Author: Sam Lucy

‘Tis the season, truth to tell! Thanksgiving has come and gone and this year could have easily passed for a Christmas setting.  Hopefully, most have gotten into better eating shape at this point because now the real test comes: Christmas!

Winter descended on our little Valley November 7th and has been building on that early visit ever since.  Here we are on the Winter Solstice and  we’ve already had 6 weeks of true winter with plenty more on the way.  Over three feet of snow and temperatures seldom into the teens have combined to quiet the countryside.  As with all things Nature, an early winter means there are both winners and losers.

Winter birds seem to gain: Juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, finches and birds of prey.  However, ground dwellers such as quail, sparrows and partridge seem to lose.  The deer definitely lose when a winter like this one begins early.  Cougars and coyotes on the other hand, thrive.  I so admire all these wild creatures with no fire to cozy up to – no apparent shelter to find refuge from the cold and snow.  I constantly try to learn just how Nature has evolved and perfected the true art of survival – an evolution that has worked for so many of her creatures.  That anything makes it through a deep winter as such is a wonder.  To be sure, that survival for some, comes at the cost of others.  So, as the snow banks build and the wood pile dwindles,  I do indeed count my blessings.

One of our biggest blessings is that of good food.  You see, it all comes back to food!  At Bluebird we feel happy about providing nutritious food to so many.  As well, we are happy to eat good food provided by so many others.  You will see in this month’s profile, we have an in-house representative of our goods, and someone who keeps us from going hungry on these cold, winter mornings at work!  Thank you Shariee!!

The holidays always give us an up-tick in orders here at the mill, and this year is no exception.  We are grateful to be receiving, processing and shipping all these nice orders from our new facility. There has been plenty of snow plowing for me to stay out of mischief while I’m reminded of all those years (17!) we operated up in the foothills of the Rendezvous. Crazy!

I think our freight handlers are as delighted as we are to be shipping and receiving on flat terrain, and so close to the main highway.  Also, I suspect our great employees don’t miss the snowy, whiteout drives up the Rendezvous to work some days, either.  If nothing else this year, we’ve improved our work space and work site.  As I’ve mentioned before, this alone is huge for us.  And has consumed all hands on deck during 2022.

That mentioned, we also have been serving up our usual assortment of fresh grains and flours and mixes without a shift in stride.   Again, thanks to our excellent local crew!  While continuing to service current customers,  we recently have picked up a few newer customers of varying sizes.  This is exciting for us, and what we have anticipated.  With our bigger production capacity and built in efficiencies, we look to gain and service a much wider clientele.  We look forward to this opportunity, as it also gives opportunity to further spread the wealth of good grains grown through the most sustainable of practices.  Our Bluebird ethics have remained the same through all these transitions, and now we hope to have a bigger impact on a greater crowd of farmers, consumers and thus, a positive impact on a bigger landscape as well.

Beginning next year, I will be writing about some of these partnerships we’ve been forming.  I will explain what they mean to Bluebird, Bluebird customers and ultimately, what I feel they can do for the planet and future generations.  These are exciting times in Agriculture.  These are exciting times.  As our brand grows so grows our network.  We are very fortunate.

Meanwhile, as the snowpack builds and I look across our fields I think of all the microbial activity going on even now during the “darkest” time of the year, and at 18 below 0.  The ground never froze this year and now with a great blanket of insulation over everything, I know a lot is happening way down under.  Certainly, we will have a great recharge in this Spring’s moisture profile.  As well as a great mountain snowpack which should fill our streams and rivers for the summer.

I love the quiet, dark and deep of this season.  At the same time, I know there are so many in need and how the hardships of the season can weigh on them.  Please keep the less fortunate in mind as we gather round the hearth this merry holiday.  Just the smallest gestures of kindness can go a long way, particularly in today’s often less than friendly world.   We need the spirit of Christmas to ring true now, perhaps, more than ever.  My main Christmas Wish…  Peace on Earth.

Cheers, Farmer Sam

Late summer to early winter that fast. And so the seasons have rolled here in the Methow this year, with little time at all for fall. The later start to summer kept things 3-4 weeks “behind” all the way to November. July was more like June; September more like August; October definitely more like September and than Wham – things jumped to December. Trailing our first and only rain since August; on the first Friday of November temperatures fell, as did snow 2 days later to the tune of 20 inches. More than two weeks have gone by since that hefty storm and the temperature still hasn’t gotten back up to freezing!

Although I’m still saddened by missing November “proper”: Wilting leaves, tilting sun, silvery mist and so forth, I remind myself we’ve certainly had sharp starts to winters’ past beginning in early November. From a moisture concern, I’d loved to have had Mother let go with a lot more rain before the snow. However, not only did the snow come with solid moisture in it, but it fell on unfrozen, softened ground as well. Given the amount of cushioning now, I believe there is enough snow to keep the soils from freezing and thus come spring, all the “white moisture” should percolate into the profile nicely. This all is a long, long way off but as with most farming, one’s hopes for the next season always begin with the last.

