What a couple of weeks this has been. Each day has been run, run, run, with little time for anything but work. I was fortunate enough to have my wife and kids stop by work for lunch the other day. What a treat that was. It was raining, so a little sunshine mid-day sure helps. The puddles were a sure magnet for the kids, how can they all be avoided? At least we finish at 5:00 on Fridays and 3:00 on Saturdays.
There hasn't been a day that I've been home before 9:00. (Friday and Saturday excepted) Not bad so far. There will be more nights that I won't be home until 12:00. It's all part of spring shipping. Our Mexican co-workers are doing great as shippers. Some better than others, but overall it is going great.
There are so many things to watch for:
proper plants/ varieties
proper picture tags and or pre pricing
pot size
plant maturity: older crop or fresh potted
shipped on carts, racks, skids, or wooden racks
We also have our own pot-washing station. Almost all of our product goes through a conveyor system where it is pot-washed and six-packed or pre priced. I will post about that at another time!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Happy Easter
This morning we did our own little Easter egg hunt in the house for our kids. They really enjoyed it, especially the treats inside the eggs. C had them stuffed with assorted treats, like fruit loops, and small cookies. We don't like to over sweeten our kids, so more healthy snacks are implemented.
Later this afternoon, while H2 was sleeping, the rest of us decorated a cake. The directions were a bit tricky to follow, but the finished product had great reviews!
FYI: H1 likes to watch Tree House on TV, and this is one of his better shows. Thus the boat for Easter!!
Picture Comparisons
A visual comparison one month can make.
On the left are pictures from March 9'07, and on the right side from April 8'07. As much tagging as possible is finished, and regular crop maintenance is whats left, besides shipping, of course.
The top left picture is from house 29 looking west, and the top right picture is from the same house from the west looking east.
The bottom two pictures of one gallon vines show a drastic improvement of plant size and maturity. You can also see the new growth in the grasses overhead. The last picture is a nice double white Clematis.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Another Week
Every day of every week is different.
This past week, we started out with a fair amount of shipping. Enough that we could help train the Mexicans how to pull orders. Fortunately they know a minimum amount of English, and we know as much Spanish. We all seem to manage quite well.
Since our weather turned sour late in the week, shipping has halted. We can not ship product that is just starting to send out soft new growth, when temps are below freezing. Most product is pulled from poly houses in the nursery, and were starting to flush new growth. By the time we had our wagons full of orders and into the yard, we had frost damage on more sensitive vines.
We are currently going over the nursery from one end to the other, cleaning off dead leaves, pruning back as needed, spacing, culling for dead pots, weeding and any other crop maintenance we can do right now. As soon as the weather cooperates, we will be into some serious shipping to make up for lost time!
As soon as I can get my camera batteries charged, I will add new pictures for comparison from here to here.
This past week, we started out with a fair amount of shipping. Enough that we could help train the Mexicans how to pull orders. Fortunately they know a minimum amount of English, and we know as much Spanish. We all seem to manage quite well.
Since our weather turned sour late in the week, shipping has halted. We can not ship product that is just starting to send out soft new growth, when temps are below freezing. Most product is pulled from poly houses in the nursery, and were starting to flush new growth. By the time we had our wagons full of orders and into the yard, we had frost damage on more sensitive vines.
We are currently going over the nursery from one end to the other, cleaning off dead leaves, pruning back as needed, spacing, culling for dead pots, weeding and any other crop maintenance we can do right now. As soon as the weather cooperates, we will be into some serious shipping to make up for lost time!
As soon as I can get my camera batteries charged, I will add new pictures for comparison from here to here.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Warm Ups
Last night I called my brother to see if I could borrow his bike trailer. We only had a front mounted child carrier, so we couldn't go biking as a family. He said sure, so first thing this morning H1 and I ran over. Conveniently he lives in a subdivision right behind our house, 3 minutes at H1's speed. He wanted to run. It was a brisk walk for me. H1 liked the short ride back, and was very excited. That was all we used my brothers trailer.
About three hours later, we went shopping. After shopping, we had lunch, followed by a nap for C, H1 and H2. While they were sleeping, I put together our new bike trailer. After everyone was awake and had a snack, we hit the road. I can foresee a lot of bike rides this year!! And great practice for the Lake to Lake.
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