Putting summer in jars

Fall is truly here. The mornings have become cold and crisp, the leaves are turning and every farm-stand in sight has put out some acorn squash along side the last of their summer fair. Over the last weeks of August and these first few weeks of September I have done the one thing that will keep summer with me all winter. Put up as many jars of tomatoes, pickles, jam and peaches I can muster. As my cabinet fills with the bright colors of this summers harvest I smile to know that peaches in my oatmeal in February will be so worth the steam burns and stiff hands.  The process of putting up food for the colder months is a task that requires lots of pealing, chopping and packing.  All of these fine movements are powered by the wrists and the stress can end up in the hands.  So today's post will be all about wrist and hand care and ways to keep them from cracking, popping and aching.

When all said and done the thing that will help you prevent inflammation and aching in your hands and wrists is to warm them up. If you are out harvesting the produce you're about to process then your hands may be warmed up already. Even so, there are 27 joints in each hand that should get a some fluid into them before you begin your chopping marathon.
Start with the fingers. Touch the tip of each finger to the tip of your thumb one at a time then reverse it. Do this just 3 times to increase the fluid in each joint and to get the ligaments ready for work. Another good warm up for your fingers and hands is to press the tips of each finger on one hand to its corresponding finger on the other hand and gently push them together. Alternate this stretch with making a tight fist. By alternating this stretch with the contraction you open up the ligaments and muscle fibers then fill them with fresh blood.  This gives your hands lots of fuel for the receptive motions in canning. When you make the fist your forearm will also contract and this will wake up your wrist.  Follow this with a set of gentle wrist rolls to open up the 3 carpal joints, make sure you do them to both sides!  Next, stretch out your wrist by pushing your hands flat away from you trying to point your fingers as straight up as you can. Then point your fingers down at the ground, alternate up and down a few times. End your warm up with a shake out of your hands to bring even more blood into the wrist, hands and fingers.

This simple warm up will do wonders to help your hands stay pain free. If your hands get stiff fast or your knuckles are prone to popping repeat all or part of the warm up throughout your work.  By starting a task with properly warmed up hands you greatly reduce your chance of injury... except for the occasional pesky steam burn! Avoiding that just take practice, happy canning everyone!

Rise and Shine!