So what do the birds think? Ha! Truth to tell, any ground feeding birds likely are not happy with the forest and field floor disappearing literally overnight. The earlier snow and freeze has already waged a toll on not just ground feeding birds, but the deer as well. As for the winter birds – shrikes, owls, chickadees, finches…all have been prevalent and elegant around the homestead here, as well as our new granary. Dan got to see a shrike take a wayward songbird out of mid-air just the other day behind one of the silos, and was quite impressed with its fortitude. Harriers still work the meadows, and eagles congregate along the rivers, awaiting for more spawned out salmon to die. As lovely as the cold, crisp days are, and quiet starry nights at 5 degrees, it is hard not to feel some measure of empathy toward the wild creatures who have no warm soup nor wood stove to cozy up by.

On another note, a cheerier reminder of early snow is that of the holidays! Beginning with my favorite holiday this week – Thanksgiving.  Here at Bluebird we’ve much indeed to be thankful for this year. We have a brand new processing and packaging facility now centrally located directly off of Highway 20. This is a culmination of great work by everyone involved to pull this off in little more than a year’s time. From our general contractor to our millwrights and certainly to our steadfast employees, we have made the transition into this much more efficient space, and gotten it running with no shut-down time at all from old times to new. In celebration of this, we hosted an open house wherein I gave a pair of walk thru tours of the processing area last Saturday. The turn out of folks was incredible and so sanctifying to what Bluebird does, who we are and where we are going. Many of the local bakers baked goods for the occasion, while Brooke cooked up a variety of our grain dishes including our hot farro porridge! Several volunteers, organized by the Methow Conservancy, helped facilitate parking and serving and added to the spirit along with our employees. Brooke and I couldn’t be more grateful for not just the support that turned out for that one, special day, but for all the support we’ve had these past 18 years. We simply could not have kept Bluebird going, much less thriving, without you.

So, thank YOU!

Now the stage is reset to do even more of what we do. Our main goals remain the same:  Provide high quality organically grown grains, fresh flours and blends while taking care of lands the best we can for future generations of both people, and wildlife. The Bluebird brand will continue to grow by its involvement in working and honoring these ethics on a bigger stage altogether. I’m excited.

I’m also excited to gather round with dear ones and eat and eat and eat! I can’t say I will reflect on the Earth and Mother’s bounty with every bite, but our connection to the Earth will never be far from my palate either. I wish you all a peaceful holiday wherever you may gather. And please remember those not as fortunate as many of us. With the coming holiday season, so comes the season of charity: Food drives, clothing drives, neighbors helping neighbors in so many ways.  Please partake.

Peace, 

Farmer Sam

September… the mellowest month of the year.  The land itself exhales from a summer of constant work.  That sigh of relief fairly infiltrates the countryside after a season spent growing vast varieties and quantities of both wild and domestic foods.  Calm, warm evenings are followed by cooler, quiet mornings.  Hillside grasses fade to gold like the harvested grain fields, while the trees and bushes begin to turn yellow, red, and crimsons.

Coyotes have filled the past few nights around here.  They’ve been competing for “air time” with a pair of Great horned owls down along the creek, and a couple of long lasting poor wills.  We’ve no fewer than 3 chatty coveys of quail that are visiting the lusher green of our small fruit orchard just beyond the porch.  They begin to stir at dawn and rustle about the adjacent evergreen trees each morning, and are just as restless come evening as they settle back to roost.  A family of mountain bluebirds enjoys the bird bath from time to time.  Bear “sign” can be found around anywhere there is fruit, forage and water.  As seemingly quiet, and relaxing as September appears to me, I guess Nature is never really that quiet. 

Oh, I had fun harvesting our winter rye!  Monstrous stuff, this ole’ Treebeard winter rye is.  Had I been a little wiser I may have swathed the stand, first.  Rye that grows 7-8 feet tall with big, droopy heads always seems like it should combine easily.  Not so.  It was plenty ripe, but the strange rains in early August took a toll on it and it was still a bit punky when I first thought I could thresh it.  Even after I began, I could see the straw was tough and there is always so much of it!  Alas, I worked my way through the stand Labor Day weekend.  We had fun, also, hauling it to our granary in our trusty old grain wagon.  Almost too much fun when one of the front tires blew with a full load.  Alas, now it is all safely binned with credit due to Bluebird’s Steve White and valley friend Jerry Laverty who happened to be passing by and stopped to see how he could help.  Neither of these gents had anything better to do on a Friday evening, I’m certain!

We’ve certainly had the drying weather lately.  The nights are shorter and cooler but the days are still full of sharp sun and into the 80’s!  Summer may have officially ended according to the calendar, but not really.  Good weather still for drying anything and perfect for harvest although most all grain harvest around the Northwest is wrapping up.

I turned under our buckwheat stand that I’d grown out after the peas and have decided to go to spring grain in the field right here at Bluebird’s new location.  I will take soil samples and see how well the nutrient levels responded to the cover crops.  I plan to get the seedbed pretty well prepped this fall once we receive some moisture, and in so doing, will be able to sow grain as soon as soil temps warm in the spring.  Here it is barely fall, and I’m already excited about next year’s crops!

We are in 100% operations at our new location with our new processing and packaging lines running full tilt!  Such credit is due to all our staff for how they managed to make the complete move down to the new site, get it up and flowing while never having to shut down operations for one day!  Big compliments to all involved.  This feels so good to us and we hope that the updated equipment and efficiency is easily reflected in our finished goods.

