Chris with Bean (Patterdale) and Pearl (Russell).Chris and I dug on two groundhogs and located four.
The first sette was a rock-and-root fortress which we gave up on after finding we could not get the bar in more than three inches despite 45 minutes of banging with shovel and posthole digger. The locator box said the dog was still four feet down, and it was pretty clear we were not going to get there before night fall. We moved off, and in time Mountain came out.
The good news was that the next two settes were conventional dirt and were easy enough to dig on. Chris' young Patterdale, Bean, is as slim as beer can and did wonderful work baying up a small groundhog that was very aggressive despite it size. Bean is a chocolate patterdale from Jeff Rowe's kennel in Tennessee, and I like her quite a lot.
Pearl found the second groundhog of the day. This was the same groundhog that Mountain had located in the large Sycamore trunk last week, but this time it was found on the dirt side of the ditch. Pearl came away from this dig (Mountain at the back door preventing a bolt) with nothing more than small scrape on the her front paw. The groundhog did not fair as well, and was dispatched per the request of the land owner who is trying to rid the creek bed of these burrowing varmints.
Mountain found a fourth groundhog as we were walking back to the truck, but Chris and I both decided to call it a day as it was 93-degrees in the shade, and we had not been digging in the shade.
Of course, Mountain had a different idea.
In the end, Chris and I walked back to the truck for something cold to drink and to put up the other two dogs. Surely Mountain would follow on. But of course she didn't, and so I walked back and found her where I had left her, silent now as she tried to dig on to the groundhog.
I walked back to the truck and Chris and I drove down to the sette with the tools, but just as we were unloading Mountain showed up.
Chris was very happy to see Mountain above ground, and so was I, as neither of us were too anxious to do more digging, even if this one was sure to be shallow.
Did I mention it was 93 degrees in the shade? True!!
All's well that ends well, and we sealed the day with a soft ice cream at the local country store. Hard to beat soft ice cream any time, but especially after a hot day in the field.
The first sette was a rock-and-root fortress which we gave up on after finding we could not get the bar in more than three inches despite 45 minutes of banging with shovel and posthole digger. The locator box said the dog was still four feet down, and it was pretty clear we were not going to get there before night fall. We moved off, and in time Mountain came out.
The good news was that the next two settes were conventional dirt and were easy enough to dig on. Chris' young Patterdale, Bean, is as slim as beer can and did wonderful work baying up a small groundhog that was very aggressive despite it size. Bean is a chocolate patterdale from Jeff Rowe's kennel in Tennessee, and I like her quite a lot.
Pearl found the second groundhog of the day. This was the same groundhog that Mountain had located in the large Sycamore trunk last week, but this time it was found on the dirt side of the ditch. Pearl came away from this dig (Mountain at the back door preventing a bolt) with nothing more than small scrape on the her front paw. The groundhog did not fair as well, and was dispatched per the request of the land owner who is trying to rid the creek bed of these burrowing varmints.
Mountain found a fourth groundhog as we were walking back to the truck, but Chris and I both decided to call it a day as it was 93-degrees in the shade, and we had not been digging in the shade.
Of course, Mountain had a different idea.
In the end, Chris and I walked back to the truck for something cold to drink and to put up the other two dogs. Surely Mountain would follow on. But of course she didn't, and so I walked back and found her where I had left her, silent now as she tried to dig on to the groundhog.
I walked back to the truck and Chris and I drove down to the sette with the tools, but just as we were unloading Mountain showed up.
Chris was very happy to see Mountain above ground, and so was I, as neither of us were too anxious to do more digging, even if this one was sure to be shallow.
Did I mention it was 93 degrees in the shade? True!!
All's well that ends well, and we sealed the day with a soft ice cream at the local country store. Hard to beat soft ice cream any time, but especially after a hot day in the field.
.
6 comments:
I checked out Jeff Rowe's website and on the "field work" page there appears to be a jack russel with it's leg completely broken/chewed off. OMG. Please tell me I'm wrong. How could this even happen on a dig?
