Thursday I arrived at my field at dawn. Even though dawn comes a little later this time of year 7:15 am to be exact, it still feels really early to be out and about. But Thursday was not a day to sleep in or slowly drink my coffee as a scroll through facebook. Thursday was the day before this current rain event, a rain event that is predicted to stretch across many days and drop about 3 inches of rain. I along with all the other farmers I know in the Bay area were hustling to harvest everything they possible could.
For me, my focus was dried beans, the heavy rainfall will soak the sun-dried beans resulting in a mushy moldy mess. I’ve been harvesting the various bean varieties off and on for weeks. But I have rarely spent the amount of time I had planned for the bean harvest as the tomatoes have been demanding my attention all season long. So Thursday I turned a blind eye to the ripe tomatoes hanging on the vine and spent every minute picking beans.
I picked a lot of beans, the yields per plant seem higher this year. Unfortunately I did not get all the beans, I simply ran out of time. It is frustrating but as a farmer you have to remind yourself, you can only do so much.