hilling potatoes

Wednesday afternoon the sky turned grey. I heard an occasional roll of distant thunder.

After transplanting a decent amount of eggplants and putting row cover over some peas, I believe, Devin and I turned our attention to hilling potatoes. "This is real farmwork now," he said. It was definitely the most intense physical work I've done in a while - more so than any kind of exercise.

First Devin went down between the rows of potatoes with the rototiller, to loosen the soil. Then, with our hoes, we pulled the soil up and around the potato plants - sometimes covering them completely. The higher the hill you make around a potato plant, the more potatoes you get.

At one point I looked ahead, realized how far I had to go just down the row, and that there were twenty-some more rows to go, and felt a little overwhelmed. But Devin said you can't do that - can't look ahead or behind. You have to keep focused on where you are at the moment.

I came home Wednesday afternoon totally invigorated, totally sure of why I'm doing this. Devin's enthusiasm and drive are are really inspiring. And I think I'm also getting a clearer picture of what I want kind of work I want to do and what I want to pursue and why.

An hour after I left, the rain came.