Not sure what you're talking about, but in any case you are mistaken. If it's the shot at top, it's just a funny perspective of a dog's leg photographed close to straight on. The leg is fine. The dog is wearing a deben locator that has been taped up in red plastic tape for waterproofing, and the terriers has been ragging a dead groundhog. Not quite what you think it is, but it's not quite as tough as it first appears, I assure you. That dog had a blast and was probably in the next hole and working in the field the next day too.
P.
Whiner! ;-)
Doesn't matter what the temperature is in either the sun or the shade -- when the crop comes in, I have to harvest it.
We won't even go into how many years I've harvested the garlic (my primary crop) in 105 degrees (Southeastern PA -- our heat and humidity is just as bad in the 21st century as it was in the 18th [see the movie 1776!])
Agriculture -- it's an addiction!
Dorene
Yes, I'm a wus. I admit it :)
Of course, you're only pulling garlic. Consider that when I dig on the dogs I'm walking for 4-7 hours with 50 pounds of tools on my back, and digging at the "rest" stops. I run 4.3 miles a day and lift weights too (all before 8:00 am) and the dogs are a lot more tiring than that.
P.
The only folks who get to "pull" their garlic are
1) The big farms that can afford equipment to run over the garlic ahead of time and slice the roots under teh bulb (which, if you fall-planted garlic like you should have [anyone that spring-plants their garlic gets what they deserve] means that the garlic's roots go at least 6 feet down and if your stock and soil are decent, the roots should be 10 feet down or more).
2) Those who have been farming organically for 15 years or more in the same location and have built up so much organic matter in their soil that it really does look like chocolate cake and the plants pull right out of it just as easily.
The rest of us have to dig out each garlic plant by hand, using a really solid digging fork (I use a Spear & Jackson, hand forged steel, ash handle -- pricey, pricey, but worth every penny and it should last my lifetime), being very careful not to spear the bulb by mistake.
Then, you have to pull the soil off that lovely network of roots (some varieties are easier than others -- BELARUS is a lovely garlic for the Northeast, but it has a "crown" of roots that holds the soil next to the bulb better than any other variety. It's one of my top picks for the Northeast, but it's a bear to clean in the field.) -- if you aren't "lucky" enough to have such a network of roots in clay-based soil such that you lifted a square foot of soil when you dug out the plant.
The whole plant has to be dried down, but not in the sun (garlic, unlike onions, gets sunburned and ruined if dried in the sun), so you have to put the plant with others of its variety in a bucket and then hide the bucket in a bush (raspberries and antique roses are good for this) so that the sun doesn't touch the bulbs, until you have harvested everything that's ready that day (preferably, 5 green leaves per plant) and all the buckets get to go home so the plants can be placed on a rack with the fan on them for the next 4 weeks.
I've been in my current location for 11 years, but garlic needs a rotation of at least 3 years and 5 is better (no real pests on garlic, but soil-borne diseases are nasty) so the garlic tends to go into the community garden plots that someone abandoned during the season -- which means that they probably weren't really dedicated about composting so even with the raised beds of horse stable sweepings, the organic matter isn't what one would hope.
I live for the day when I can pull all of my garlic -- it will mean that we've finally reached the ideal in soil organic matter levels and that our ecosystem has finally "flipped" into sustainability.
Have to admit though, that I never walk around with 50 pounds of tools on my back -- that's what the truck is for! ;-D
Dorene
I am really glad to hear that. I looked at the picture again (yes, the one at the top on the right) and I still think it *looks* like a chewed off leg but I trust you that it isn't.
The expression on that dog's face looks like it is absolutely in heaven but having known a couple of Jack Russels I can imagine one might still be having fun and reaising hell even if it's leg *was* chewed off. Thanks for the clarification, pburns. Now I can continue to enjoying everyone's hard work and adventures from the comfort of my own couch and my schnauser can continue to be jealous of all your dogs having so much fun.
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