Author: Sam Lucy

Sunshine! At least today, with purple finches singing from the bare aspen limbs. Owls fill the night and on cue today, I heard the first red-wing blackbirds along the lower marsh.  Yes, it makes one think of spring, even those of us who love winter. An on and off winter it has been here in the Methow which in some ways makes it seem like a long winter when in reality, we’ve never had 2 feet of snow on the ground.  What we’ve lacked in snow, we’ve made up for in gray, stagnant days. This is the first week we’ve had more than 2 sunny days in a row! 

We’ve gotten moisture in various forms: Rain, snow, fog, mist… and to be sure, we want moisture.  Winter rain here may not be everyone’s favorite, but the year began with well below-average moisture in the North Cascades basin, and now the region is slightly above average!  As I’ve mentioned time and time again, ole’ Mother Nature seems to somehow always even her things out.

The usual challenges come with winter up here at the granary which is nestled tight to the foothills.  Servicing both In and outbound freight becomes much more of a chore and this winter we’ve had a fair amount of ice to go on top. Alas, the Bluebird the granary runs on, 5 days a week, and our tenacious crew keeps things chugging along. We’ve yet to miss an order.  

Following the expected post-holiday lull, February generally begins to pick up in sales and we’re beginning to get busy again this month. Our grains continue to clean and mill well and we sure hope they are helping nourish many a soul.

My thoughts do drift a little by now back to the fields. This spring I’m looking forward to farming Bluebird’s own piece of ground that we bought two years ago. I developed a pivot irrigation system on it this past fall. The ground has been in certified organic alfalfa, and I plan to plow out the stand, then sow it with spring grain. The residual nitrogen from the alfalfa crop should help grow a fine, high-quality stand of grain. On our Big Valley lease, I will be rotating in a season of cover-crop. I’ve not decided yet which mix we’ll use but likely early vetch, then followed up with later season buckwheat? We’ll see what spring soil tests dictate?

As more and more talk circulates about “Regenerative” or “ Restorative” Agriculture, my thoughts stay where they’ve always been in regards to “sustainable” agriculture.  The premise of organic agriculture is keeping the soil alive and well and ideally, in the best shape, it can be. I’m not saying better than Mother Nature here, as there is plenty of proof that Agriculture without question can be detrimental to Nature.  If one studies nature and applies her lessons to what they want to grow, however, the stage is more easily set for the organic process. Carbon sequestering and building a myriad of biology in the soil are not new concepts; in reality, these concepts are quite old.  

I sometimes cringe when I hear the term “Conventional Agriculture”. It generally is in reference to “Big Ag.” as opposed to organic. Or at least, non-organic.  Really, it has only become “conventional” in the past 75 years. What might or should be more conventional, perhaps, is actually growing nutritious food and in a manner that keeps the by natural carbon sequestering through building proper and varied soil biology. Continuous crop rotation, minimal tillage and lots of cover crops without chemicals is one proven way to achieve this. The end result: Health.

Misfortune in our food system and thus, our health system has ridden the coattails of high chemical input farming.  This continues and yet at the same time, the organic food sales continue to sore – now at 5% of the overall purchases. With this growth, of course, comes growth in production. This paradigm plays out with little, if any, federal subsidies.  

Here at Bluebird, our ethics haven’t changed – farming-wise or food-wise. We like to grow and eat good food! And as we partner with other growers, we are supporting these same ethics and trying to bolster a solid marketplace for their devoted efforts. Treating the soil, and our food with respect certainly can reap its own rewards. However, farming is not cheap -, particularly without a market safety net.

Ultimately, it is you the consumer that rewards our efforts and helps us spread the news.  Call it “conventional news” or unconventional or, well good news:  What is good for the soil is good for us.  For this, we are most grateful. These are my later winter thoughts as the light lengthens and new smells begin to seep out despite the ice rink surrounding the Bluebird granaries…

Yours, Farmer Sam

Chickadees and finches have returned to the backyard bringing along their cheer through a week or more of intermittent “ice fog”, that has layered the Rendezvous as we nudge up against Winter Solstice.  As I jot these notes, talk is of the first real storm of the season?  Bringing our first substantial snow and hopefully not too much rain.  Timely, indeed. We all will welcome the fresh and quiet of white to sanctify the season.  As well, December is one of our biggest precipitation months here in the arid West so we appreciate any moisture.

Here at the granary, the little elves have been staying busy with many of your holiday orders, while our distributors bulk up for the season of merry eating.  The usual freight challenges also come with the season up here, but as far as I know, we’ve not missed an order to date, and I have our great staff here to thank for this.

