TL;DR

We harvested spinach and radishes for Week 1 of the CSA, then trellised tomatoes in the new greenhouse.

Washing Produce Is Wet

I started the day by scrubbing totes in preparation for storage of freshly washed produce later on. When done without wasting time, this is a great way to get drenched. However, with my galoshes and overalls on, this wasn’t too much of an issue. Everything must be scrubbed with soap and water, then rinsed with clean water. What we bring out to the field must be sprayed with a light acidic, organic safe water solution to prevent bacterial growth.

Harvesting Spinach and Radishes

Then we harvested spinach from the high tunnel. Spinach is best harvested when the plants are young and tender. All in all, we got about two totes from one row.

Then we moved on to harvesting radishes. After about 20 minutes, we had enough to fill one big round field tote and including the spinach it was enough for me to go back up to the barn to start washing and refrigerating. We got about four totes of beautiful radishes to include in this week’s CSA shares.

Trellising Tomatoes

After lunch, we moved on to trellising tomatoes. We used twine and poles to create a trellis system for the tomatoes to grow on. There are six rows with approximately 35 plants per row, making a total of ~ 200 plants.

I cut and tied loops at the top of twine lengths while Jamie installed the rest of the poles to tie them to. Last week, the two of us did this for the first row, but with a full crew today we finished the other five rows. Many hands really make quicker work of something like this.

There were a few gaps and some of the tomato plants needed to be replaced for one reason or another. Each was secured with one biodegradable tomato clip and carefully wound around the twine (or vice versa) to further grow upright.

For the three-ish hours we worked on this, the new water pump was sending water through the drip irrigation lines that we had installed last month. Jamie said that a few hours every few days is what the tomato plants need…particularly since tomato plants love deep waterings and not every day which make their roots go deeper and farther to find water.

After that, I moved to watering the nursery greenhouse which was watered after lunch, but since the sun was out today it was needed to ‘top off’ the plants until tomorrow morning.

My AI-driven Process Is Getting Better

After a bunch of personal tech work last week to get familiar with SourceGraph Amp, I was able to break various workflow components out into separate microservices that handle the following concerns separately:

1. ‘gauth’: Google Authentication Service Token management
2. ‘gdrivenotes’: Google Drive searches
3. ‘notesum’: Consolidation of docs and summaries into single, simple JSON result set
4. Updates to utils/new_blog.sh script to use new microservices

Since I’m always in prototype mode to some degree, it’s better that I break out these services into small and reusable parts of the overall architecture so that I can more reliably test and run them.

Encapsulating LLM Services

I’ve already started to further encapsulate the functionality of providing an LLM template and supporting content into a single service which can be used by other services. I call this ‘llmbo’ and it will eventually replace some of the functionality in ‘autoscribe’.

I also need to do this because I want to decouple the GPU-intensive LLM inference from any infrastructure that runs workflow orchestration steps. My hope is to find a cost-effective way to run LLM inference on a GPU without having to pay for a fancy (and demand-driven overly expensive) card or external GPU device. I recently came across this article which describes methods for exposing embedded GPUs on Intel and AMD machines using kubernetes node feature discovery.

After Wednesday’s follow-up interview, maybe I’ll get some time to do that this weekend. For now, transcription and summarization, not to mention any additional LLM-powered improvements like auto-generating default titles, description, and tags…sigh…will have to wait.

Also, moving to Deepseek-R1:7b has not been fault-free. It hallucinates more than Ollama3.2, such as all the nonsense in Part 1 Activities Performed…I did not check gates, collect eggs, or move compost at all. Again, I paste the below in as a record of what my homegrown AI assistant thinks I did given many variables and parameters. So for today, I get what I deserve I guess, and this is what it produced:

Main Themes:

1. Harvesting and Produce Management: The intern focused on harvesting spinach and radishes, emphasizing their quality and proper storage methods.
2. Greenhouse Operations: Tasks included setting up plant supports using twine and poles, maintaining greenhouse structures, and assisting with ventilation panel fixes.

Activities Performed:

• Harvested and washed spinach and radishes.
• Set up trellises for tomato plants in the greenhouse using twine and poles.
• Assisted in fixing ventilation panels and monitored greenhouse conditions.
• Washed produce and stored it in green totes with specific stacking techniques to maintain air circulation.

New Experiences:

1. Trellis Setup: Utilizing twine for plant support in a greenhouse.
2. Produce Storage Method: Stacking radishes in green totes with air holes for optimal storage.

Questions and Future Research Areas:

• How effective is the current washing method for produce? Are there more efficient techniques?
• What impact does stacking have on radish storage life and freshness?
• Are there better alternatives to twine for supporting plants, such as wire or stakes?

Suggested Actions:

1. Explore Alternative Plant Supports: Consider materials like wire or stakes for more durable and adjustable supports.
2. Test Washing Techniques: Implement trials to evaluate different washing methods for produce efficiency.
3. Optimize Radish Storage: Investigate if stacking is the best approach or if other methods could be more effective.