      This week has been a wet one here in the Pioneer Valley, but it has not stopped the coming of all the amazing summer time, farm fresh offerings. Radishes, spinach, salad greens, sweet peas and the always delightful, fast-vanishing strawberries.  It was the strawberries that got me out of bed with the rising of the sun to spend a few rainy hours out in the fields of Delta Farm. It reminded me of my start in farming, waking at 6 am and getting paid $1.50 per-pint of picked strawberries. As the summer rolls in, rainy or hot, waking up early and pulling long hours before share pickup days or farmers markets is the way of the season for all you farmers out there. With that in mind I want to talk about 3 great things to do in the morning to help get your day off to a body-mindful start.
    The first is drinking a big glass of water.  I know that most of us go right to the coffee, myself included, but hear me out. Drinking enough water is one of the easiest and most effective things you can do to help your body stay strong and pain free through out your work day.  In the morning most of us are dehydrated and need to get water into our system even before food (or caffeine). In fact %75 of Americans are chronically dehydrated all the time. By drinking water first thing it can help you set up a routine of hydrating for the day. Staying hydrated has also been proven to decrease joint pain and muscle fatigue. So, before you go for the Joe fill your "#1 Farmer" or "Worlds Greatest Weeder" mug with some water and try to keep hydrating all day.
     The next thing you can do to get your body primed for a efficient and healthy workday is to get the blood flowing and maybe even break a sweat. I used to work for a farmer who would go for a jog at 5 am before bringing the cows in.  I would tease him and say he was a glutton for punishment, or that one day he would just keep running and never come back but it turns out he had the right idea. Doing a warming type of exercise that gets your heart rate up will not only shake off the sleepy fog but it helps to get fresh blood to all your muscles. This will help them to loosen and relieve stiffness by warming up the fibers so that they are more pliable and able to fire correctly. Fresh blood flow will also get more oxygen to your muscles and your brain. Studies have shown that the extra oxygen boost to the brain as a result of just 10 minutes of exercise in the morning can increase your alertness and overall energy level for up to 10 hours! An hour of being on your game in the morning is worth the minute of jumping jacks. I have followed in my farmer friends foot steps and go for a light jog but, push ups, jumping jacks or lunges would do the trick.
      Lastly, the stretches! In comparison to the idea of drinking water before coffee and jogging before chores these streaches will seem paltry. But, doing this simple set will help to flush out the waste in your muscles and lessen stiffness from the previous day or from sleeping in a funny position. Fist do a simple reaching up and forward bend to help extend your spine and release your lower back. Interlace your fingers and turn your palms out, bring your arms up over your head. Pretend your are being pulled up to the ceiling by your palms and stretch all the way from your hips to your hands. Bring your arms down to your sides and and roll down into a comfortable forward bend. Make sure to tuck your chin in and keep your feet flat on the ground.  Once you are back up do some head rolls to loosen up your shoulders and neck, the muscles that become the stiffest from sleep. I do ten to each side letting my head really drop in the places the stretch feels best. And last but not least, a quick quad stretch. The quads, the muscles on the front of your thigh, are the most over used muscles and can cause all sorts of residual pain in the hips, back and knees. So, loosening them up can do wonders for the rest of your body. Stand facing a wall and place your left hand on it for balance. Lift your right foot up toward your butt and catch it behind your with your right hand. Hold for 30 seconds and the switch sides.
     Hydrate, warm up and stretch! I hope these things help your morning lead to a more effective, pain free day of weeding, harvesting or dodging rain drops. Good Morning!

Hurry up and Wait

I am counting down the hours until I am done with massage school... literally. I have 6 more clinical hours to finish before I can begin the proses of sending my application for a license to the state board. An 800 hour program stretched over a year and a half has felt like a life time. Now it all comes down to waiting for the state massage board, 4 to 6 weeks of chomping at the bit. This brings me to today's post, what to do when you are waiting.

Down time in the farmers work day comes few and far between and we tend to fill even the smallest time gaps with tasks to do.  But once in a great while we are found waiting on something. Waiting for the rain to let up, waiting for the cows to come around, waiting for the vet or mechanic to show. This can be a great opportunity to stretch, do some active muscle engagement or relieve some strain that you can feel building. Though it can be tempting to use any time not spent on a task plunked down on a over turned bucket, by slumping into a "resting" posture you may actually be causing your muscles more stress. I mention this mostly because I do it, and it always makes me more sore in the long run. The science behind this is pretty straight forward, you let you muscles slack without getting rid of the waste that has built up from work you have done. It then gets stored in the fibers and creates knots, soreness and stiffness. Using the down time to stretch will not only help your muscles to relive the waste build up it will also keep your body warm and engaged so it will not take as much energy to start working again.

Here are two stretches and one core engagement that are great for when you have 5 to 10 minutes between tasks or as you wait for something. They are great as a set or on their own and are great for most work days. I also post them as ones to do wile you wait because they are all done from sitting on the ground, so they will be relaxing as well as helpful! NOTE: You you have chronic injures that disincline you to these stretches or you start one and feel any pain do not do them. Using your down time to do any stretch is good,they do not have to be the ones I mention here.

