Looking ...
Snatching...
Running ...
(Here are a few security camera stills of Nathaniel trying to loot the pumpkin patch. The get-away little red wagon was hidden between the corn rows. Such a sophisticated operation for one toddler ... but even during interrogation he never ratted out his crew).
So much for posting once a week. All season we were a few weeks behind now we are a few months behind. Thanks to everybody for patience and understanding; not a single reader ever complained.
As I remember, this was the first week I worked completely in the dark. The sun was setting as we read bedtime stories to the kids and dusk completely disappeared just as I headed outside. Having babies and toddlers also means having wholesale quantities of batteries so I plugged fresh batteries into the headlamp and went to work.
The headlamp worked well when harvesting some crops but not others. Some crops are harvested by size and shape other crops are harvested by color.
Examples. Sweet corn can easily be harvested in minimal light; just feel for complete tip fill then snap the ear. Tomatoes are harder to pick at night. A fruit that looks perfectly ripe under LED light doesnt look so perfect under natural light. Even so, after harvesting-at-night / grading-during-sunlight a few times, I was able to calibrate my ripe meter.
I enjoyed working during the night. Until I heard the band of coyotes. A pack of hungry coyotes has a certain, say scary, shrill. I still worked at night but only in the South field which is surrounded by a 7' foot fence.
