What a wonderful day we’ve had! Not that that is unusual here, because the days are different and exciting, as I am slowly but surely learning the ropes of the farm…There is so much to learn! And today, finally, after a few days of wild, windy rain, the day dawned bright and clear. By 6:30 we were in the fields (Stephanie the first one there!), and set in right away — although we were happy to see the sun, those lovely lettuce don’t like the heat too well. So we had incentive!

Red Fire and Black Seeded Simpson heads of lettuce were the first to be taken up from the soil, followed swiftly by cilantro, bok choy, komatsuna, chou collard, and hakurei. Each vegetable called for a certain, slightly specific way of harvesting, and the team of four (Stephanie, Ali, Bruno and me) raced against the sun and its rays to get everything out in time! (Racing the sun…a good morning sport, to be sure.)

Hakurei

By 9 am (or maybe 9:15, for the final batches of hakurei) everything was tucked into the shade, at we had a chance to sit for a spot of coffee or tea, refueling, and then go! With reinforcements from the two WWOFers, Kevin and Romain, we got right down to business. In teams we split into smaller groups to tackle the cleaning. Rinsing, dunking, rinsing, spraying wiht a strong jet of water, lightly misting with a gentler spray…And all the while keeping everything in the shade!

And the wonderful thing about a team, is that there is enough of us -and enough energy- to keep the cycle going. As they were cleaned, we laid the wonderful vegetables into the baskets. Counting and recounting bunches of cilantro, weighing them…But the foolproof way ensuring we aren’t missing any is to place them in the baskets themselves. A well laid out number chart, there on the shelves!

The baskets awaiting their homes

And, oh! In the baskets, there were two surprises: sunflower sprouts and bok choy flowers. Edible deliciousnes!  The yellow flowers are great in salad (we had some tonight ourselves!) as are the sprouts… and those make a great snack just on their own too!

Delicious bok choy flowers!

The sunflower sprouts were the last thing to harvest…We approached them from several angles, four of us snipping away at the little sprouts with our scissors. All scales of work, todays harvest! And with the sprouts slipped into the baskets, they were counted one more time, closed up, and loaded into the cars for delivery.

Phew! What a day.

And tomorrow, we get to sleep in. Not until 9 am do we have to be in the fields!

…It was wonderfully exciting to harvest today, and to put the baskets together, completing the circle of growth that we’ve been part of up until now. It is quite something, to be a part of all the stages, from seed to salad. There is a certain new flavour (if you’ll pardon the pun!) in the work now. I can’t wait for tomorrow…and the day after, and the day after that!

Looking forward to the many salads that lie ahead!!