First is a seated forward bend. Get down to the ground(or sit on a chair, hay bail or bucket if you have low back problems) and sit with your legs straight out in front of you. Bring you feet together and flex them so your toes point straight up. Starting by dropping your chin to your chest roll you spine down bit by bit running your hands along the outside of your legs. Then extend you torso as far as it can go with your arms outstretched for a good 10 seconds. Roll back up and repeat 3 more times.
Once you are done raise your arms above your head and slide your shoulder blades down your back. On a out breath engage your abdominals by pulling them in toward your spine. Keeping your spine straight hinge from your hips and lean back. The farther you go the harder it will get, so go as low as feels ok. Hold for 5 seconds(here you can add a little twisting to get your obliques) then come back up slowly, keeping your back long. Repeat 2 or 3 more times, going lower each time if you can.
Lastly, bend your left knee and place your foot on the outside of your right leg. Depending on how flexible you are you can place it higher up the leg, but start conservative by placing it between your foot and knee.  Put you left hand behind you and your right elbow to your left knee, twisting to your left. *Twist carefully! This is a great stretch but it should be done with caution as it can be intense *  Drop your chin to your chest and do a slow head roll. Come back to center and repeat on the other side.



 

First Steps

    The snow is long gone, the blackflies are out, the seeds are started and the tractors are running till dark.  It is nearing the last frost date which marks the beginning of the farmers year!  The days are getting longer and we are working like crazy to get that often-talked-about but seldom-seen head start on the growing season.  This is also the best time for my first post as the Flexible Farmer! Before we get Muckboot deep in work and all the aches and pains that come with it, let's take the time to get in the habit of stretching and taking care of your most important tool, your body. In today's post I'll give you the How, the When and the What of effective and efficient stretching.

    Let's start with the basic rules of thumb for general stretching, the how. First, make sure your muscles are warmed up. Stretching cold can damage muscles, so don't roll out of bed and think you can touch your toes. Wait until you have been working awhile and you feel your blood moving. Next, if you are going to stretch a muscle by bending a major joint (for example, you want to stretch your quads so you bend your knee) rotate that joint a little.  By rotating the joint you bring more fluid to the joint capsule which will keep it from popping and cracking. Last, go slow and breath deep.  Don't rush into your stretches, go into them carefully, stretching until you can feel it (and by it I do not mean pain, I mean the sweet spot where you can feel the stretch), hold it for two big breaths, about 30 seconds, and then come out slowly.

    Here's the when... as much as you can! It may sound simple but the best way to start fitting stretching into your work day is to try to fit it in.  At first you will remember just a few times a day when your body talks to you. You jump down from the tractor and your low back aches, stretch then. At the end of the row of laying mulch your neck and shoulders tense, stretch then.  Before you know it, stretching will become second nature and you will know to stretch before you feel the aches of muscle fatigue. Another way to remember to stretch is to put a reminder up at a site you frequent. Tie some yarn around the water spigot, tack a scrap of Tyvek to the tool shed, or put some fuzzy dice on the tractor.  It doesn't have to be fancy, just something that will remind you to take a moment to care for your body.

    The what is a set of four basic stretches you can do every day. This set works most of the major muscle groups so, no matter what you are doing these stretches will be helpful. You should try to do them in this order as a set, but some is better than none!

1) Shoulder, Neck and Upper Back; bring one arm in front of your body, elbow bent. With your other arm grab your bent elbow. Drop your chin to your chest and pull your elbow toward the other side. To get deeper into your neck, do a few head rotations  Repeat on the other side.

2) Mid and Low Back; place your feet hip width apart and bend your knees slightly.  Slowly round your upper back then bend at your waist and hang down (however far "down" is for you, hands at your knees or toes). Come out of the stretch by bending your knees deeper and rolling up slowly.
3) Knee, Hip and Back of the Leg; Step one foot forward no more than two feet. Placing your hands on the outstretched leg bend down like you did in the previous stretch. Bring your feet back and then repeat on the other side.

4) Knee, Hip and Front of the Leg; Balance your weight on one foot. Bend your other knee bringing your heal toward your butt. Catch your foot  with the hand on the same side and pull it gently backward and slightly up. Drop slowly and repeat on other side.

You are now on your way to being a more flexible farmer. The first steps to a healthy and prosperous growing season is taking care of your body.  Good luck and happy farming!