The Precision of Tasks

This past week we were weeding the beans, two varieties, Providers and Edamame, while Cape Cod winds whipped through the fields. They are the kind of winds that send shirts and towels billowing on clothes lines. Wind that makes flags twist and yes, sometimes sends the row cover flying. It was the kind of wind that makes you glad you are outside, watching nature take the long meadow grass in its palm and let out a long breath. It makes the farm look neater somehow, freshly mulched rows, a little crunch of straw as you walk between the beds. This is the kind of weather where everyone looks around and smiles.

Fine-tuned weeding is a welcome, meditative task on these days. As we knelt to pull the grass between the beans, I thought of one of the aspects of farming which has always interested me, the precision of tasks. Weeding, sowing, planting, and even counting while harvesting each crop, the careful measurement that happens on the farm is significant. My favorite tool for such precision is the collinear hoe, which is so called because it allows the person using it to weed parallel to the beds. It is best for weeds that have just begun to grow.  As we carefully pulled weeds from between the roots of the beans, Noah told us that one of the reasons we weed these crops is to prevent fungus from growing and to increase airflow between the plants.  On particularly hot days, the lack of circulation creates an ideal climate for a fungus to grow and the need to create space between the plants becomes even more necessary. Another interesting aspect of the beans that Joanna shared is that the beans are able to fix their own nitrogen.

Virgil also believes in precision, but in the way of careful observation, believing that close attention to nature would allow a farmer to predict the weather patterns. In the Georgics, he provides advice concerning crops, trees and shrubs, livestock, and bees. The work was written in four different books and was completed in c.29 B.C.

You can readily predict impending gales
By shooting stars that blaze their way through the night sky
And leave a white trail printed there.
You’ll see airy chaff and fallen leaves afloat on waves,
Down and feathers fluttering there.

The Georgics of Virgil Book 1,Translated by Peter Fallon.