TL;DR

We moved the chicken coops and harvested chard in the morning. Then in the afternoon, we harvested basil. It was a very hot and humid day.

Moving the Chicken Coops

This is the first time I helped to move the chicken coops. Jamie the farmer is a very patient person and this helps when dealing with someone who is not familiar with the process.

On this farm, the chickens are ‘free range’ meaning that they are not confined to a coop at all times. The coops are on dairy trailers that can be moved around the farm, and when in a location are also extended outside with a fenced and netted yard doubling the ground space the coops take up.

The process goes as follows:

• get as many of the chickens up into the coops as possible
• undo the outer layer of fencing
• undo the overhead layer of netting
• undo the inner layer(s) of fencing
• chase down and catch remaining chickens
• move the coops to the new location by towing them with a tractor
• as part of the move, align them close together (about 2 feet apart)
• re-assemble the inner fencing
• re-assemble the overhang yard netting
• re-assemble the outer fencing
• use ground stakes to secure fencing in ground gap areas
• triple check that there are no gaps in the fencing
• set up water and ladders again

Today this took two people about 2 and a half hours and is not something one person should do by themselves.

Basil Trimming

For the past 15 years in my garden, I always have a few staple herbs. Basil is one of them because it grows prodigiously and is a culinary delight when fresh.

Though I forgot to take a picture of the basil before and after trimming, the general idea is that once the plant is established (i.e. after the first two side growths produce their real leaves), the middle stem can be harvested. Basil loves a good trim as it responds quickly in season within about a week by putting the additional energy into new growth.

So four of us did this and got about 60 bunches in an hour. We also did light weeding in between the rows. At ~$4 per bunch, that’s $240 worth of basil in an hour!

Weekend AI Recovery Mode, Part Deux

As mentioned yesterday, I had to do some pretty serious maintenance on my homelab server due to storage space issues. Ultimately this necessitated a reset of microk8s which also requires a redeploy of everything I had running there.

After shifting ollama back from my laptop to the homelab cluster, I wanted to add notifications to key stages of autoscribe (the process that summarizes my field notes into a blog post) so that I can tell that it’s doing its job by monitoring its bot messages in a slack channel. The quick way right now is to use an incoming webhook for now, but later I’ll create a separate service to consolidate and simplify the outbound notifications process for all my microservices.

Improving the LLM Reasoning Process

I’ve been using the same prompt for autoscribe for a while now, but I’ve noticed that it gets hung up at times where the langchain document splitter splits the document into parts that are too short. When this happens, there’s a lot of places in the THINK blocks where it says ‘Wait, the user is asking…’ and ‘Wait, maybe the user wants…’. In excess this is a sign that something is causing the reasoning to loop over itself.

The thing is that I can’t change the LLM itself, just the inputs to it. So either the prompt(s) which include the context OR the process itself. On my way to work yesterday, I realized that with the right size chunks of reasoning, I can also use an MCP (Model Context Protocol) externality to inject additional context into the process as a whole. Unlike RAG which tries to shove as much context in to an inbound prompt as possible, this is more like a “hint” to the LLM that it should consider the context as it goes along.

The key use case for this will be to checksum anything the LLM thinks is a ‘new thing not yet encountered’ by reaching out to a custom MCP service I’ll write that simply uses a cached version of details on this blog to respond with a list of related prior activities performed and confidence scores for each. Injecting whatever fits of that list into the prompt itself should lend much better responses.

Until I do that, we shall continue to see good-but-not-great results from the AI like this:

