The fields are still pretty soggy from the recent rains, and it looks like there is more to come at the end of this week. The rain makes harvest days a challenge, the heavy clay and silt soils at our home site and the Redman field get incredibly sticky when wet, so it can be a real slog to get through the fields. And because we can’t drive trucks out on the dirt farm roads, the crew has to walk the harvested crops out of the field instead. But we have fewer harvest days this time of year, and we are not complaining. Unlike last year, this is shaping up to be a wet winter, and that is a good thing. Aside from irrigating our cover crops and winter crops, the winter rains help to recharge local aquifers, leach potentially harmful salts from our soils, and green up the local hills.
This is the time of year that we catch up on equipment repairs and maintenance, make plans for next year’s crops, and even attempt a few projects around the house (we are in the process of ripping out our old carpeting and refinishing our oak floors). Soon we will start in on pruning our apple and pear trees as well as the blueberries. We also have found time to launch the canoes out on the slough. Even though the fall migration is mostly over, there are still lots of birds around. On our last canoe trip we saw: a peregrine falcon, western grebes, bufflehead ducks, mergansers, great blue herons, night herons, great egrets, common loons, red shouldered hawks, red tailed hawks, an osprey, and several belted kingfishers.
We’re enjoying the slower pace of our winter schedule. It’s just what we need to recharge ourselves for next season. We hope you are also able to find time to relax and enjoy this time of year. Happy holidays!
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