It continues to impress me how much product we’ve cranked out of our funky, little operation up here in the foothills of the North Cascades.  Many of you may have heard rumors of us trying to get a new facility going elsewhere and to be sure this is heavy in planning. Yet going into our 15th year, we’ve made it work from here – crazy as it is at times.  And this in part is due to the dedication of many of you for this entire time. Thank you.

One of the many things Brooke organizes each year is our employee Christmas party.  For the second year, we were treated by our good friend John at Tappi to a glut of wood-fired food and perhaps Italian vino at his wonderful establishment in Twisp.  Our crew is most deserving and I enjoyed being able to kick back with all of them and NOT think about work!

The holidays are can be a  complicated time for many.  It is unfortunate but even though we needn’t more reminders of those less-fortunate, this season often can further bring this fact to light.  As we head into the new year encourage everyone to do something nice not only for those you love but perhaps for someone you know in dire need as well. Rejoicing in the spirit of Christmas, after all, is peace on earth.  It is our responsibility to see to this peace.  To be sure, we’ve plenty of work ahead of us.  So, as the dark days bring us soft snow, flitting birds and quiet nights, in this responsibility of peace on earth, let us join together.

Yours, Farmer Sam

A more succinct November eve I can not imagine as I write these notes. The barren land and empty trees; the sharp light and golden grass; the deep and tangy smell of rotted earth all sanctify one of my favorite of months. You’ve all heard it here before, yet just returning from a walk below our Big Valley lease with the Labs I can not help myself. All this, still and quiet and real, even after the coolest, wettest late September and October here, that I can recall.  

Truth to tell, the fields have been very quiet – not just here but West-wide. We feel fortunate to have harvested – barely- what was left of our crops toward the end of September. A small window enabled this before closing in. Elsewhere in the State, and from here to the Great Plains miles and miles and miles of crops will be left to mold. So the story will be told, and who knows who will be farming next season, and who may not be? This is the precarious edge farmers walk:  top-heavy with overhead operating costs, while often paid out at the bottom. It may be called a “Natural Disaster” by some; others can’t help but think man has played a role. Trying to farm too much? Farming in ways that deplete the countryside? Changing the air quality, temperature, soil structure? All a much more involved topic than I’ll engage in here, yet all very real.  

Back to our little scene here in the Methow, yes we’ve had a rough go the past couple months. Alas, we still feel better off than many and so we are grateful and humble. The last of the summer birds are gone with nighttime temps in the teens. Around the Full Hunter’s Moon of October as I strolled up the drive I heard flight after flight of geese cruising in the blue light. Chickadees rustle in the creek bottom each morning; hawks and eagles roam the daytime skies while owls own the dark. On today’s late afternoon walk to the river, there in the path sat a pair of handsome ruffed grouse more than likely gorged on fermented wild rosehips. Both dogs looked at me wondering why we’d not brought along a gun. Fair enough. I was happy just to see them and recognize their stately beauty.

The past 6 weeks in the granary couldn’t have been much busier. Lots and lots of pallets out the door. Lots and lots of fresh flours and grains to local stores and packed in the mail. Early fall and winter makes for good eating! And so we are grateful for all your support.  

This year’s crops hit high quality once again. Once more, the two ancient wheats, the emmer, and einkorn held up through it all. We should have supply enough for the coming cycle. Unfortunately, I was unable to do any fall seeding as the window closes down fast after early September, and this year, that is when all the weather hit. This will change our rotation come spring and I’ll be re-adjusting our plan over the winter. I’d hoped to do some fall tillage, but now I’m afraid the ground is frozen. However, November could be mild enough?

As fires rage again in California, and snowstorms repeatedly hit the Prairie one can almost feel guilty here in the foothills where we look forward to the resting land, so hushed, it is almost audible.

I send my warm wishes to all as you gather around for the kick-off of the holidays. I hope you all can find light and hopefully more than a thing or two to be grateful for. Get the oven warm and feast on the bounty that – despite her orneriness at times – Mother Nature always somehow provides.

Yours, Farmer Sam

Indeed, summer weather held off a long while this year.  As we close out August here the temperature has just now hit the 90’s for two straight days!  But only two. And so far, we are grateful for mostly clear, no-smoke skies. Phew! Lots of tinder now, however, so we are ever watchful.  Still and all, it has been as pleasant of a summer as I can recall in the Methow.