Summary

Okay, the user provided two documents that are summaries of field notes from a farm intern. The first one is about chicken coop management, organic farming, labor, environmental impact, and logistical challenges. The second one is about basil harvesting, pruning, plant spacing, environmental factors, and tools. I need to combine these two summaries into one consolidated summary. Let me start by identifying the main themes from each. The first document has themes like chicken coop management, organic practices, labor, environmental factors, and logistics. The second has themes like plant care, spacing, environmental challenges, sustainable practices, and tools. Now, activities: the first document mentions washing vegetables, harvesting, pruning, and taking breaks due to heat. The second has specific activities like pruning basil, adjusting spacing, and monitoring plant health. New things: the first document talks about the need for structured methods in the farm, while the second has specific pruning techniques and spacing issues. The second also mentions multiple harvests and disease prevention. Questions: the first document has questions about structured methods and pruning techniques. The second has questions about spacing, pruning effectiveness, heat effects, tools, and growth direction. Suggested actions: the first document suggests adjusting plant spacing, standardizing pruning, monitoring health, improving cooling, and documenting techniques. The second has similar suggestions but more focused on basil-specific tasks. I need to merge these into a single summary. Group the themes into broader categories, combine the activities, new observations, questions, and actions. Make sure to avoid redundancy and present it in a clear, organized way. Check for any overlapping points and ensure all key elements from both documents are included.

Consolidated Summary:

Main Themes:

• Farm Operations & Labor: Vegetable washing, harvesting, pruning, and labor management under environmental stress.
• Plant Care & Growth: Pruning techniques, spacing optimization, disease prevention, and multiple harvests.
• Environmental Challenges: Heat impact on work conditions and plant health.
• Sustainable Practices: Encouraging long-term plant health, reducing disease, and improving airflow.
• Logistical Needs: Structured methods for farm tasks (e.g., pruning, spacing) and tool availability.

---

Key Activities:

1. Vegetable Handling: Washed Swiss chard, harvested and pruned basil.
2. Pruning Techniques: Trimmed basil flowering parts to promote lateral growth (“bushing out”).
3. Spacing Adjustments: Revised plant layout to improve airflow and growth direction.
4. Health Monitoring: Checked basil for disease (no blight/mold) and noted potential for multiple harvests.
5. Labor Management: Took breaks due to high temperatures (90°F).

---

New Observations/Insights:

• Basil Pruning: Specific method of trimming above two branches to encourage bushing.
• Spacing Challenges: Need to optimize plant layout for airflow and prevent overcrowding.
• Multiple Harvests: Basil can be harvested repeatedly without harming plant health.
• Farm Structure: Need for structured methods (e.g., pruning, spacing) to improve efficiency.

---

Questions for Further Research:

1. How to optimize basil spacing for airflow and prevent overcrowding?
2. Does the pruning technique support long-term multiple harvests?
3. How does heat (90°F) affect labor efficiency and plant health?
4. Are tools available to streamline pruning and harvesting?
5. How to ensure basil grows in the correct direction (toward the row, not down the row)?

---

Suggested Actions:

1. Adjust Plant Spacing: Re-evaluate basil planting to improve airflow and growth direction.
2. Standardize Pruning: Train staff to consistently apply bushing-out technique for multiple harvests.
3. Monitor Health: Regularly check basil for disease or stress.
4. Improve Cooling: Use shade structures or schedule work during cooler hours.
5. Document Techniques: Record pruning and spacing methods for training and reference.

---

This summary integrates the key elements from both farm intern reports, focusing on practical tasks, observations, and actionable improvements for sustainable and efficient farm operations.

Part 1

Okay, the user provided a transcript of field notes from a farm intern, but the content is just the origin line: "origin: 1Rlre3TvpEA3r0MNlXNmhYydjv4tGH9R9". That's not helpful. The user wants the main themes, activities, new things, questions, and suggestions. First, I need to check if there's any real content. The origin line might be a placeholder or a code. Since there's no actual text, I can't extract any information. The user might have made a mistake or the data is incomplete. I should inform them that the provided text is insufficient and ask for more details. Alternatively, maybe they intended to paste a longer transcript but it didn't come through. I should respond by pointing out the lack of content and suggest they provide the actual field notes for analysis.

The provided transcript contains only the placeholder text “origin: 1Rlre3TvpEA3r0MNlXNmhYydjv4tGH9R9” and no actual field notes or content from the farm intern. This makes it impossible to identify themes, activities, new things, questions, or suggestions from the data.

