At this busy time of year I really appreciate the members of our dedicated, hardworking, and seasoned crew. As the years go by I find my role on the farm changing as I pass along many of the responsibilities that used to be mine. It’s taken time for me to realize that, when properly trained, certain employees are capable of doing things just as well, and in some cases better, than I could. This shift was partially necessitated by the fact that I simply don’t have the strength and stamina I once had, but also by a realization that our crew finds the work much more engaging and rewarding when they are given added responsibility.
I thought I would take a moment to acknowledge some of our standouts.
In the 9 years Antonio has been with us, he has had an unfailingly upbeat attitude and sets a great tone for the rest of the crew. As Foreman, he is responsible for directing harvest and production activities like planting and weeding. He makes sure that bunch size stays consistent, and helps to maintain our quality standards–if something is below par he lets me know about it. When he sees an emerging pest issue in the field he will bring it to my attention—having those extra trained eyes in the field is a big help.
When Aquileo joined us in 2012 he quickly made himself completely indispensable. He is one of those rare employees that needs almost no oversight—he sees what needs to be done and he does it, simple as that. He has taken charge of our packing shed and greenhouse and they have never run more smoothly. He makes sure all of our produce gets washed and into the cooler as quickly as possible. He keeps tabs on all of the item counts so that we don’t run out of anything on our CSA packing line. And he’s in charge of planting and caring for all of the transplants in our greenhouse.
Jonathan showed his aptitude for tractor and irrigation work from the first, and it is now his fourth year with us. In addition to overseeing all of the irrigation tasks, he has also taken on many of the tractor operations that I used to do. He is thorough and cautious and eager to learn new things. In addition to all of the primary tillage (discing, chiseling and ripping), Jonathon has also started to take on a lot of the work with our cultivating tractor which requires a skilled and steady hand.
Faustino is our project man. With his background in construction, all-around competence, and ability to figure out how to do anything new, he’s the one we turn to when we need to put up a new greenhouse, build a fence in the conservation easement, or net an entire acre of blueberries.
Our primary strawberry pickers, Jaime and Esperanza, have been with us longer than anyone, and their daughter Paulina now works for us as well. You have them to thank for the luscious berries in your boxes. They tend the strawberry patch–weeding, trimming runners, fixing drip tape leaks, and cleaning off bad fruit after rains, as well as harvesting strawberries.
I could say more about all of our excellent field crew, who work hard on the farm doing the day to day tasks of planting, weeding, harvesting, and washing produce. Having this capable crew to stay on top of things frees up my time to see after many of the things that had previously slipped through the cracks. I now spend more time scouting our fields to monitor pests and other potential problems. I am better able to keep up with scheduled maintenance on our tractors, trucks, implements and tools. But perhaps the biggest benefit is that instead of being so focused on what is in front of me on a daily basis, I can look ahead and make better plans about the direction we would like our farm to go.
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