At the end of the road where we farm in Monterey County, there are two shallow ponds in the shady bottom of a small valley. In the thirty-plus years that he has lived there, our neighbor Keith, the beekeeper, had never seen the ponds dry up. But last year, dry up they did, and with all of the rain we have gotten so far this season, dried up they remain. For me this serves as a useful gauge of just what a serious drought we remain in. The rain so far has been great–but much more is needed.
More is needed, but this break we are in the middle of has been much appreciated. The ground has dried out to the point that we can hoe down the weeds and get the harvest done without sinking into the mud up to our ankles. We’re weed–wacking the strawberry furrows and at our Lewis Road site, with its sandy soil, we have been able to get in with the tractor to mow and cultivate.
With the increased down-time during the rainy stretch, I am starting to feel re-inspired. Like farmers and gardeners everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, I’ve been looking through seed catalogs and getting excited about trying new things, or those that I haven’t tried in a long time — “Scarlet Queen” turnips, “Sugar Loaf” radicchio, or cardoons, anyone? I can’t wait to try them out.
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