Lots and lots of rocks, that is.   We are concentrating on getting one row done right away so we can plant our 2017 crop of garlic.   After our efforts earlier this month, Ron spent some time looking for a local farmer with a proper rock picker.  A big one.  He made calls and searched Craigslist.  It was a most frustrating process for him.  Dick, our farmer friend and huge help,  found him a likely prospect.  Ron stopped to talk with guy but just could not get him to agree the to  project.  He used his best schmooze, pulling out all the stops, to no avail.  He just did not want the job.

So it was back to we 3 doing the the work.   Everything was dependent on the weather.  We learned the hard way that screening soil did not work when it was too wet.  The grid clogged up fast and nothing got done.  But too dry and we wasted energy trying to shovel the dirt itself.   Dealing with the actual rocks was hard enough, but when you add trying to dig up the rock hard soil too,  it was a losing proposition.  Not worth the effort.

We made a good dent in our row, getting about 8 feet dug up and sifted.  Then Ron tried again to find a farmer with a rock picker. He had stopped to talk with a couple of guys standing by a promising looking machine.  They gave him the owner’s name and phone and Ron got on the phone.  Again with the schmoozing, telling him all about this crazy project being done by a new local farmer.  Throwing in the military background too.  And again, no dice.  Just did not want the job.  Apparently these rock pickers are not the easiest things to use.  They involve a lot of stopping and emptying out of the collector.  Not just a simply matter and driving back and forth across the field.

So Ron went to Dick, wondering if he had any other ideas.  The next day Dick called back to say he had been over to talk with the farmer,  Mr. L.  They are friends and go out to lunch on a weekly basis.  They looked over the machine and talked, but still he was not interested.  Dick decided he would run over the field again with his rototiller bringing along about half a dozen local teens as rock pickers.

While it looked lovely, it sad to see all of our previous hard work now gone.  We had to start all over again.  But this time we knew what we were doing.

It was the perfect day for working too.  Overcast with a nice breeze.  The first 4 holes were pretty easy.  That was where we had already dug everything up.  Once we got past that part, the going got just a bit harder.

Ron being anxious to get this project done, he talked me into heading out to THF after work last Tuesday.  He thought we could nibble away at the job by working a couple of hours each night.  That did not work out as well as he had hoped.  It was so stinking hot that we barely managed to put in two hours.  Ron was exhausted from the heat and we took the rest of the week off.

Do you see the rocks we are collecting?  I am using a pick to dig out a couple of big ones.  You cannot use a shovel because you hit rock after rock and cannot get any purchase.

On Saturday the plan was to put in a good 3 – 4 hours of work and then head to the NY State Fair.   We were expecting brother-in-law Don to come out too, but not at 6 am start time we had.  Quick set up and we were off to the races.  Bless their hearts,  brothers Don and John arrived about 8 am.

The whole work dynamic changed and we barreled through the next few hours.  Suddenly it was 10 am and Ron was calling it quits.   I could tell John was itching to keep going, but we had plans for the rest of the day.  We need to get him to come out for the rest of the project.  The man is a fiend with a shovel.

In case you were wondering why we are being this crazy; Ron insists that garlic cannot be grown in really rocky soil.  You run the risk of it being misshapen and stunted.  He read this on the internet so it must be true.  I think I need him to find that article for me.  Need to read it myself.