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TL;DR

We harvested scallions, sweet peppers, lettuce and potatoes. In the afternoon, we replaced a dump truck starter.

When It Rains, It Pours

Yesterday, the Ford GMC truck we sometimes use decided to not start while out in the dry fields. Bummer. This morning, the little John Deere Gator decided to stop working too. Double bummer. Oh, and the ball joints on the white Ford F-150 started to make clicking sounds. Triple bummer.

The good news is that a local mechanic was able to come out and diagnose the truck issues. The Gator was just serviced so the tech who did it will cover that for free. And the dump truck just needed a new starter which Jamie knew how to do, so we worked on that in the afternoon and got it fixed.

The ball joints will be repaired on Monday and the tech will look at the Gator next week too. Some days, everything happens all at once, but at least you know that on those days you’re getting all your bad luck out of the way at once.

Speaking of Scallions, They’re Back!

Earlier this week, I had to explain to someone what scallions were because they said that they like chives but don’t like onions and they didn’t know where scallions came from. I think this guy does a better job of it.

I said that scallions are like grown-up chives and synonymous with ‘green onion’ but that all of these things are alums anyway, just with more or less bulb to greens ratio. I said that probably what they don’t like in an onions is the pungency of the bulb, but that if they like the green stuff on top, they should keep a bag in the freezer for all of the onion bits they don’t use on a regular basis, then use them on a good soup making day later when the winter sets in. They liked that idea.

I like how quick and easy they are to grow, harvest, and use. I like that there’s a little green and a little white part to them. I like how they can liven up just about anything…plain rice, omelettes, soups, fish. Even a few blended into some salt and nutritional yeast for popcorn, scallions are fantastic.

I’m going to try to dehydrate some of the scallions from this week to see how they hold up. I tried radishes last week and they just tasted like vegetable fart. But the whole Shishito peppers I thought would take too long and darken out turned out fantastic, so you never know for sure if something will work until you experiment a few times.

AI Summary from Field Notes

Today’s LLM-driven summary got at least one very important suggestion right:

Gain hands-on experience with similar heavy-duty equipment

It’s great to be part of a farm crew where we are all given opportunities to get real-world experience and intentional training where it can fit in to the busy schedule. Just being human doesn’t mean you’re learning…and just because something ‘learns’ doesn’t make it human (e.g. AI). Human-to-human commitments and accountability are still the best way to drive personal growth and professional development.

As such, though I plan to continue my work on the RAG process I started last week, for the next 6 weeks I’ll be taking a Farm Business Planning course at New Entry Sustainable Farm Project, an Extension of Tufts University, in Beverly one night a week. It will make for long Tuesdays since I’ll be working on the farm in Ipswich the whole day, but it’s the additional homework I don’t know much about that will likely eat into my homelab and prototyping work.

Summary

Okay, the user wants me to distill the provided summary into a consolidated version. Let me start by reading through the original summary carefully. First, the main themes are agricultural work, equipment maintenance, seasonal challenges, and skill development. The activities include washing bins, harvesting, repairing the dump truck, plowing, loading orders, and watering animals. The new things are the dump truck repair, proprietary tractors, and modern machinery complexity. The questions are about repairing modern tractors, differences in maintenance, learning advanced repair, and available resources. Suggestions include certification courses, practice, researching specs, documenting steps, and collaborating with experts. I need to make sure all these points are covered concisely. Let me check if there's any overlap or redundancy. For example, the new things and questions might overlap, but they should be distinct. The suggestions should be actionable. I need to present each section clearly without repeating information. Also, ensure that the main themes are covered first, followed by activities, new things, questions, and suggestions. Keep the language straightforward and avoid markdown. Let me structure each section with bullet points or numbered lists as in the original, but in a more concise form. Make sure the key points are all included and that the summary is comprehensive but not too detailed.

Main Themes:

Agricultural labor (harvesting, washing, packing, irrigation, animal care).
Equipment maintenance (dump truck repair, tractor compatibility).
Seasonal challenges (declining pepper/tomato yields).
Skill development in farm machinery repair.

Activities Performed:

Washed bins for scallion harvesting and packed peppers.
Harvested scallions (110+ bunches) and peppers (red, matured, greenhouse).
Repaired a 2003 Ford GMC dump truck starter (removed old part, used extensions, reinstalled new part).
Chisel plowed potato rows (with Jamie).
Loaded delivery orders, washed lettuce/basil, and watered chickens/pigs.

