the deserts of germany

pictured: the land of sand // alex with his hoe in the grass

apparently, we're experiencing the hottest week of the year, here in old eastern germany. and i'd say that seems like it could be pretty accurate - cause it's damn hot. in fact, it seems a lot like a desert.

the soil, isn't what i'd call soil. it's sand, or dirt - if you are lucky enough to strike such gold. and wild plants, well they look pretty dry - the grasses and plants sway with the wind because they have no succulent leaves or flowers to hold them back.

so, when we were told to do some planting, i couldn't help but feel sorry for those poor little plants - who looked so happy and moist in their potting soil homes. but, it was a job that was necessary if there were to be a harvest in the fall. beets, basil, dill, kohlrabi, broccoli, onions and some other, unknown plants, were on the list. thankfully, they all got a good drink of water soon after their transplanting. they have no idea what's coming their way.

pictured: the beets - living the good life // alex showing a beet his new home

as the sun got just a little bit warmer, it was time for us to return to the previous day's wedding extravaganza. i guess there's one good thing about farming in such a desert of a farm - and that is that not nearly as many weeds are able to grow - at least compared to the other farms we visited. but, there were still enough to make you hate 'em. lamb's quarter and grass were the most common - with the latter being the most irritating to destroy - especially when it has intelligently grown very close (if not intertwined) to the cultivated crop's root.

with sweat coming off us by the bucket loads, we crawled and scooted around on our knees, butts, and sides (changing position is really the only way to prevent post-weed pain). and for the 4th time in 2 months alex and i decided that we should build a weed scooter - a stool, chair thing that you can relieve some of your body weight onto while picking million of weeds in a farm setting. that would be really nice. we still have yet to build it.

(fyi - when i first arrived here and said the farm was small scale - i hadn't yet discovered the much larger field down the road. it's by no means a huge operation - but it's probably the biggest we've been on - farm wise.)