Just yesterday I saw young bluebirds on the lawn by the apple tree, grubbing about.  And I even heard a chickadee in the distance. The swallows have left and the wrens are gone as well.  Cowbirds gather and only a couple of tenacious hummingbirds remain. Although the temps seem to be cranking up, daylight is dropping, the sun’s slant is leaning toward equinox and September’s mellow cadence. Katydids and crickets fill the evening air and raptors have begun to shadow the hillsides. This all said true fall is a ways off to be sure.

Meanwhile, I harvested our first einkorn this week with the ole’ Gleaner purring right along under perfect harvest skies. Our first yields are slightly above average; I suspected the cooler summer might be favorable toward our grains. I will move up to the Big Valley here soon to harvest those fields of einkorn and emmer and we’ll see if this nice pattern continues.

I suppose harvest under the intense, slanting sunlight after cooling nights and the slower dawns and the leaving birds, is about as ageless a human connection to the land as there is.  Even when we were hunters and gatherers – maybe more so actually. I know it never is lost on this farmer and when other things may not seem right in the world, this simple or not so simple truth –  always reminds me of what feels good. For this I am grateful.

And so we try to bring a little of this to you customers and Bluebird enthusiasts in most everything we package.  Sales have been steady for our dry goods here the past month. We are hoping for our usual up-tick here as we get into fall.  Inventory looks to hold strong. Let’s hope our back do!

In and around harvest I’ll be prepping our fall grain plantings.  For sure, I’ll be putting in our “Treebeard rye” in the next week or so. I’m still undecided on trying some winter red wheat but will decide soon.  The field I was considering trying this on I may wait another year and do one more round of cover crop depending on what soil test tells me. Also, I’ll be treating the grain stubble with digester, and beginning to work it in. We will be on a spring cover crop cycle for a lot of our fields due to rest next year so not many winter peas this fall.

School is back in session next week!  Please be extra cautious on the roads for tall and small students and parents.  No texting!!!

Our journey back to New Hampshire earlier in the month was delightful.  Other than leaving our dogs behind, we hardly thought about the farm as we knew it was in good hands.  Upon return, ole’ Tucker was delighted and young Clyde had grown another 10 pounds! He is now 6 months and pretty much a true joy, althoughTucker might get tired at times of Clyde’s puppy energy level.  Next month birds for real, Mr. Clyde!

The celebration we had for my parents lives out behind the old Hereford barn couldn’t have been more fitting and fulfilling.  So many great folks that they touched over 90 + years showed up to bid farewell. And so they will be rightly missed as a totally new chapter begins.  These Farmer Notes are dedicated to you Chet and Lydge (my parents). Peace as you take the eternal rest together.

Farmer Sam

It’s been a busy month here at Bluebird. All the young birds have fledged, even the natty little house wrens that seem to always take up a nesting spot on the porch rafters of, well, our house!  Right above where I sip my morning cup as the sun works its way up the back of Ramsey Peak, where it likes to pop out these days. Young bluebirds flit about the apricot tree, sometimes dipping to the birdbath there while at others, they swoop back up to their box. Robins and robins and robins hunt around the watered lawn. I marvel at their deftness as they pull worms from the ground and never, ever have I seen them break one!

I can not recall a July as cool and pleasant as this one. We’ve even had a few showers and it was just the other day that temperatures rose to 90 for the first time all season!  Fine with this farmer, and I believe most. Perfect weather for growing grain and perfect, cooler weather for our basin here where we had below-average snowpack.  On our later planted grain – the emmer we put in June 1st – I never turned on the irrigation until the second week of this month. Now, with the emmer all heading out I’m watering deeper but will be shutting the water down for good by the month’s end. Very little supplemental watering on that crop could be a good thing?

On the earlier planted einkorn, I turned the water off for the season a week ago. As it tosses about on thin stalks in the recent wind – acting more like a spring-full river than a field of grain – it is beginning to turn color from an almost lime green when it begins to head, to a slow tannish tint as it begins to ripen. A month from now it should be ready to reap. So far, the crop looks really strong.

We mowed and grew out our winter peas well into this month, finally just taking them down a week or so ago. Lots of available nitrogen there, where I’m thinking of sowing an older variety of red winter wheat this year.  Our spring pea cover crop we worked in as well, and I let it go a little further than I wanted so I’m backing that cover crop up with a mid-summer crop of buckwheat plow-down.  Here, I’ll sow our killer winter “Treebeard” rye…late August.