September was a solid month for sales and the uptick as we get into real fall can already be felt.

Our crew is ready!  Alas, real autumn edges nearer.  With that, comes the month I enjoy even more than September – the pumpkin month October; the month of the “Hunters Moon”.  The month of real colors and my guess, our first frost?  These lazy days of September too, shall come to an end.  Bittersweet as that is, without the close to one season, one can never truly appreciate the next.

And the next season involves a lot of preserving, preparing and EATING! Meanwhile, I hope you all make time to stow away some of summers’ bounty, and we hope to see you at our grand opening on November 19th!

Yours, Farmer Sam

August, month of the full Corn Moon; the Ricing Moon; the Harvest Moon – all names from various Native Americans – has come and nearly gone now.  True to form, August is the peak month for harvest of cereal grains around these parts of eastern Washington, as well as elsewhere.  I was reflecting on various harvests both past and future, as I sipped away waiting on the sun the other morning and listening to the subtle song of the cedar waxwings.  And that of the veery, the mountain bluebird and a spotted towhee, all of which have called our place home this summer.  All of whom sounded shy if not weak in their voice?  August heat:  Hot enough to perhaps silence most birds, but ideal for curing grains.

Brad at Lenwood Farms brought in a very nice crop of Einkorn earlier this month, and we’ve just run the first lot of it on our new hulling and cleaning line!  After much testing and adjusting of the system, we ended up finally getting some very fine finished product that is showing excellent test weight and nutrient levels.  Great work, Brad.  Up on the Waterville plateau Tom has a strong crop of winter hard red wheat that he’s about to cut for us and over on the Okanogan Plateau at Double R Ranch, Chuck is getting closer to taking off the hard white he grew out.  Here in the Methow I was about to move into and thresh our winter rye, when back to back storms rolled through leaving from an inch to two inches of rain!  Wow; quite the surprise.

This is how the summer has played out all along, continuing to run off the 3-4 week delay since the beginning.  We are the most grateful for no nearby fires this year, and NO smokey skies at the moment.  Yes, we’ve had the typical later summer heat and things dried out until, well, the storms.  But still little smoke even after a lot of lightning.  Just now, a cold front is blowing through and today temperatures have dropped to the 70’s and low 80’s and the 25mph winds certainly will dry off the crops.  Ever so slight, the turn toward autumn has begun.  This is all fine by me. 

Our biggest accomplishment at Bluebird this summer is having made the transition to our brand new processing and packaging facility along Highway 20!  We have made the move and are now in 100% operation there.   This move has taken mondo effort from our small crew and my hat is off to all involved.  We’ve run every grain through the system and now are confident we will be cranking out just as good, and in most instances even better quality goods than we have been.  With our new line, we will be at much higher capacity and far more efficient.  Good news for all our persistent employees.  They have earned it!  Special thanks to our recent intern Leo Haas who came on board just in time to witness, and help out with, our final start up of the flour mill, and some of the other equipment.  His help and can-do attitude was much appreciated by all.  Hopefully, we didn’t scare him off!

Surrounding the new granary is our 25 acre field where I grew out back-to-back cover crops of early peas and later buckwheat this season. My plan was to follow with winter grains but I may hold off and go back to spring grains instead in 023.  I’ve run through Plan A, B and C and right now sit somewhere in the middle.  Alas, I better decide soon!  Either way, we’ve added back a great boost of available nutrients and so the stage is set come this fall or next spring.

Hard as it seems, school is about to start for K-12, while  many colleges have already begun.  Lots of learning to be done out there and let’s all beware of the increased numbers of kids on the street.  Drivers, slow down – my annual reminder! Students – sit up straight in class you younguns’!  Ha, but  if you can’t sit still, well, studying the changing landscape as the shadows deepen with the tilting daylight and the hills grow quiet isn’t a bad alternative.  There may be plenty to study in the classroom, but there is just as much to study outside.

Observe, eat well and enjoy the fruits from this final of summer months…

Yours, Farmer Sam

That fast, the cool, moist spring and early summer seem to be of the deep past.  True to form, beginning around mid-month July began to kick up the heat.  As I tap these keys the mercury reads an even 100 degrees outside.  The 100’s seem locked in for the remainder of the week and the once green hills are fading by the day.  Still, we are all so grateful here as, so far, we’ve no nearby wildfires, smoke and the real heat just recently has begun.  This is far the opposite from last summer.  

And summer birds… Such a terrific summer, this has been, for birds.  Two clutches of bluebirds have now been raised in one of our bird houses.  Two clutches of house wrens from the south porch and, a newer delight has been a clutch of waxwings that are nestled in one of our smaller apple trees.  They are about to fledge as there’s no room remaining in their now tiny nest.  Hummingbirds zip around as if drunk on summer’s flowery liqueurs.  Evening warblers give way to the nighttime voice of poorwills and the zip of nightjars.  Such the sound for one to finally doze to, as the eventual cool of these summer nights settles across the foothills. 

