At 5:40 on Thursday morning, Jenny and I were slowly waking and discussing the next phase of planting season.  We had just made a huge order with Rekkers, a local greenhouse, and were both wondering what kind of manpower would be needed to get the job done.  The kids strolled in around 6 and did their usual dive between the covers as Jenny and I kept working on the details of how we would get those plants in.  Would we use raised beds?  Mulch?  What plants needed to get in the ground first?  How many of our employees would be needed? Between thumps,giggles, tickles and kisses, our planning continued.  Jenny finally commented, "We better get out of this bed before those transplants arrive." 

When Jenny pulled up the blind at 6:45, she suddenly said, "They've already arrived!" 

Stumbling outside, we started unloading 7 carts of transplants from the Rekker's transport, one tray of 1204 plants at a time.  The gravel made the carts unnavigatable, so we were stuck pulling the trays from the carts one by one.  After about twenty minutes of unloading with the very kind Don, who only asked quietly,"Are you guys new to this thing?",  Jenny exclaimed, "Paul, go get some wood!  We can't do this one at a time!" 

I agreed.  I started up the loader and brought down the wood planks. 

Soon we had unloaded all seven carts.  Once Don had roared down the lane, Jenny and I took a deep breath at the sight of the 35,000 plants before us. 

Finally I said, "Go call in every hand we've got."

Today is Monday.  After sixteen hour shifts Thurs,Friday and Saturday, we have five of the carts emptied.  I am setting up the much needed water systems today, and tomorrow we should just about finish the transplants.

The water wheel works great.  With Tim on the tractor, the boys have worked out a system that only increases in efficiency every day.  The tool pokes a hole in the plastic mulch, dumps in water and then the boys place the plant and cover it with soil.  They were boasting that they were planting at almost a one very 3 second rate by the end of Saturday.

(Those boys are amazing.  Cracking jokes in 35C weather, they just keep going and going and going.  They make our team look good. Real good.)

If the weather keeps cooperating, we should be done this stage by Wednesday.  So far, God has been real kind with the weather!

In the meantime, I better head back to the fields.  Carrot seed is being laid down, onions and potatoes are being hand planted, and another team is busy putting those pasture coops together.  It's been a great day.  It's a great adventure.  But the work just never ends....