Nope, it is not what you think. Not even close. Most males in the 18-35 demographic (to our dear friend Jill -- who works at Nielsen -- please do not be offended if I have misrepresented the demographic range) are gearing up tonight for the start of the NFL season. Most males in the 18-35 demographic in the D.C. area are getting ready for tonight's NFC East showdown...the Cowboys and Giants. Prior to this week, too, most males in said demographic have also been calculating, researching, strategizing their draft picks for their fantasy football teams (I, myself, am in two leagues this year and completely forgot that tonight was a draft...we'll see how that turns out for me this year).
Not Michael. Nope. Instead of compiling football stats, over the course of the last week and a half or so, Michael has been strategizing, researching and calculating all sorts of different formulas for fertilizer for the farm. Here's the long and short of the situation:
Before our plants go in the ground, Michael spreads aged compost and then spreads fertilizer (from the country's oldest organic fertilizer company, thank you very much) on top. Michael selects the appropriate fertilizer based on the results of his soil tests; for instance, if the soil is lacking in nitrogen but is high in potassium, then he will select a fertilizer (that is, organic fertilizer...I swear they need to come up with a different name than fertilizer especially since it is organic...the word fertilizer has such a bad connotation) that is high in nitrogen and low in potassium. Simple enough, right? For a lot of crops, this methodology seems to work. As a matter of fact, all of this season's bounty has taken root because of this combo.
After visiting another farm, Michael realized how underfed certain of our crops were (such as peppers and eggplants, which is why these crops were not as bountiful (and thus, not as successful) as other crops we've had this year). Cut to this past weekend, Michael's "vacation" from the farm and he is nose-deep in some farm book, calculator in hand, scratching his head and talking through his formulas. In this house, the NFC East showdown we've been preparing this week has nothing to do with football...the D.C.-area team, Michael has a fierce competitor in the nationally-recognized (well, at least amongst 7th grade math students) villian...Alegbra! I cannot tell you how many times we had to turn percentages into fractions and cross-multiply.
Spoiler alert...Michael (with plays being called from the offensive coordinator, i.e., me (!), Michael narrowly defeats Algebra!!! Okay, so maybe the football analogy isn't working here, but you've gotta give a girl a point (two point conversion?!?!) for trying!!
After we mastered the formula, we were able to identify the proper levels of different nutrients that we can funnel to the plants through our irrigation system. Michael just described as the difference between an all-you-can-eat buffet (current system) and a hot dog eating contest...with the buffet on the side. The current fertilizing system provides a stable, consistent amount of "food" to the plants from the second they hit the ground until they are ready to be harvested. The "new" system (the benefits of which we probably won't see until next year) maintains that same consistent food source and adds the volume of a hot dog eating contest (a targeted amount of fertilizer being fed through the drip tape irrigation system). I am getting queasy thinking about it! Hopefully our plants don't feel the same way!
This week's share you can expect: sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes), carrots, tomatoes, paste tomatoes, leeks, garlic and peppers.
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