Dawn of a New Journey...

Yes, the title does sound a bit melodramatic, but when you think about it, each new journey has a "sunrise". I feel fortunate to have spent countless sunrises outside, walking through fields of crops. No matter how many times you do this, you find yourself excited at the promise of what all of this will produce farther down the road. Being out here this morning made me realize how many things in life are journeys and they all have the promise of producing way beyond what you might imagine at the dawn of each one. You just have to keep moving forward and help everything grow at a pace that matches what each day brings. Considering how unusual each day the previous month was, this pace can be a bit elusive at times. I know some are probably wondering where this post was going and how it relates to the project. It relates to many things, this project being one of those things. The other things are potential material for another blog somewhere down the road. Being out early on a morning such as this is the perfect time to contemplate it all though.

It's been almost two weeks since the last update and if this were any other year, I would be describing growth of the various crops using terms like "amazing". But this is 2010, and in our area, May came and went without topping the ninety degree mark. That is not the usual scenario most years. We even had greater than normal rainfall with all of the limited sunshine that comes with those condidtions. Needless to say, everything is a little bit behind schedule.

The pictures in this post were taken this morning. It really doesn't capture just how things look early in the morning when the sun has only been up a short time. I get the benefit of this view with a cup of coffee in my hand because it's less than thirty steps out my back door. The angle of light is very low so the plants have a certain "glow" about them that only happens at that time. Later in the day, the light is more directly up above and the leaves appear more solid in color. Later, at sunset, the angle is again low, but usually the light appears to have more shadows than in the morning, and the "glow" is spotty at best. When we would check fields in the morning to assess how they were progressing, if we came across one with no "glow", that was a trigger to actually get out of the truck and look a little closer. I realize you're supposed to get out of the truck anyway, but sometimes you get busy and have to cut corners. When a field full of plants lacks the "glow" early in the morning, it means the leaves are limp and possibly unhealthy. It could mean the field is too dry or there may be pest or disease pressures keeping the plants from being at their best at this time of day. At any rate, if they look awful in the morning, when afternoon hits, it doesn't get better. That's why you get out and have a closer look to see what you need to do and if the situation means shifting priorities for the daily work schedule, that's what would happen. Lucky for the Farmville Reality Project, the scale allows me to stay right on top of this and, so far, everything has the "glow" when I check it each morning.

You may not be able to tell from the picture, but the sweet corn has three different planting dates spaced two weeks apart between each one. The taller ones have been suckered, which means the suckers that grow up from the base of the plant have been removed. This helps keep the water and nutrient flow maximized from the roots up to the main stalk, where the ears are formed. If you let the suckers grow unchecked, the ears on the main stalk might be smaller than they should because too many parts of the plant are competing with a root system that can only do so much. The perfect situation with this level of attention is to get two ears from each plant. I haven't yet counted how many plants are in each of the plantings (I know there are a few of you who think I'm not being truthful right now), I'll just accept however many ears of corn we end up getting out of this. One thing I know, they will all taste great.

Regarding the picture of the row of melons, they look pretty small and they are. However, they are on the brink of really taking off. All we need is a few hot days and me to not forget to keep them watered. Because of the fairly cool weather, their leaves are small. They are at the five to six leaf stage, which means the runners for the vines are beginning to form. It's just that the leaves being small, they are very compact compared to what they should look like. If this week brings us some more normal temperatures, then the next update will show this area covered in vines and maybe even small flowers that will become the melons.

All in all, June is shaping up to be a pretty good month for the Farmville Reality Project. It has been interesting though. Truth be told, probably the single most interesting month in my "too many years to count" life, but in a good way. Somehow, that will make everything I harvest even that much better.