August 28, 2016
Dry and Hot, Again
By Derek McGeehan

Having received under an inch of rain in all of August we've been forced to return to regularly irrigating as much of the farm as possible. Like July, when we received 12 inches of liquid, August is also testing our resolve, but for the obvious opposite reason. The boom and bust cycle continues, Mother Nature and Father Geology grin and play games, we march on, trying our best to keep the farm productive and the CSA shares satisfying. During dry weather we are very lucky to have soils that drain very slowly, hold moisture well, and face north. For these reasons July was a difficult month but the farm survived with only a relatively small noticeable amount of loss. If anything, the stress is probably worse for us than the crops, but that's how it goes. After spending a solid 20 hours setting up irrigation infrastructure last week for all of the crops that need it, we're a bit more comfortable. We were eagerly looking forward to last Sunday's hypothetical rain event to water in newly sown cover crops and the .2 inches received looks to have sprouted some of the seeds. Now we hope that they can tolerate the dry heat and hold on until we receive more rain, whenever that may be. Farming is not for the faint of heart.