Planting 2014

(click images to enlarge)
The planters have arrived
Cutting seed cane
Very physical and difficult work
Working in the blazing heat all day
The seed is hauled out to the field for planting
Nothing is easy
Lunch time finally
What can we do?
Seed cane piled up
Things are looking good for a quick planting
Sugarcane seed is hauled on ones back to the actual furrows for planting
The seed cane is laid double in the rows
Each stock must be handled and places in the correct place within the row
The ending of a hard day\'s planting for the crew
Ivan arrives with the compost and fertilizer
Huge devastation
More damage
Just plain
The bags are laid out for spreading
The work of spreading the compost and fertilizer begins in the early dawn hours
Everything is backbreaking labor
Ivan spreads compost into the furrows
Row by row, furrow by furrow
Javier shoulders a bag of compost
Fertilizing an entire field by hand
Ivan with a taco in hand
Steven spraying rooting compound onto the cane seed before the furrows are closed
This is our newly planted field after the rains began on Saturday night
Newly planted furrows have become rivers
Javier begins to close over rows again with a hoe
The cane is pushed down with our bare feet and covered with muck
Backbreaking and tedious work, but we must salvage the seed cane
Inch by inch across the entire field, but it has to be done
If we can\'t get the seed covered in time we will not be able to spray it for weed control, and we will loose our whole reason for the fresh planting
The work seems to never end, and the water to never stop coming down
This is what we found this morning - September 25th after last night\'s fresh downpour
Rivers where there should be newly shooting sugarcane
Notice all of the seed cane along the sides of the furrows
More cane being washed away
It makes one want to cry
This is all of our seed cane
This looks more like a river delta than our field
Very discouraging indeed
All the seed cane washed down the rivulets
This should all be in nice covered rows and beginning to shoot by now
Incredible erosion taking place
River delta or field?
Will we still keep getting more rain?
A look across our destroyed field this morning
We will pretty much have to start over again I am afraid
What can possibly grow here?
This is the devastation that we saw this morning after the most recent night of rain. Notice the seed cane piled up along the sides of the furrows which have become streams
This is the level of the water that we found in our field this morning