July 16, 2002

Well it has gotten a cooler here, thank goodness. We had a little sun damage in the berry crop but yesterday's picking looked really good; nice size and they came off pretty clean. Saturday hubby and his crew had an early start at 2:00 am as the berries come off the vine much easier when it is cool.A couple of the crew got to feeling queasy, so one got off the picker and the rest continued on. I had a crew out picking by hand for fresh market.My hubby had a big day, picked 12,000 pounds of marionberries in 6 hours. He had bought a used larger truck this summer and it was an old Hertz truck. He took the box off the back and built a flat bed. Did a great job welding, had priced having one built but just too expensive so he took time and did it himself. Looks great. The box he took off the back he put in one of the barns and it will be a great place to store dahlia tubers. We hope to commercially raise a few eventually. We have got about 100 varieties now and they make quite a few more each year. So anyway on his way home from the processor on Saturday his bargain truck up and died. He was about 2 miles from home and the neighbor brought him home. Hubby's brother is a mechanic so I see another project coming, might have to wait till winter. That is one thing about farmers, they are sure a resourceful lot. Take care all and hope you get your rain and some cooler temps. Joann