If you have stopped by to pick up produce at our Weekly Tuesday Drop Off spot, or have read our past newsletters, you already know that the talking point for farmers so far this year is rain. Rain, rain and more rain.
Weather data from Portland Airport shows that this April-May-June period has been the wettest on record since 1940. 12.23” as of June 11th - so the record lead will only be larger when we reach the end of June.
All this rain is bittersweet for us. It is reminding us how incredible lucky we are with the soil on our farm. It is such nice soil. Very well draining, which means that by and large we have avoided any sogginess, despite the ever returning rain.
With our dry-farming project, this rain has really been helpful. Our tomato, squash and melon transplants have been able to get well established in the dry-farming field, without any watering from us. Beans and corn that has been sown directly in the fields are also starting to germinate and sprout, and they too have only received what water has come from the sky.
The rain has also given us ample time to plan and research for our irrigation system. But we are happy to report that we now have irrigation put in at the farm, and are more than ready to start using it.
So let the sun come out! We are ready for it, and so are the plants. Many of them are currently only growing slowly because they do not get enough sun-hours on many of those overcast days.
Let it shine,
Cody and Linea