Contrary to what Janis Joplin gasps, however ( I love her gravelly, bluesy, lazy voice!) in her rendition of “Summertime”… the living ain’t always easy.  Working these dry, hot days isn’t always fun but the intensity of the season is an absolute necessity to growing high quality crops of most any sort be it grapes, fruits or small grains.  In our home field at the new Bluebird Grains facility perched atop the Twisp/Winthrop town lines, the second cover crop of this year – buckwheat – cranks away.   I’ve finally begun irrigation cycles and when I walk out through the lettuce-like, leafy stand of the 3 week old buckwheat, I can fairly hear it grow.  Soon it will fill out and shade the very moisture I’m giving it.  Ultimately,  its thirst will diminish as the leaves shade the soil, and we will ease up on the irrigation.  All of our annuals – legumes and cereals, are far less the water hogs once established, than most all perennial crops.  One of our goals always is to conserve resources – particularly mountain water.

Buckwheat loves the heat, similarly to maize.  I was able to establish the stand without irrigation as I mentioned in June Notes, and now with the heat and supplemental water this crop is doing what it does best: Shade out weeds and make available more potassium in some cases, and ever important  phosphorus in all cases.  Meanwhile, it acts as a great attractant of beneficial insects and pollinators.  When it goes to blossom – which happens to be when I generally take it down – the fields are generally alive with bees.  Sorry, bees.  We will be back.

Sad as it is, I will be taking it down mid-August either with a roller or a mower, then I will sow in our winter rye for next year’s harvest.  This is a big cover crop year for Bluebird as we rest our soils, and I take growing these crops as seriously as any.  Rich cover crops give more available nutrients than most proportioned inputs.  I’m always excited to pull soil plugs and run tests on our soils after intensive cover cropping.  I will be doing this mid August and before sowing our winter grains.

Alas, the big news is our “BIG MOVE” to the new Bluebird along Highway 20.  Phew!  Truth to tell, there have been a lot of moving parts which, most often means, moving targets.  We like moving targets!  

So far we’ve shuffled all of our raw inventory down there, most of our packaging supplies and infrastructure and yes, we’ve tested our new processing line with some success.  As of this writing, we’ve not yet dialed in the cleaning settings for all our grains, but we have cleaned lots of both wheat and rye with much improved efficiency and throughput.  As of this writing, all our freight is now going out of our new digs at 19611 Hwy 20.  That said, we most likely will not be running at 100% capacity there until the next Farmer Notes.  Already, I can tell you it is going to be awesome for all of us in operations, and all of you as customers!  In next month’s notes,  I will give you a run-down of some of our improvements.  Meanwhile, please hang in there during our time of transition.  We may run thin on certain products at times, but so far we do not anticipate any complete shut-down.  That alone we feel proud about.  None of this would be the case without our dedicated, hard working staff who cover one another on a daily basis.  We couldn’t do this without. All of you.  No question.

Please take time to enjoy the fruits of deep summer.  Hopefully you can enjoy some cool waters and yummy fresh fruits, grains and veggies.  Next month – August – will be all about harvest.  So… Stay tuned!

Yours, Farmer Sam

Wow! The cool, moist spring continued on right up to the Summer Solstice. As for this weather, this spring was a very different one than most. One that, by and large we’ve embraced. We are not alone. Although I still need a jacket some days for my morning cup on the south porch, the birds are just loving the lushness of these first summer days.

This morning I observed young bluebirds in one of our boxes, with the mumma changing from just feeding the chicks inside, to trying to coax them into fledging. Hummingbirds were busy at the blossoming yellow roses, and waxwings dip in the bird bath. As well as wrens on the porch, orioles in the elderberry, flycatchers on the fence, swallows swooping before the rain, finch in the apricot, buntings in the apple tree and of the evening how can one not stop and listen to the longing evening song of our good ole American robin atop the aspen. Truth to tell, I could spend the day and night marveling at birds. They are daily reminders of my good fortune to live where I live.

Our cover peas, of course, could not be happier and have reached flower stage and so I am taking them down before their cycle runs too far and they go to the pod and we’ve lost what we’ve gained as far as nutrients. I am working in the peas then directly following with a second cover of buckwheat which we’ll grow out until it flowers in early August when we will take it down and direct seed our winter rye crop for next year’s harvest. I seeded the peas to enhance the available nitrogen in the soils where I had wheat last year. The buckwheat crop predominantly will be for pulling up potassium levels, as well as for warm season weed suppression.

To date, I’ve not used a drop of irrigation water for any of this! This is the latest date yet that I’ve not taken advantage of our supplemental irrigation. Our systems are charged and ready, but with no early spring tillage and direct seeding of the peas, all the winter’s moisture is still in the profile and we’ve been getting rains ever since. We will only be doing one round of tillage while working in the peas and firming a new seed bed this entire season, as we work toward minimal tillage and more continuous cropping from here on. Most of you readers know this is a goal I’ve been working toward for a while now. Fingers crossed. We’re gettin’ there!

Up on the Waterville Plateau south of here our wheat growing partner Tom has been enjoying the wet spring and he has a good looking crop of winter hard red wheat coming along. Down in the Columbia Basin, Brad has a lush, lush crop of einkorn nearing boot stage. Harvest likely will be pushed a couple weeks later this year as most years when the crop is heavy due to lots of moisture, a later harvest is anticipated. Much of this will depend on what July brings for weather, and early August.

