Rock Harvesting on Saturday, September 24, 9:00-11:00 am, is a great way for folks 5 years of age and older to help the farm and have fun at the same time. Rock harvesting (aka clearing the fields of rocks bigger than a softball) is an old New England farming tradition. Farms with lots of rocks can be super weedy, suffer equipment failures and lengthy repairs and frustrate farmers to no end:

• Rocks dull the disks on our disk harrows, slowing field preparation and necessitating frequent disk sharpening and replacement.

• Rocks get caught between the tines and the cover of the rototiller we use to prepare the planting surface (we call it a bed) causing the tiller to jam.

• Rocks can get wedged between the shovels of our Super A cultivating tractor. These shovels, meant to deal with weeds without damaging the crop, become small plow-like claws that can wipe out entire rows and beds of veggies.

Clearing our fields of rocks is important work. We’d sure appreciate your help, energy and enthusiasm on Saturday, Sept. 24, 9:00-11:00. Sign up here: Rock Harvest, Sept. 24.