The rain keeps on coming; wind damage accumulation; soggy garlic; closing in the big hoophouse; WWHA; vehicle expenses
The new year continues the weather trend of windy, wet, & warm (relatively warm, anyway). We are still finding fresh wind damage after storms; mostly to the plastic on the hoophouses. The more recent wind gusts are finding weaknesses left by the bigger storms. The winter rye grain we planted as a cover crop has been growing, more evidence that the weather has been warm for January. We continue to get rain at rates much higher than average. The official SeaTac rainfall through yesterday was 4.4 inches, compared with an average of 5.1 inches for the entire month of January. Our measurement at the farm is 2.4 inches for the month thus far.
The amount of standing water on the fields at the farm also testifies to the unusually heavy rains. Thus far we haven't been afflicted by the river overflow flooding that has hit other farms particularly hard this year - our farm flooding results from the fact that the rainfall we get just doesn't leave the farm very quickly. You may remember my fretting about the possibility of high water killing off last year’s garlic planting. In the end all but one variety pulled through, although I still suspect the yield was affected. This year I planted the garlic in a drier area to avoid the water logging, but once again I’m wondering what we’ll see in the garlic beds come Spring.
The garlic beds show signs of flooding. The garlic is planted in raised beds. The beds are mulched with straw for the winter. Standing water in the aisles between the rows is not great, but I am more concerned about the dark areas of straw - sign the bed was underwater. We’ll have to wait until Spring to see if the bulbs are still alive, or if they drowned.
The crew continues working on the Marionberries and raspberries, along with repairing storm damage. Rob has been purchasing the lumber and supplies to start the work on closing in the ends of the new big hoophouse. I ordered double sliding doors for each end and a couple of louvered vents for one end. When things dry out some we’ll dig a trench to the hoophouse so we can install electrical service to the hoophouse. At that point we’ll purchase a fan for ventilation.
I’ve been working with Ruth & Rob to sort out priorities. Rob is planning two weeks off – one each in January and February. Ruth & I are still nibbling away at closing out last year’s records. I did get the depreciation up to date enough that Carol can check it over.
I’ve been going over my photos and selecting out the best and the representative for 2006. In the last couple of years I have put together a digital scrapbook for the year. So far they have only been shown at our annual business meeting.
On Thursday I went to the Western Washington Horticultural Association meeting where I attended the sessions on soils. I still need to digest the information, but I know I’ll be using some of it in the coming year.
We got back both the John Deere tractor and the flatbed truck on Thursday, along with bills for repairs totaling over a couple thousand dollars. The tractor now sports a new starter. The majority of the expense for the truck was replacing the motors for the electric windows.
The weather forecast is for snow and freezing temperatures later this week. We’ll see how much we can get finished off. We still have a fair amount of work to do to close out the books and records for 2006, but we’re getting close to the point that I can start pinning down numbers to a budget for 2007. I still have some mental logjams to break through on deciding on new projects for the year, but whatever we do, it will be exciting.
What's playing in the Jeep CD player today? Los Lobos – The Ride