The real news:  We have begun our move! Indeed, all of our tanks have been moved from up here down to our Highway 20 site, set in place, and we’ve shuffled most of our remaining inventory down there. As well, we are taking out bucket elevators and other pieces of equipment from here that we plan to use down in our new line and so, after 17 years of operating year around up here in the hills, Bluebird is soon going to be running full tilt, at much higher capacity and more efficiently, down where we will be easy to find! I can’t convey how excited we all are. I can’t convey how we look forward to meeting more of our customers and selling even higher grade goods than we are now. Did I mention we are excited!

By the time you read July’s notes, we will be reporting from the new granary and I’ll be able to give you the low-down on the equipment upgrades and hopefully that it is all running smooth! Amen. Meanwhile – and during this big shuffle – we have planned ahead and have all your favorite grains cleaned up, and will continue to mill fresh flour to order on a weekly basis as always, and as we will continue to do once moved. So… Enjoy the first days of summer here. And let’s keep hoping for daily Peace. Yours, Farmer Sam

And here they were, two scrawny male hummingbirds at the feeder after all this time.  As if sheep hefted to the fell.  Weeks had gone by since I traded out our one sunflower bird feeder for our one hummingbird feeder.  It hung vacant for long enough that I actually restocked it with fresh juice then hung it with care in hopes that….  At last, they arrived and now as we enter the third week of May, the hummers are really here.  The late arrival of the hummingbirds in large sanctifies the slow, cool, damp spring we are experiencing here in the Methow.  If the tardiness of birds were not enough to figure in a late spring, what about the balsamroot in the upper foothills here? Or lack thereof.  Our balsamroot blossoms either froze altogether, or decided not to bloom at all this year.  Oh, there are clumps here and there but nothing like the yellow flooded hillsides that most years we see here in early May.  What’s more, the lupine – usually a later bloomer – have begun to flourish!  Mother Nature never ceases to amaze.  Mother Nature… my library.  I hope I live long enough to read all her books!

I thought it was wise to plant spring peas as early as I could in the fields this year and drilled them directly into winter’s residual moisture.  As it turns out, I sowed them deeper than I’d first planned, given the malleable soil, but this worked out to be advantageous because the little sprouts remained under ground when we had a series of 20 degree April mornings that rolled into May.  Peas are tough but yikes, 20 is pretty frosty for most any annual plant, and the cold days persisted.  Luck would have it that just as morning temps moderated, the peas began peeking out from beneath the stubble and after just a handful of sunnier days and temps in the 50’s, most of the rows began to fill and peas began to reach up – as impervious to the cold as the meadowlarks dawn song.

Speaking of birds, if a little mumma robin didn’t find the perfect nesting spot!  I noticed this when I went into the pole barn where the combine and various headers and other equipment are stored for the winter.  I’d gone in to start a generator when a mumma robin flushed out from the pick-up platform on the Gleaner.  There in the lee of the northwest wind, and deep enough into the bay to be out of the southward rain, a perfect nest was nestled onto the skate of the pick up reel.  Five perfect blue eggs rested within.  My, how fast Nature goes to work.  I feel like when spring hits, I’m already three weeks late and need to get in gear.  But robins… all of the wildlife in general I’d say, operate on a different level of urgency.  Remarkable.  Admirable.  Undisputable.  Just yesterday I noticed all the broken shells on the gravel nearby.  That fast.  In what seemed less than a weeks’ time!

So what does all this have to do with farming and custom processing and the world of Bluebird Grain Farms these days?  Nothing.  And everything.  I like to think that every day we operate a scant step away from Nature, if at all.  Which is why just weeks ago, when I could hear the northbound geese above the whirr of the mill, then the cranes, I took pause.  I suggested everyone take a pause in their activities to come look, scan the sky and try and trace out the wavering birds that own this ageless music.  Spring sky.  Breeze blown, chewed on clouds. Mountain snow squalls, valley showers.  What sky.  What sounds.  What a place!

Bluebirds, too.  Their iridescent blue against the sage and rapidly greening hills.  Moist hills,  deep smells.  And now Orioles have shown up in our elderberry and Izuali Bunting in the Apricot tree.  Lest we forget, this all follows a very rainy late fall which sets the stage with hope in the fields.  Planting season is slowly underway in these parts,  and even slower in the northern prairies east and north of here.  Food security is something that has come back into the limelight lately.  Why does it always take a crisis of some sort to remind us of what is important?

While I feel awful about the needless conflict in Ukraine, I also realize this is another chance to evaluate our food systems and food supply chains.  We’ve been very busy with orders here at the granary.  We’d love to be moved into our new facility but aren’t quite there yet.  That said, despite a back up here and there, we are doing pretty well servicing all your fine orders.  Once again, the heyday of the custom mill near and far is here.  We are grateful for the trusty and proven mill that we have but…

Our new facility is looking great!  It will enable us to increase our processing and filling capacity significantly.  Also, we will be refining the process and offering an even superior product than what we do now.  Oh, and we won’t be bumping into each other!  Target start up date is Summer Solstice.  Hoo-ray!

