September 2, 2018
Sometimes It's Hard
by Farmer Derek

Well, I was definitely counting on and anticipating a healthy dose of rainfall this past Friday. Ninety percent chance of up to an inch had me convinced it was coming. Alas, it amounted to nothing and now I must contemplate setting up irrigation systems across the farm or await the next incoming round of wet weather. Perhaps we'll get lucky Sunday when there's another slight chance of rain; otherwise it looks like we'll have to wait until next weekend. It does feel strange to be discussing water and rain this way, wanting it, when for much of this season it's been the opposite. That probably adds some frustration (obviously). Sometimes it's nice to give oneself over to the controls of the weather. When it rains we're cared for and it removes some need for decision making because obviously in our climate we receive fairly regular rainfall as opposed to parts of the dry west where they simply know it won't rain so why not just always have irrigation at hand and set up. Thus we either wait for and depend on rainfall or we adjust and run the drip tape and set up the headers and/or set up the sprinklers. Please give us the appropriate amount of rain for once this season.

Last week we endured quite a heat wave for this time of year, especially on the heals of very cool and mild weather last weekend. The fields dried out so we were able to cultivate where needed, including with hand tools and with the tractor, as well as harvest the last of the potatoes and all of the butternut squash. We transplanted more fall crops including napa/chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radicchio, endive, escarole, dill, cilantro, and parsley. We cleaned up fields and sowed additional cover crops and also spread some compost on resting fields. It was a productive week.