Last fall, Ron, Jo and I worked for days tilling the ground and picking up rocks to get our garlic patch ready. It was quite simply – hard work. Now we have to get ready to plant our pawpaws and elderberries. This time Ron decided we would just clear rows for planting, not the whole section. On Saturday April 23rd Ron and brother Don went out with our trusty BCS tiller to get started. Myself, I was at home waiting for the cable guy to come, and then decided that I was just not feeling the farm that day. It was cold and damp and I really was more interested in baking cookies. Have to keep a ready supply on hand to feed our volunteers. I puttered around the house getting a few things done and was surprised to see Ron home earlier than expected. The ground, full of rocks had proved to be stronger than our tiller. Ron dropped it off at repair shop and came home to get the spare tines we had stashed in the garage. Should make the repair much easier, but it would still be a week or so before we got it back.
Bright and earlier Sunday morning Ron and I were at the local rental store hoping they had one of their large tiller available to rent. Bad news at first. Both had been reserved but if they weren’t picked up by 9 am, they would call us. Less than a hour later we were heading back to pick one up. This thing was at least 4 times the size of ours and it came with its own trailer and hitch. A quick lesson in how to unhook it, run it and we were off. One final warning about making sure we drive it as close to where we plan to use it ringing in our ears.
We stopped by gas station to fill it up and I had a brain storm. We can use our 4 wheeler to haul the tiller from the road down to our field. Of course it wasn’t that simple. Ron used the 4 wheeler to bring our trailer up to the road so we could get the tools and supplies down to the field. Then we unhooked the trailer and went back to the road to get the tiller.
The first row went pretty easy. Ron and Don had already done most of the hard work the day before. But the rocks, my God so many rocks. We hooked the trailer back to the 4 wheeler, lined it with a tarp and brought it along side so we could toss rocks in. It was going to be a long day. But we got a huge boost when Don and his son Jesse showed up to help. Between the four of us, we filled the trailer again and again with rocks, driving each load across the stream to dump onto Ron’s road. He is still working on a name for that. Maybe we should have another contest for that.
The day got later, but we were determined to get the job done. Shortly before 3 pm I called home and left a message for Jo. She would be home from work soon and I wanted her to pop back out to store and grab something for dinner. Ron had another idea. He told me to tell her to come on out and help us finish up. When she called back, I could tell she was not thrilled, but she came. A good little soldier. With her help we were soon finished.
Six rows of ground tilled up and sort of picked free of rocks. Ron promised all of us dinner at Denny’s but we still had to collect all the tools and get them back into the Transit. Then get the tiller hooked back up the to the 4 wheeler and up to the road. Then we all drove to the rental place to drop it off. So sore, tired and hungry. And dirty. Not sure why they actually let us into Denny’s. We ordered and talked and talked. Jesse and Don had so many ideas about what we would do next. Our food came and while our waiter was handing it out, he knocked my burger onto the floor. I couldn’t be mad at him. He felt so bad and I vividly remember my own waitressing days. So we were delayed a bit in getting home. But it was so good to get there. Showers all around and changed into comfy clothes. Collapsed on the couch and called it a day. We all slept well that night. Though the soreness hung around for the next few days.
I almost forgot, Ron arranged to rent a power auger for next weekend. Oh joy.