No one living here in the Methow is going to escape this past summer unscathed. Assessment based on: “to what degree of destruction?”. Some homes that escaped fire didn’t elude mudslides which came late in August as violent thunderstorms continued to roll through our little valley.  All the moisture we never saw in the spring and early summer came in August this year!  The true silver lining within these storms was the fact that they put out the fires – an improbability for this time of year if ever there was one.

As I’ve said here many times before, Mother Earth tends to have a way of evening things out. She gives what she takes; she takes what she gives… and so on. Alas, September has come in with the most stable weather we’ve had in 2 months and for us bystanders it is, truly, a breath of fresh air. The cooler nights and glorious sunny days; the poorwill of the evening, the gathering of southbound bluebirds, the great horned owls back and forth on these Harvest Moon filled quiet, bright nights with the light sharp against whisk-broom colored foothills are all reminders of why we do actually live here.

Harvest.  Oh yes, there is our harvest! Our crops did not survive the summer unscathed either. Some irony may lay in the fact that the storms which came and put the fires out were particularly hard on crops. Hail is what did the most damage. Our hulled grains generally take the heavy rains and wind fairly well compared to many crops, but hail is hard on any annual. Roughly half way into harvest it is hard to judge just what the losses are, but they are evident. That said, because most of our crops were healthy going into the 6 week storm cycle that began  mid-July, they survived better than they might have.

Our quality seems intact so far, despite diminished yields. We’ve run some new crop for tests and will hopefully know more soon. Through all of the above, the granary has been abuzz and we’ve had some of our heaviest weeks so far! Very grateful to you all,  and to our employees who continue to give excellent service to all.

With school back in session, PLEASE be careful driving as so many kids are out and about these days, filled with the “pleasures” of going back to class! We wish all kids the best going into a new year and wish all some autumn peace as shadows lengthen to the shortening days.

Yours, Farmer Sam