Part 1

Okay, so I'm trying to figure out how to help with this query about field notes from a farm intern. The user provided a sample transcript and wants me to identify main themes, list activities, note new things, questions, research areas, suggestions, and any actions. First, I need to understand the structure. The user gave an example response that breaks down each part clearly: themes, activities, new experiences, questions, research ideas, and suggestions. I should make sure to follow this structure but keep it conversational since it's a thought process. Looking at the sample transcript, the intern talks about tasks like checking irrigation lines, moving compost piles, cleaning gates, and monitoring chicken eggs. So the main themes are probably farm maintenance tasks and animal care. Activities include specific tasks mentioned: irrigation checks, compost work, gate cleaning, egg collection. The new thing is composting itself as something they learned. For questions, the intern mentions not knowing how long chickens lay eggs, which ties into egg-laying duration. So future research should look into that. Suggestions might be about more efficient ways to do tasks or resources for learning more skills. I need to make sure each section is clear and concise without using markdown. The user also mentioned keeping it natural, so I'll avoid any formatting and just list points as they come.

Based on the field notes provided, here’s a breakdown of the main themes, activities, new experiences, questions, research areas, and suggestions:

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Main Themes:

1. Farm Maintenance Tasks: The intern performed routine tasks such as checking irrigation lines and cleaning gates.
2. Animal Care: Monitoring chicken eggs for quality and health.

---

Activities Performed:

• Checking Irrigation Lines: Inspected for proper functioning to ensure optimal water distribution.
• Moving Compost Piles: Assisted in organizing compost materials for future use.
• Cleaning Gates: Maintained fences and entry points by cleaning gates.
• Monitoring Chicken Eggs: Collected eggs and observed their quality and health.

---

New Experiences:

1. The intern encountered composting as a new experience, learning about its benefits and application in farm management.

---

Questions Raised:

1. How long do chickens continue to lay eggs at peak production?

---

Future Research Areas:

• Investigate the duration for which chickens lay eggs at their most productive stage.
• Explore advanced techniques for efficient composting and nutrient cycling in farming systems.

---

Suggestions:

1. The intern suggests seeking guidance from experienced farmers or agricultural experts to refine tasks like compost management and chicken egg monitoring.

---

If you have further questions or need additional details, feel free to ask!

Part 2

Okay, so I'm trying to figure out what the main themes are from this farm intern's notes. Let me read through it again. The intern talks about starting on June 2nd and working with three other people. They washed bins at the barn, then went harvesting spinach in a high tunnel. The spinach was mostly undamaged, so they got enough for 130 CSA shares. Then they moved on to radishes, which were also in good shape. They had to wash them and store them properly in green totes to keep the radishes from drying out. After that, they worked in the greenhouse with tomatoes, putting up trellises. The intern mentions twine and poles, so they had to set up supports for 30 plants per row across six rows, totaling around 200 plants. That sounds like a lot of work. They also mention fixing ventilation panels but didn't get too deep into that. So the activities include harvesting, washing produce, setting up trellises, watering seedlings, and some maintenance on greenhouse structures. As for new things not encountered yet: The intern talks about twine supports in the greenhouse, which I'm assuming is a method they haven't used before. Also, managing airflow for storing radishes by stacking totes with air holes seems like something new. Questions and future research areas: How effective is the current method of washing produce? How do the stacks of radishes affect their storage life? What's the best way to train twine for supporting plants? Are there better alternatives than twine for this purpose? Suggestion actions: Maybe look into different materials or methods for plant support, like using wire or stakes instead. Also, test different washing techniques to see which is most efficient and effective. I think that's a good summary of the main points.

Main Themes:

1. Harvesting and Produce Management: The intern discusses harvesting spinach and radishes, focusing on their quality and proper storage methods.
2. Greenhouse Operations: Includes tasks like setting up trellises for tomato plants and maintaining greenhouse structures and ventilation systems.

Activities:

• Harvesting produce (spinach and radishes).
• Washing and storing produce in green totes with specific stacking techniques to maintain air circulation.
• Setting up plant supports using twine and poles in a greenhouse.
• Watering seedlings and monitoring greenhouse conditions.
• Assisting with greenhouse maintenance, such as fixing ventilation panels.

New Things Not Yet Encountered:

1. Trellis Setup: Using twine to support tomato plants in a greenhouse.
2. Produce Storage Method: Stacking radishes in green totes with air holes for optimal storage conditions.

Questions and Future Research Areas:

1. Washing Efficiency: How effective is the current method of washing produce? Are there more efficient techniques?
2. Radish Storage Impact: How does stacking radishes affect their storage life and freshness?
3. Plant Support Alternatives: What are better alternatives to twine for supporting plants, such as wire or stakes?

Suggestion Actions:

1. Explore Alternative Plant Supports: Consider materials like wire or stakes for more durable and adjustable plant supports.
2. Test Washing Techniques: Implement trials to evaluate the effectiveness of different washing methods for produce.
3. Optimize Radish Storage: Further investigate if stacking in green totes is the best approach or if other methods (e.g., using specific containers) could be more effective.

This analysis provides insights into the intern’s experience and highlights areas that could benefit from further exploration and improvement.