Of worm castings, puddles and tow trucks

So a couple months ago, at the Guelph Organic Conference, I was feeling all smug. Why? Because I got one of the vermicompost vendors to offer me a tote of organic worm castings in which to grow my seedlings this year - FOR FREE! All I agreed to do was run some trials to see whether they grow better than the ones in my other compost. No prob - I'd do that anyways.

OK. So a couple of days ago I talk to a rep from the company & they agree to send me my tote this week. Know what a "tote" is? It's 1 cubic yard of gorgeous black worm manure. Weighs 1/2 a tonne. Sweet!! Thing is - 1/2 tonne is heavy. And my tractor doesn't have a loader. I asked the rep to give me a day's notice before delivery so I could make arrangements.

Now it's Friday morning & the phone is ringing. It's a truck driver. He's at the farm. He has a tote of compost for me. He wants to know where to put it, and how to get it off the truck. I am at home in my pajamas.

I call my neighbour Rob (who has a loader tractor) but he is of course in the barn choring. I call the company rep in Toronto. He suggests I get the driver to tie one end of a rope to the tote and the other to something sturdy in the barn, then drive away. That makes me chuckle. I like it. At this point I think we're both imagining a pick-up truck. Worse case scenario I can always shovel, right?

I call the driver back, but he is rather uncertain of the rope method. In 10 minutes when I arrive at the farm I can see why. The tote is at the nose end of a 30' enclosed truck, on top of a wooden skid. Hm. Fortunately, my neighbour comes in from the barn & calls me back. Unfortunately, his tractor needs 1-1.5hrs to warm up. He says he'll go plug it in, but this doesn't feel particularly useful, given that the driver is here NOW and rather frustrated by the amount of time being wasted. He & I continue to scratch our heads. (Side note: turns out the driver serendipitously had a test plot at the FarmStart McVean Incubator Farm last season - this is the organization I work for in the winters! He has lots of small-farm questions for me. This eases the frustration.) He eventually calls dispatch & gets clearance to go off on another delivery & come back once the loader is working. Seems like the best option. I decide to go check on the garlic (not up yet) and do some cleaning in the greenhouse. I'm hungry & really wish I had some food along.

1.5 hrs later I get a call from the driver who's now 20 mins away. I hop in the car & head out to fetch the neighbour. My laneway is a rutty, muddy disaster. I'm gunning it to plow through the muckiest stretches, skidding all over in my attempts to avoid getting sucked in. Great - wouldn't it be fantastic if the delivery truck got stuck... In opening my window to get a better look at the fields I get a face-full of mud as I drive through a big puddle.

Well, to finish things off, here's how the story ends:

Actually, I wish this gorgeous, rich, black stuff was the end of the story. The story really ends with a tow truck dragging my overheated, coolant-leaking car off to the shop after a long drive home coasting down hills and pulling over to cool down every 2 blocks. And also with the explosion of my coffee as I plunged the bodum, spraying my fridge and floor with the liquid consolation I would not get to consume.

I remember this.... the birds & flowers & sprouting things are truly exciting, but this too is a sign of spring. Cheers to the bumpy start of another season.