Farmer Tam’s Field Report
The wind picks up this afternoon, bringing life-giving rain! I dug my raincoat out of the closet, and strolled through the garden this morning humming…. Hallelujah, hallelujah …. as, I’m sure all arugula, the beans in the garden, the trees, and even the bees are humming today.
Yes, even the bees were thirsty! There were about 40 of them clustered around the hose faucet on our house – drinking and droning back to the hives. Today, they can just lap it up off the corn leaves. Fantastic!
It finally rained. It’s been 10 long hot dry weeks, driest spring for 50 years, including the major drought of 2002, when (as I was reading in the Journal), Alberta farmer’s net income was a big fat goose egg. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Blue skies, day after day in the blistering heat of the 31C weather is terrifying when you’re a farmer. Hard to say how much damage has been done. The sweet corn has headed out in bloom. It’s only 2 feet tall. Can’t reverse that.
But the trembling aspen leaves around the garden sparkle and dance. Rain! The sorrel is surrounded by a giant puddle in the inner garden. Rain!
Silvia has diligently focused on re-seeding many greens in the inner garden. Over the last eight weeks she has re-planted lettuce, beans, Korean choi, komatsuna, arugula, red mustard, scarlet frill, ruby baby chi, tah tsoi, pack choi, cilantro, dill, peas, kohlrabi, and silver star turnip top greens.
Most vegetables are between 93-96% water. Food grows where water flows – so we have had to water! Dave set up the irrigation system. The water from the ponds was dropping at an alarming rate. The good news? Sparse weeding. Hardly a weed to pull. Too dry, even for them. But now they’ll come. We’ve had 1.5 inches so far. The bees are buzzing! Rain brings life.
Those brazen bees remind us of our true task – to create and provide a harbor for growth, a habitat for life.
Life for them. Life for us. Life for you.
Come down and see for yourself. The gardens are humming! Tam