Deputy Don at KROOT radio and I have been working on the next round of podcasts #’s 5-7.  These build off of the 4-pack that we released last year.  #5 interviews both myself and our farming partner Blaine Schmaltz, who is a cornerstone farmer in the “Regenerative Agriculture” movement.  #6 concerns itself with our processing methods and capacities, and what it takes to preserve our grain’s integrity following harvest right up until it arrives on your table.  #7 finally gets into today’s food systems and how we might “Reset the Table”.  These podcasts will be released throughout the summer.  In the meantime take a listen to our podcasts 1-4, click here to listen.

Meanwhile, congratulations to all of this year’s graduates both in high school and college.  This is an exciting, and also dangerous time for young drivers full of springtime wishes and wondrous times ahead.  Remember to SLOW down.  For everyone’s benefit.  And, as always, hope for PEACE.

Yours, Farmer Sam

Spring has sprung. At least for the time being as I write this on April Fools morning. Most all the snow patches have disappeared while meadowlarks, robins, flycatchers, and BLUEBIRDS have arrived back to the valley here. Deer have moved back up to graze and owls still sound at dusk.  Resilient and wonderful bunchgrasses are begin to green up along the foothills as yellow bells, spring beauties and bluebells brighten everywhere in between. Freshets trickle down the buttes and the poignant smell of moist sage fills the windy air. Wind. Spring. Wind… the northwest wind that waits until spring to kick up often makes this time of year in the Methow seem colder than winter. No joke!

As a follow up to last notes, we did actually receive one more decent snowfall here which extended winter a couple more weeks and added to our moisture profile. That hope was fulfilled.  At this point I believe we have very good soil moisture given the late fall rains, and a decent snowpack here in the valley. Up in the Cascades more snow and what is estimated as average or above snowpack prevails. So… a promising farm season is upon us.

Spring cover crop peas just arrived and I plan to begin planting them this weekend. With the aggressive no-till seed drill we bought a few seasons ago, my aim is to sow the peas directly into last year’s grain straw.  This drill should get a good test when I pull it through last year’s massive rye stubble!  However, with the soil surface still pliant with winter’s moisture I’ve good hope I can plant the peas accurately enough to give them a solid jump. Peas are tough yet I’ve never planted them this early.  We’ve planted winter peas in September and had decent wintering-over results, but spring peas are a bit more delicate. I missed the fall planting, and therefore I’m anxious to get the spring peas in as early as possible, so that they may put on early growth and we can get a similar amount of nitrogen fixing and biomass from them as we might from winter peas.

Another reason for an early planting is that I can double up the cover cropping on these grain fields. If I take down the peas in late June/early July I can follow that crop with a warm season cover of buckwheat and thus, give the soil a double hit of goodies.  Our soils deserve this. They’ve been working hard for us and giving us some good crops of grain these past years.  Thank you!  Time to rejuvenate. Or dare I say, Regenerate!  

As to the follow up on my hope for Peace: Not so good.  Horrible, actually.  So sad in this day and age that certain cultures need to fall back into history and take the bad from it. Ukraine has some of the loveliest, richest soils in the world.  Oddly, even healthier before the fall of communism back in 1991.  Ukraine had large community run “state” farms wherein an entire village lived around these farms – sometimes 15,000 acres – and all tended the soils.  The community planted long crop rotations of ten years or more, and over time built the biology in these organic soils to higher and higher levels every year.  These farmers were truly farming “Regeneratively” before it was even the buzz.  In twisted irony, once the communist “curtain” fell, so did the market for these farms as these government farms were no longer such.  And with little if any preparation for a “free market” and what it looked like, many of these vast farms fell dormant.  

What is worse, as a consequence when many of these acres were idled as families left for the urban interface and to find new jobs, not so surprisingly in swooped large Agricultural enterprises from North America and  Europe. These companies begin treating these fine soils far, far differently and more to their own benefit. Now, with the battle and apparent want of some Russian individuals to reinstate communism full bore,  things are far worse.

Food security is an age-old security. One that most often is fought for. Still. Sad as it is, in this way war gets people thinking about their food security as prices rise etc etc. Yes, this thought of questioning food security has affected us even at tiny Bluebird Grains where we’ve been very busy filling direct orders to those who want to make sure they have a solid supply of good grains and flour.  For this, we are grateful and happy and always glad to help. However, this comes at the expense of so much suffering in Ukraine, and so this is not the way we ideally gain in the marketplace.  This also is why we will not increase our pricing beyond previously scheduled increases during this time. We operated the same way during the pandemic.  In this fashion, we are not affected by the greater commodities markets beyond it simply costing us a bit more to operate. In the big picture, taking advantage of a dire situation always pays short dividends.

We feel grateful to be able to operate on our own model and we wouldn’t be able to do so without you great customers. Thank you.

At present, our inventory is solid enough to protect our existing customers, with minimal growth allowances. Farming and customer relations are all about consistency.  We are grateful for our farming relationships and, of course, our customer relations.  And as we continue to crank away in what will soon be our “old facility, ”  we look forward to building new relationships as we transition to our new digs.  Stay tuned.  

And… hope for PEACE.