Request for Clarification: Please ensure the transcript includes the actual field notes or details from the intern’s workday. If this is a test or example, additional context or a full transcript is needed to proceed.

Part 2

Okay, let's tackle this. The user provided a transcript of field notes from a farm intern. They want me to identify the main themes, list the activities, new things encountered, questions for future research, and any suggested actions. First, I need to read through the transcript carefully. The intern starts by talking about the date and the day's activities. They mention being late because of taking kids to summer camp, then moving chicken coops. The main activities here are moving the coops, which involves a lot of steps like deconstructing and reconstructing the coop, dealing with chickens, and the environmental aspect of using chickens as fertilizer. There's also washing Swiss chard and radishes, and helping with bunching chard before lunch. Now, the main themes would be the process of moving chicken coops, the role of chickens in organic farming, the labor involved in farm work, and the environmental impact of using manure. The intern also mentions the challenges of working with chickens and the logistics of moving the coop with a tractor and chains. For activities, the intern moved the chicken coops, which included deconstructing, moving, and reconstructing. They also helped with washing and bunching Swiss chard, and there's the part about the tractor and chains. The intern also had to chase chickens, which is a new thing they encountered. New things not yet encountered would be the detailed process of moving a chicken coop, the environmental aspect of using chickens for fertilizer, and the physical labor involved in moving the coop with a tractor and chains. Also, the intern had to handle the chickens, which is a new experience. Questions for future research might be about the efficiency of moving coops, the exact time required for the manure to break down, the impact of chickens on the soil, and how to handle the chickens more effectively. Suggested actions could include further training on moving coops, researching the manure breakdown process, and improving techniques for handling chickens. I need to make sure I didn't miss any parts. The intern also mentions that the coop movement is part of a larger cycle for organic farming, so that's a theme. Also, the part about the tractor and the hitch being on the wrong side is a specific challenge they faced. The intern also mentions that the coops are moved every few months, which is part of the process. I think that's all. Now, structure the answer accordingly.

Main Themes:

1. Chicken Coop Management: Moving and maintaining chicken coops as part of organic farming practices.
2. Organic Farming Practices: Using chickens for natural fertilizer and the six-month waiting period for manure to decompose.
3. Labor and Physical Work: The physically demanding tasks of deconstructing/reconstructing coops, chasing chickens, and washing vegetables.
4. Environmental Impact: The role of chickens in soil health and the cycle of manure decomposition for organic vegetable production.
5. Logistical Challenges: Navigating tractor and coop movement with limited equipment (e.g., chains, tractor hitch orientation).

---

Activities Performed by the Intern:

1. Moved Chicken Coops:
   • Deconstructed and reconstructed coops, including fencing, netting, and watering containers.
   • Chased chickens to relocate them and manage their movements.
   • Used a tractor with chains to pull the coop in the wrong direction due to hitch orientation.
2. Vegetable Work:
   • Washed Swiss chard and radishes.
   • Bunched Swiss chard before lunch.
3. General Farm Tasks:
   • Helped clean the barn.
   • Took a break for lunch.

---

New Things Not Yet Encountered:

1. Detailed Chicken Coop Management: Understanding the full system of coops (fencing, netting, watering containers, and their interdependence).
2. Organic Fertilizer Cycle: Learning the six-month decomposition process for manure to be usable for organic farming.
3. Tractor and Coop Logistics: Navigating the physical challenge of moving coops with limited equipment (e.g., chains, tractor hitch orientation).
4. Chicken Behavior: Managing chickens to move them, which requires specific techniques (e.g., catching them with one hand).

---

Questions and Future Research Areas:

1. Efficiency of Coop Movement: How can the process of moving coops be optimized (e.g., equipment, training)?
2. Manure Decomposition: What factors (e.g., rainfall, snow, soil type) influence the six-month decomposition period?
3. Chicken Handling Techniques: Are there proven methods to efficiently manage chickens during relocation?
4. Environmental Impact: How do chickens contribute to soil health beyond manure decomposition?
5. Logistical Improvements: Can the hitch orientation issue be resolved (e.g., modifying tractor or coop design)?