Levi and Tanner, our two new hires, have been doing well here at the granary where the summer lull of orders has been somewhat welcome so that these guys can get their feet on the ground before the usual pick-up in sales beginning next month.  So nice to have some solid help here, again! And help that takes initiative. Thank you, guys!

And young Clyde is trucking along in the fields, in the streams and generally getting the “lay-of-the-land” with some help from ole’ Tucker.

We are headed on our annual pilgrimage back to my “homeland” in New England. This will be the first trip for us when both my parents will be gone. During our visit, we will be having a mighty celebration in honor of their lives.  In true fashion, we’ll be having it out behind one of the barns – known as “Uncle Fred’s” barn –  in one of the pastures that have been farmed there for 200 years. I guess this “farm thing” has been in our family a while.

Upon return, I’ll be getting the Gleaner all spiffed up and suspect we’ll be ready to harvest the first of our grains mid-late August. This, of course, is very weather dependent. For right now, we’re all very grateful that we’ve no big fires around here yet, and we’re “smoke-free.”  So…

Please enjoy the turn to the second part of summer!  It seems to be going by awful fast.

Yours, Farmer Sam

Two months have come and gone since my last Notes.  As has Summer Solstice. Time waits for no one, truth to tell.  Country living with the rain and birds and wind, or in the city where traffic and morning commute sets the rhythm – it seems to make little difference insofar as the pace of the passing time.  

Plenty has happened in 2 months here at Bluebird Grains,  including spring planting, spring growing, and even spring mowing!  A whole repertoire of birds and birdsong beginning early spring with the meadowlarks, the wonderful snipe, robins, has graduated to tanangers, sparrows and wrens.  The tanangers had a hold on the noisiest early morning birds, until now when the house wrens seem to have taken over. All the while, lots of quail, grouse and our beloved bluebirds… back at the oldest, least kept up bluebird house we have around our yard.  Same every year. Blessed they are!

With all of Nature so busy, I figured I better get with it myself and after spring cultivation I planted our first einka field on May 2 – 3rd.  It rowed nicely in a weeks’ time. Then I moved up the valley to continue on with more einka and emmer. Here is when things sort of stalled out for a bit, as we lost our main granary operator.  Not the best of timing, however, we were over-loaded with orders so I got to step back into my old-time granary role.  

It was interesting being alone in the granary for the first time in quite a while.  I got to review our systems – daily! And I found my own rhythm as I contemplated what it is we truly do here to make Bluebird products so desirable.  Processing grains we know well and on a custom basis,  is the main cornerstone to consistent quality, and to our family farm. Particularly the hulled wheat (einkorn and emmer) as they hull fairly similarly, yet are two pretty different grains.  Once they are hulled, then graded, their end use differs in some cases as well. We all know the boldness and chewy delight that our emmer offers. The einkorn is much more petite and is sought after more for flour than the emmer in some cases. The fresh milled einka flour has a sweet aroma like no other.  At the same time, it is terrific as a lighter whole grain in broth or chilled for salads.    

I love both the emmer and einkorn but here again, in different ways. Agronomically, the emmer has a lot of “get-go” wherein once sown, it jumps out of the soil in 5-6 days and keeps going.  It’s a thinner leafed plant, wispy almost, but keeps growing every day. The einkorn germinates as quick as the emmer in many cases, but once it is up, it seems to sit around forever to “make its move”.  Therefore, it is not as “competitive” with undesirables (weeds) as is the emmer. That said,  about any day now, certainly early July, and einka will take off. I swear, it grows a foot a week for about 3 weeks and ends up towering over all else.  Including the emmer.

The einka is a stubbier plant to begin with, and that heftier straw structure enables it to stand tall as opposed to the emmer which in heavy weather will sometimes go down (lodge) as its heads of grain are heavier than the wispier stalk.

Our strain of einkorn wheat, which we’ve worked years on selecting premium seed from, goes black when it cures.  The emmer turns a really light, almost tan. But wait! We’ve got a lot of growing left to do before all that. Fact, we’ve got to get back to the planting…  

I picked back up field work late-May and sowed the rest of the einkorn, and emmer at the end of May, finishing on the first of June.  Both crops rowed quickly, and have had a good month of growing. I’ve yet to irrigate either of the later crops, as there was a lot of moisture in the soil profile, and why irrigate weeds?  Let the grain go. I was getting close to adding water here at the months’ end when lo, after a week of wind, rain, and small hail. And the rain! I think it better, always to let Nature do the watering if possible.  Not having to irrigate a crop for a month after planting I feel will be a good thing.