Yours, Farmer Sam

Truth to tell, sitting by the woodstove while listening to the Labradors snore this morning feels mighty good. Siskins, chickadees and finches visit the feeder, silhouetted by a gray and foreboding sky beyond.  Most of February gave us ample sun and warmer temperatures that sped us toward spring, while easing up the cold lock January held on the land. I won’t lie; we all enjoyed the sun and thaw – even if seemingly premature. Just as fast, however, the chill has returned in a bitter East wind. Tonight the mercury will drop again to below zero and the remaining snow will be solidified into a brand new crust. Dang!

Although we’ve had no snowfall at all here in the Valley for over six weeks now, I am remembering all the wonderful fall rain we received last year. These important rains opened the ground and set the stage for the absorption of this years’ snow.  What is more, as the snow melted I could tell most of it was sinking straight into the ground.  Yes, we had some mud but we also had layers of solid ice that rapidly disappeared out of sight.  This all leads me to believe our soil profile, despite a dry second half to the winter, will still be favorable come true spring.  You can tell by now I’ve already been thinking about our fields and, well, planting!

Even after all these years of farming – 30+ now – come February and without fail, my mind begins to wander toward spring.  As you know, I am a man of the colder months but still, the longer light, the gathering sun, the baring slopes… That fast, it will be here.  What most excites me about this up-coming farm season is the opportunity to truly turn our systems over to minimal tillage and ultimately, proven regenerative practices.  If you’ve read my farmer notes long enough, some of you know this has been an on-going goal of mine these past years.

All of the acreage that I farm here in the Methow will be planted to spring cover crops in 2022. In doing so, I can intentionally reset our crop rotation. I have most of the equipment to do this and am  lacking just a roller crimper.  This type of machine enables one to kill a cover crop without the usual tillage of a heavy disk, or plow. A crimper leaves all the green crop packed onto the surface of the soil, and I will then plant directly into this mass of green with our no-till seed drill. Some of the acreage will be doubled cover cropped; some I will plant fall grains for harvest. Soil test results will help determine what, if and where.

Whoa… I’m getting a ways ahead of myself!  Outside that biting East wind blows and the fire needs another log! We will explore the concepts of Regenerative Agriculture, the importance thereof and the reasons we have chosen growing partners who use this practice, next time. For now, we are still trying to get through one more winter up here on the hill in our stout, wooden granary with no heat.  The road ways are back to dirt, and freight trucks can get to the driveway now, but Dan and Steve are still going through the hand warmers as they continue to clean and mill our grains to order after officially kicking me out of the granary. The rugged working conditions are not lost on me, however, having been in there a time or two over the years!  But they really have been doing a great job and are as excited about our new facility as anyone.

Which is coming along nicely despite the winter trials. Both the processing room, and the packaging and office mezzanine have all been drywalled, taped and painted. Next, a continuation of the electrical work and in May we are still hopeful that all the milling equipment will be installed. Operations to begin around Summer Solstice? Fingers crossed! We will definitely keep you updated, and write more about this.

Meanwhile,  inventory of all our grains is holding up and each week we are still processing to package all the goodies you continue to order. Owls and coyotes own the night; the whirr of the milling line owns the day. As always, we are grateful to you.  I hope that this finds you remaining healthy as we navigate the vagaries of another winter. More snow? Let’s hope.

More peace?  Let’s all do our part.

Yours, Farmer Sam

As promised, you are reading me again (last notes) at the beginning of a New Year. A Healthy New Year I hope for all.  Good health can lead to happiness. One big goal of organic farming and organic food processing is to make sure nutritious food can see its way to your plate. Truth to tell, good food is a major player in health and a healthy population. Why so few of the nation’s farm subsidies are not spent on nutritious crop production mystifies me. Some of you readers may be thinking now this is a major digression from birds! Well, their role in health, and as an indicator of health can never be diminished.

Ahh… winter birds: Chickadees, juncos, finches, nuthatches, waxwings, ravens, owls… we’ve been blessed with them all this wintry month of January. And a wintry month it has been. On the coattails of a cold, snowy second half of December, January arrived and brought two more snow storms and more cold. Our old John Deere (me in it) was busy with the blower and plow keeping our granary cleared out, while all outbound freight was stalled for a variety of reasons, few of them ours.  In time, we finally got caught up on processing but just now are we getting caught up with out-bound freight. Most of you are aware that all freight deliveries have become delayed. After all this time, this is finally beginning to affect us at Bluebird, too, even if in a marginal way compared to many businesses. Thanks for your patience!

Both the  USPS, and UPS have been awesome, and have done their best to see packages are delivered but here again, they can only control what they can control. Over all, and beginning with the Pandemic, our supply chains as a nation have become seriously tested. I’m not simply referring to toilet paper, either. Our food supply/distribution which, last time I checked, was a fairly important supply, did not escape this weakness.  This might  give pause to many whom think about our nation’s health and security.  Who do we all rely on for food?  Farmers, yes, but also their markets. What’s more, what type of marketplace are they growing for, and who controls it. How connected are the farmers to their marketplace? This connection, or lack of,  can either lead to control, or dismissal of control.

All is not lost, thanks to farm-direct marketing and production. Small Agricultural businesses such as Bluebird have filled in some of the supply chain gaps during these past couple of years. As supply became more questionable to the masses, many folks who hadn’t before thought of going straight to the source began to. It has been a humbling, inspiring, sanctifying process to be part of this. I feel this movement and concern was overdue and will be a valuable circumstance/lesson to build on. The marketplace is not going to shrink and that is good! However, perhaps small farms and those that specialize particularly in quality, nutritious food and good food practices can reclaim a more solid and stable market for their soulful goods.