New Things Encountered:

Repairing a heavy-duty dump truck starter (specifically a 2003 Ford GMC).
Dealing with proprietary modern tractors (difficult to repair without certification).
Complexity of modern machinery compared to older, user-friendly equipment.

Questions & Future Research:

How to repair/upgrade modern proprietary tractors without certification?
What are the differences in maintenance between old and new agricultural equipment?
How to learn advanced machinery repair (dump trucks, tractors) for farm use?
What training/resources exist for farm machinery maintenance?

Suggestions:

Enroll in certification courses for modern tractor repair.
Gain hands-on experience with similar heavy-duty equipment.
Study technical specs of modern machinery for compatibility and repair.
Document repair processes (e.g., dump truck starter replacement).
Collaborate with experienced mechanics or farm technicians for guidance.

Part 1

Okay, so I need to figure out the main themes, activities, new things, questions, and suggestions from the farm intern's field notes. Let me start by reading through the transcript again carefully. First, the main themes. The intern is working on a farm, doing various tasks like harvesting, washing, packing, fixing equipment, and some maintenance. The day starts with washing bins for scallions, then moving to harvesting peppers, then dealing with the dump truck starter issue, and then other tasks like potato harvest, watering animals, and loading orders. Activities: The intern started by washing bins for scallions, harvested scallions, then moved to harvesting peppers. They washed and packed the peppers. Then they worked on fixing the dump truck starter, which involved removing the old starter, dealing with a hard-to-reach bolt, getting extensions, and then replacing it. Then they finished the potatoes, took a break, watered chickens and pigs, and loaded orders for delivery and washed lettuce and basil. New things not yet encountered: The intern mentions working on a dump truck starter, which is a heavy-duty truck. They also talk about the difficulty of modern tractors being proprietary and hard to work on without certification. So the intern is encountering the complexity of modern agricultural equipment, which is different from the older tractors they might have worked on before. Questions and future areas: The intern is interested in building skills in fixing agricultural equipment, especially heavy-duty parts. They mention that modern tractors are proprietary and require certification, so they want to learn more about that. They also note that they need to learn how to work on these types of machines, maybe even building their skills in this area. Suggestions: The intern might need to get more training on working with heavy machinery, especially since they're dealing with a dump truck. They might also need to understand the differences between old and new equipment, and perhaps seek out resources or certifications for working on modern tractors. Also, they might need to practice more on the dump truck or similar equipment to get more hands-on experience. Wait, but the user said to list the activities, new things, questions, and suggestions. Let me make sure I covered all parts. The intern's activities are the ones I listed. The new things are the dump truck starter and the proprietary tractors. The questions are about learning to fix heavy machinery and the differences in modern tractors. Suggestions would be to get training or certifications, maybe practice on similar equipment, or learn more about the technical aspects of these machines. I think that's it. Let me structure this into the required sections.

Main Themes:

Agricultural work (harvesting, washing, packing, irrigation, animal care).
Equipment maintenance (dump truck starter repair, tractor compatibility).
Seasonal challenges (declining yields for peppers/tomatoes).
Skill development in farm machinery repair.

Activities Performed:

Washed bins for scallion harvesting.
Harvested scallions (110+ bunches) and peppers (red, matured, outside and greenhouse).
Washed, packed, and stored harvested peppers.
Repaired a dump truck starter (2003 Ford GMC) after it failed.
- Removed old starter, struggled with a hard-to-reach bolt, used ratchet extensions, and reinstalled the new starter.
Chisel plowed potato rows (with Jamie).
Loaded delivery orders and washed lettuce/basil.
Watered chickens and pigs.

New Things Not Yet Encountered:

Repairing a heavy-duty dump truck starter (specifically a 2003 Ford GMC converted to a dump truck).
Dealing with proprietary modern tractors (difficult to repair without certification).
The technical complexity of modern agricultural machinery compared to older, rugged, and user-friendly equipment.

Questions and Future Research Areas:

How to effectively repair/upgrade modern proprietary tractors without certification?
What are the differences in maintenance requirements between old and new agricultural equipment?
How to learn advanced machinery repair (e.g., dump trucks, tractors) for long-term farm use.
What resources or training programs are available for farm machinery maintenance?