You might think this farming column would be about all the new little seedlings in the greenhouse in this hopeful, springy time of year. However, the recent big snowstorm meant we lost electricity for four days, which meant we had no heat in the greenhouse, which meant all the new little seedlings (30 flats full) were keeping us company by the woodstove, and wondering where all the sunshine was.
When our electricity finally came back, and the propane heater turned on in the greenhouse, we hauled all the flats back out to the sun and warmth. We gave them a thorough watering, since kitchen-sink-and-shower-stall watering is a little tricky.
But then our regularly scheduled propane delivery was held up, since there was a tree down on a wire on our dirt road. The propane truck driver didn’t think it was a great idea to try to sneak under it, as we have been doing in our little car.
Then we waited for several days for the overwhelmed tree-on-wire people to come take the tree off the wire, which meant, yes, that all the flats came back into the house. At least they didn’t have to be right next to the woodstove anymore, but could be in sunnier spots on the kitchen floor.
Finally the tree-on wire people fixed things, and then we had to wait for the propane delivery truck. My fellow farmer called to upgrade our now-late regularly scheduled delivery to an emergency delivery.
Unfortunately, our propane place recently outsourced its customer service to India. India, of course, is a wonderful country, but India does not quite understand the urgency of the seedlings on our kitchen floor, and could not tell us when exactly the propane truck would come.
“Are you satisfied with your call?” asked the propane phone person.
“No,” said my fellow. “I want to know when the truck will come.”
“I can’t tell you exactly,” answered the person. “Today or tomorrow.”
“I’d like to talk to the scheduling department,” said my fellow.
“There is no scheduling department,” the person said. “We are the only department.”
“Huh,” said my fellow, and hung up the phone. Then he did some computer research. He found that there was still a physical propane office, in a little town not far away. He drove to the office. The door was locked.
But there were lights on, and my fellow could see someone through the window. He waved and knocked, and someone answered the door, and my fellow told his troubles.
“Come on in,” said the person, and used the GPS-connected-to-the-delivery-truck system on the computer. “It looks like the truck’s coming to your house right now!”
“Great!” said my fellow, “I’d better hurry home.” Before he left, he added, “I don’t know if you’re looking for any suggestions, and I know a lot of companies outsource services. But it doesn’t seem like India knows a lot about our greenhouse.”
“We made a big mistake,” said the person, about the outsourcing, which was gratifying. Even more gratifying was coming home and hearing that propane heater come on again in the greenhouse, and carrying those well-traveled seedlings back out to the greenhouse. They didn’t quite make it to India, but they sure did a lot more moving than most of our seedlings.
Originally published in the Monadnock Shopper News, April 5-April 11, 2023