On my second workday, I got up at six sharp thanks to the black kitchen alarm clock. Meditation and even some yoga later, I made oatmeal breakfast for myself, left half of the soaked beans slow-cooking to eat later as lunch, then I ate my oatmeal, drank some Passionfruit Blossom tea, dressed up, and went to the field. I put on a long-sleeved shirt and a hat I'd found in the house; they seemed like good protection for farmer's work.
Out in the field, I met Mario and his brother-in-law, Ramón, also from Chihuahua, México. He said we'd be moving some branches with a tractor and we walked off to put the tractor together. Ramón drove the tractor up to a metal piece shaped like a "U", meant to fit around the tractor shovel. After a little calibration and back-and-forth, Ramón, put the shovel in the "U", and we screwed the pieces tightly together. After a few more additions, the tractor had two long poles in front of it, and a vertical grate in front of th drivers, to hold the branches in a cage-like area. Then we walked off to the branches. Once there, the tractor inserted its poles into the branch pile, and tried to lift as many as it could. The branches often fell to the side, though, or were pulled back by their brambly partners still down in the pile. Picking them up was harder than it first seemed.
Mario and I organized the branches between tractor runs, and threw branches onto the meager piles that the tractor managed to grab by itself. Half a day later, the branch pile was only a pile of dirt, leaves, and a few sticks.
I had beans for lunch - so many that I felt as if I needed about 20 minutes just to let the food sit in my stomach. That and a glass of water were refreshing enough though, and after an hour, I met Mario again in the field.
He then showed me how the drip irrigation system worked, and opened up a little waterway from the acequia to the pond. He tasked me with turning it off at 6 that afternoon.
Then we moved on to another branch pile. These branches were slightly bulkier and much less bramblier, and they made it slightly easier for the tractor to pick-up, and for us to carry around. Half a day later, that pile was also pretty much gone.
That evening I cooked lentils and rice, and added some celery salt and chili to spice it up. It was a delicious meal, and then after closing the waterway from the "acequia", I went to sleep to help my body refresh.
Out in the field, I met Mario and his brother-in-law, Ramón, also from Chihuahua, México. He said we'd be moving some branches with a tractor and we walked off to put the tractor together. Ramón drove the tractor up to a metal piece shaped like a "U", meant to fit around the tractor shovel. After a little calibration and back-and-forth, Ramón, put the shovel in the "U", and we screwed the pieces tightly together. After a few more additions, the tractor had two long poles in front of it, and a vertical grate in front of th drivers, to hold the branches in a cage-like area. Then we walked off to the branches. Once there, the tractor inserted its poles into the branch pile, and tried to lift as many as it could. The branches often fell to the side, though, or were pulled back by their brambly partners still down in the pile. Picking them up was harder than it first seemed.
Mario and I organized the branches between tractor runs, and threw branches onto the meager piles that the tractor managed to grab by itself. Half a day later, the branch pile was only a pile of dirt, leaves, and a few sticks.
I had beans for lunch - so many that I felt as if I needed about 20 minutes just to let the food sit in my stomach. That and a glass of water were refreshing enough though, and after an hour, I met Mario again in the field.
He then showed me how the drip irrigation system worked, and opened up a little waterway from the acequia to the pond. He tasked me with turning it off at 6 that afternoon.
Then we moved on to another branch pile. These branches were slightly bulkier and much less bramblier, and they made it slightly easier for the tractor to pick-up, and for us to carry around. Half a day later, that pile was also pretty much gone.
That evening I cooked lentils and rice, and added some celery salt and chili to spice it up. It was a delicious meal, and then after closing the waterway from the "acequia", I went to sleep to help my body refresh.
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