---

Suggested Actions:

1. Training on Coop Management: Provide structured training on moving coops, including logistics and equipment use.
2. Research on Manure Decomposition: Document the exact conditions (e.g., moisture, temperature) required for manure breakdown.
3. Develop Chicken Handling Protocols: Create guidelines for safely and efficiently managing chickens during relocation.
4. Equipment Evaluation: Assess tools (e.g., chains, tractor modifications) to streamline coop movement.
5. Monitor Organic Farming Cycle: Track the impact of chicken coops on soil health and organic vegetable growth over time.

Part 3

Okay, let's see. The user provided a transcript of field notes from a farm intern. They want me to identify the main themes, list the activities, new things encountered, questions for future research, and any suggested actions. First, I need to go through the transcript carefully. The intern starts by talking about washing Swiss chard after lunch, then taking a break because it's hot. Then they go to harvest and bunch basil, explaining the pruning technique. They mention that the basil is mature and they want multiple harvests. There's a problem with spacing and airflow, so they need to encourage growth in the right direction. The intern has to leave because they need to pick up their kids. Main themes: Farm work, basil harvesting and pruning, plant growth techniques, plant spacing and airflow, heat and work conditions. Activities: Washing Swiss chard, taking a break, harvesting and bunching basil, pruning basil plants to bush out, adjusting plant spacing for airflow. New things: The specific pruning technique for basil (trimming above two branches to encourage bushing), the need for multiple harvests, the issue with plant spacing affecting airflow. Questions for future research: How to optimize spacing for basil to allow proper airflow, the effectiveness of the pruning method for multiple harvests, how to manage plant growth direction in rows, the impact of heat on farm work. Suggested actions: Adjust plant spacing to improve airflow, implement the pruning technique more thoroughly, monitor basil for blight/mold, consider using tools for efficient harvesting. Wait, the intern mentions that the farm isn't as detailed as their garden, so maybe there's a need for more structured pruning methods. Also, they have to leave early, so maybe time management is a consideration. But the main points are the activities and the things they noticed that need further attention.

Main Themes:

• Farm Work and Labor: Washing vegetables, harvesting, and pruning.
• Plant Care and Growth Techniques: Pruning basil to encourage bushing, managing plant spacing for airflow.
• Environmental and Practical Challenges: Heat affecting work conditions, spacing issues in planting.
• Sustainable Practices: Encouraging multiple harvests, avoiding disease (blight, mold).

---

Activities Performed by the Intern:

1. Washed Swiss chard after lunch.
2. Took a break due to high temperatures (90°F).
3. Harvested and pruned basil plants:
   • Trimmed flowering parts to promote bushing (bush out).
   • Adjusted plant growth direction to avoid overcrowding.
4. Noted the basil’s health (no blight/mold) and potential for multiple harvests.

---

New Things Not Yet Encountered:

• Basil Pruning Technique: Specific method of trimming above two branches to encourage lateral growth (“bushing out”).
• Spacing Challenges: Need to optimize plant spacing for airflow and growth direction.
• Multiple Harvests: Potential for second/third harvests without compromising plant health.

---

Questions and Future Research Areas:

1. How can plant spacing be optimized to improve airflow and prevent overcrowding?
2. What is the long-term effectiveness of the pruning technique for multiple basil harvests?
3. How does the heat (90°F) impact farm labor efficiency and plant health?
4. Are there tools or methods to streamline the pruning and harvesting process?
5. How can the farm adapt the pruning technique to ensure basil grows in the correct direction (toward the row, not down the row)?

---

Suggested Actions:

1. Adjust Plant Spacing: Re-evaluate basil planting layout to ensure proper airflow and growth direction.
2. Implement Pruning Protocols: Train workers to follow the bushing-out technique consistently for multiple harvests.
3. Monitor Plant Health: Regularly check for signs of disease or stress in basil plants.
4. Improve Shade or Cooling: Consider shade structures or scheduling work during cooler hours to mitigate heat effects.
5. Document Techniques: Record the pruning method and spacing adjustments for future reference and training.