“At night I dream that you and I are two plants
that grew together, roots entwined,
and that you know the earth and the rain like my mouth,
since we are made of earth and rain.”
― Pablo Neruda, Regalo de un Poeta

 

Oddly enough, I have not heard anyone complain about the rain, either because I do not get out enough, or because people have come to a realization after such a bad drought, that rain/water is life, brings life, sustains life.

On my behalf I absolutely love the rain, it motivates me to pull on my rain boots and walk outside. Like rain adds life to the roots of plants, so it does to my roots as well.

On the farm:

The farm is wet, and everything that can hold an ounce of rain is full. Work does not stop, it cannot stop. We are moving in between every rain drop to get things done. The wood is getting cut, the ground is resting and breathing and soaking in the rain. Tractors are beginning to look new with all the water that has fallen across them; glowing when the sun has a chance to break through the clouds. Even the old barns look more majestic in the rain.

The garden is getting prepped and expanded from all previous years. The ground will be covered in plastic to practice solarization.  Because we don’t use chemicals, solarization will kill any bacteria floating around in the soil up to 6″ down.  It will also kill off the weed seeds that have multiplied so diligently.

Dreams of blueberries are on the horizon and a dead tree has been pulled out where they will go.  Next step is to finish clearing and to acidify the soil for the blueberries which will be planted right after our walnut harvest.

The huller rebuild is still moving along slowly.  We have not given up, even though the price of walnuts has sadly dropped to half of that which we received in previous years.  This is a big hit, and we do not expect it to improve any time soon. More on this in a follow up post. We are looking forward to completing electrical and a foundation possibly this year.

And of course for us, there is the forever process of organization and property clean-up. We have come a long way but have a long way to go. I will see the light when one of out little ramshackle buildings come down. There is still time before this can happen. Possibly in the summer I predict for myself.

In conclusion, we have not slowed down.  When we can’t work outside, we are working inside, and when we can’t do that…we are out having fun, spending time with family, a necessity for any farm!