrigation water thru Oct 20 this year so that'll be nice (last year we had a deficit year, so only 3 small cuttings).

[Mr Kleb]

Yep. I work in the garden, I worked on the farm, I can clean out a whole barn of horse stalls (or I could) but the OH assures me riding the contraption they used at the tree nursery for weeding would kill my back. He's a strong guy and marvels at the part time summer staff who do that job. Not just young students but middle aged women, only a very few men. And he's wondered often how many of the younger ones have skin cancer now from exposing briefly clad backs to the sun for so long. Some of the weeding things had no shade covers.

Tomatoes, I have Grape in planters at the front. I will buy them from now on, not as sweet as cherry but all the tag said was grape, no variety given. Same for my Roma's in back, no variety name on them. The eating tomatoes were supposed to be Early Girl and Glamour but The Glamour are awfully big and a bit bland tasting. They shouldn't be, they were good the last time I had them. I wonder if their tags were mixed up and I got beefsteak. The ones I really like are Heartland but my neighbour has retired his little nursery business and no one near me has them. Maybe I should buy seed and try starting my own, we have talked about a small greenhouse.

I'm unfamiliar with the Heartland variety, are they a Roma or larger size? We, er Faye, start(s) ours inside under lights and use a heating mat to warm the soil mixture. We have fence panels to make a 4' x 10' kennel and Faye found a plan to transform such a kennel into a greenhouse, which we are taking about doing.

[Snowshoe]

Heartland are a medium sized eating tomato, a hybrid according to my neighbour. His were very vigorous and sturdy. I just googled them and found conflicting information but it does seem other people would like to find them and even the seeds are hard to come by.

[Mr Kleb]

Snowshoe, thank you, good to learn. We grew our favourite variety, the Chocolate Cherry, and are experimenting with a roma-sized one called the Long Keeper. Can't give an evaluation yet.

[Bamps]

Night shift isn't bad if all in the house is on the same schedule and no kids. Otherwise, It sips sand and blows chunks!!

[Kleb]

Night shift isn't bad if all in the house is on the same schedule and no kids. Otherwise, It sips sand and blows chunks!!

It works for us. I unwind for just over an hour, read a book, maybe do a load of laundry. By the time I hear Andrew stirring, I'm ready to go to bed. Last year I stayed up until Andrew got up and headed to work. Not a good plan, I couldn't really do anything in the morning and slept too late to accomplish much in the afternoon before work.
We've finally figured out a way to keep the bedroom dark enough during the day so I can sleep, but easy enough to remove to get fresh air in during the night. Styrofoam panels cut to the window size and pushed into place. Also, helps to keep the heat down a bit during the hot spells here. Eventually I want to cover them with fabric so they look "prettier!"

[Snowshoe]

It works for us. I unwind for just over an hour, read a book, maybe do a load of laundry. By the time I hear Andrew stirring, I'm ready to go to bed. Last year I stayed up until Andrew got up and headed to work. Not a good plan, I couldn't really do anything in the morning and slept too late to accomplish much in the afternoon before work.
We've finally figured out a way to keep the bedroom dark enough during the day so I can sleep, but easy enough to remove to get fresh air in during the night. Styrofoam panels cut to the window size and pushed into place. Also, helps to keep the heat down a bit during the hot spells here. Eventually I want to cover them with fabric so they look "prettier!"

I have read that for southerners working in the far north the never ending day in summer is far harder on them than the long nights in winter. Because it's hard to darken windows and sleep when they are used to being up and alert in that kind of lighting back home. Fatigue causes accidents and apparently it's a serious concern.

[Mr Kleb]

I have read that for southerners working in the far north the never ending day in summer is far harder on them than the long nights in winter. Because it's hard to darken windows and sleep when they are used to being up and alert in that kind of lighting back home. Fatigue causes accidents and apparently it's a serious concern.

I remember being astounded during my first visit to Canada, around the Civic Holiday weekend, that it was still quite light well after 9PM. Back in Texas it was dark by 9.