Stories from the Farm

the rain!

The rain never seemed to stop at the beginning of summer, but once it stopped…it stopped – 3 months of no rain is quite a while for the Northwest.  I am secretly happy to see the rain again.  I am not a lover of the rain and the mud and the never ending sogginess, but I do love what it brings…

green grass!

The pastures have been awfully brown, except for the chicory we planted.  It started growing and turning green with just the little bit of dew we were getting towards the end of summer.  The chicory is new for us and we are hoping it can help choke out the foxtail.

So far, so good – it is starting to pop up everywhere!

I have been holding the sheep off of the bigger pastures and will continue to do so for another week or two.  I am excited to see the fall forage…

but I think these guys are even more excited!

Another reason to be happy for the rain is for the trees we planted this summer.  We got a really good deal on some sugar maples and paper bark birch trees, but the middle of summer is not an ideal time to plant trees in the pasture where there isn’t easy access to water.  I spent a lot of time toting water out to them.

Unfortunately, the rain also means we have to say ‘good-bye’ to the blackberries.

Paisley

and my son, feasted on the last of them.

Hello Fall!