And so, we continue to crank away up here on the hill 5 days a week snow, rain, cold or shine to fill up the orders so many of you place. We couldn’t be more grateful. I am not only grateful to you who  keep us all employed, but I am grateful to our small crew here who work hard everyday to see the goods to your plate. We are blessed, indeed.

It all begins in the soil and as I write, our soils remain under 3 feet of solid snowpack, and under that snow pack a well-recharged moisture profile in our soils awaits, thanks to all the November rain prior to real winter. Mother Nature, as I’ve written many times before, somehow always evens things out. Amen!

While farm season remains a ways off, I’m already looking forward to having a great soil profile to work with this year which, for our fields here at Bluebird, is going to be a big cover cropping spring.  I’ll write more about that next month. The importance of cover crops and what kinds we use and when.

For the meantime, we are into a lot of high pressure here at the tail of January. Which can mean sunshine, or it can mean fog, it seldom means precipitation but most always means sustained chill.  Great cooking weather. Even greater eating weather! So, keep piling in the nutritious foods you get from us and elsewhere, and let’s do our best to stay healthy this coming year and for many years beyond.

Yours, Farmer Sam

As the afternoons grow ever short, finches and chickadees hurry to fill up on the sunflowers we’ve left for winter. Truth to tell, an edging of snow now crowns the sunflower’s circular face,  almost as round as that of Raggedy Anne. We’ve traded the sodden month of November – emphasis on sodden – for the colder and clearer days of early December. Last night when I stepped out with the dogs the stars couldn’t have been clearer. I believe Saturn, Venus and Jupitar were all in a line running northeast to southwest. Following silence.

What a wonderful November it was! Oh my, the month that goes so unloved by many delivered a bounty of moisture to our parched, hardened landscape. This moisture cycle began in late October, and lasted the entire month of November. It raised hell along the northwest coast but here in the Methow, it simply soaked our soils to completion. Now, with the winter seasons’ first snow to stick, the stage is set for what I anticipate to be a major spring re-charge to our little basin here. November is good to her word like no other month when it comes to being a big precipitator. At times the muck and rough working conditions began to make one feel edgy, but what glory compared to the dust and smoke of summertime.

This heavy moisture made it impossible to perform any of the late fall field work as I’d once hoped, but this was an even trade to be sure. The tillage and fall cover crop rotation is now shifted to the spring and spring cover crops. I was tempted a couple times to start on some of the fall work, but it remained  just too wet and would have been counterproductive. Such is the cycle of Nature and one never wants to try and push these cycles too hard.  

November also was a busy month processing orders here at the granary. This is often the case with the “eating season” coming on strong. We’ve been keeping the cleaning line cleaning and the mill grinding away and our freight carriers from falling asleep with lots of deliveries.  There are many moving parts as we head toward the Christmas season full bore.  So much happens in a year’s cycle, no? Yet I’m stunned that another year is coming to a close.  That said, I love winter – a very close second to autumn in this farmer’s estimation. I feel good about the fields going under for a while,  knowing they are at rest with ample moisture. I feel good abut the sanctity of winters’ blanket.

Up until just now, we’ve been able to ship out right from the granary yard here. Always a bonus if we get into December and trucks can still get out of here. However, that just changed and we will have to be shuttling pallets up the driveway for pick up, and snow removal will start in earnest soon.  However, this will be the last winter on the hill here for Bluebird as our new facility is all framed in and dry for lots of winter work on the interior. It is looking like an awesome space, with substantial room for growth.  We are excited about growing in a multitude of ways and certainly look forward to an easier place for public interface, and absolutely greater ease for freight! I keep telling the drivers, only one more winter…

We have a couple new employees on board this month here at the granary and we are hoping they will work into our systems, and then be making the transition to Bluebird II come next summer.  One of the things Brooke and I look forward to once moved, is addressing the over-used but important word “Sustainable.”  What exactly is a sustainable farm system/food system?  How does the organic label play a role in these declarations?  Does it play a role?  Could it play a bigger and more exact role?  How does it shape food?  Health?  And so on.

Most of you know that we began Bluebird Grain Farms because we care about the countryside and care about good food.  Now, 17 years later, we care even more.  We’ve seen how important our offerings are in this tiny place in the West, and how we can influence and educate far beyond our “hood.”  This is intriguing and makes us feel swell indeed for having come this far.  In the coming year, we’re hoping our evolution continues on a  multi-tiered front, and that we can make our engagement with sustainability and good food long lasting. We look forward to that engagement.  We look forward to engaging more folks and are most grateful for all your steadfast support thus far.  I want to believe that no matter what plays out, the consumer drives the bus in the end.

Please stay safe at the end of the year here, and beyond.  Please take care of your neighbors and try your best to keep them healthy as well. Seas are pretty rough at present, but in that roughness there are lessons to be learned.  As always, during the season of giving please give a hand to those so much less fortunate than many of us.

And… you’ll hear from me next year!

Yours, Farmer Sam