Meanwhile, we’ve got a few new charges around here.  In late April, I went over the mountains and collected Clyde, our third black Lab in a row now;  second from the same kennel. He came out of the ground quickly, and has been growing ever since!!  What a fundamental joy he has been, to shadow 9-year-old Tucker around the fields, in the ditches, on the trail, and someday in the blind.  Lucky him! Lucky us.

What’s more, we have brand new help in the granary with Tanner White stepping in right after high school graduation, and more recently, Levi Knox who plans to be our lead for a long time to come.  Great guys, both of them. Welcome aboard!

June has been sweet.  July and its heat and hopefully clear days will pull all those June juices up to fruit.  When I write next, we should have a good idea about the crops. So, welcome summer… sort of? 38 degrees and damp this morning, but we’ll take it!

Yours, Farmer Sam

Spring! Sort of. Truth to tell, the birds all seem to think spring is here though April has come along begrudgingly.  I’ve begun the seasonal habit of taking coffee on the south porch as opposed to fireside, to better hear and see what really is going on.  From this perch I’ve been listening to both ruff and blue grouse in their separate drumming rituals: The Ruff down along the creek; the Blues up along the greening hills.  Robins galore, towhees, flycatchers, meadowlarks, and our beloved bluebirds. Geese honk about along the valley below. We had the first hummingbird show yesterday and today all at once, swallows!  These early arrivals have worked hard to set my mind at ease after the winter’s peculiar sightings. Alas, perhaps “the world” has not lost total alignment after all?

That fast right around the Spring Equinox, winter let go.  The mercury rose to the 60’s and during the final week of March, almost all of the snow here at the granary disappeared.  The good news is that the moisture went right into the soil profile. The not-so-good, there wasn’t a lot of moisture content in our mostly cold, fluffy snow.  That goes not only for here in the foothills, but up in the North Cascades as well. Quite different than the past couple springs indeed, when we had large volumes of surface water.

Once again, however, we’ve had a delayed beginning to the farming season, just as with the past two springs. This April we’ve had enough consistent rain showers to keep the awakening fields just a tad too wet for travel.  To be sure, we could run the machines out there but one can go backward in a hurry by getting on the soil when it is too moist still.

Compaction is the main concern. On the whole, compaction is a major issue with soils worldwide.  What I look for when I check the soil is to collect a bunch in my hand and squeeze it in my fists.  The ball I make I want to be moist, but it should crumble apart fairly easily. If it sticks tight together and doesn’t have any crumbling qualities, it is still too wet. Not only will tractor tires exacerbate the compaction, but the soil must flow through whatever implement we are running, too. If the soil sticks to the discs or plugs up in cultivators or worse, the seed drill,  then unevenly distributed soil or seed inevitably will come back to haunt.

The worst issue with compaction is an anaerobic soil profile. This results when oxygen and biology are smashed from the soil. Correcting compaction can be a long process, too. Sometimes it takes several seasons.  Here again, if we start with good biology, our soils are less susceptible to compaction.  Let’s not forget plants need water and adding water, either through supplemental irrigation or from the sky, is also the main contributor to compaction. Look up the impact of one raindrop sometime if you are curious.

With that dissertation behind us now, we’ll likely be able to get on our fields this week! Which is about when we did last year and the year before. Both of which proved to be good crop years and so…

It’s been a busy week here at Bluebird, as we cleaned up our first batch of einka seed. My goal is to get some grain planting done during the latter half of the month, as close to the full moon as possible.  Alas, I’ve got to sow some early season cover crop on a couple of our smaller fields, first. I missed the winter peas window on these fields last fall. Then, I’m hoping to sow in some einka after a couple of rounds of light cultivation and then adding our nutrients. I’ll move up the valley from there, and keep rolling with the same program. At least that is the hope! By the next newsletter, I’ll be able to report!

We had a very strong first quarter here at the granary thanks to many of you. People just can’t seem to get enough of our einka flour, our whole grain emmer, our cereals, and the likes!  We love it!

Here’s to enjoying the awakening once again, of Mother Earth. Please keep her always in mind and tread lightly.

Yours, Farmer Sam

The mercury is finally above 20 and Spring Equinox is here. Alas, the birds are the reminder that daylight grows and, true enough, daytime now runs 6 to 6. Ahh, the bird….

What a wacky winter for birds. I know this has been the “Farmer Notes” theme season-long but I can’t help myself! We had the bluebird family here around winter solstice – completely goofy. We’ve had robins on and off all winter. Red-wing blackbirds showed early in February in some spots, and have yet to show in others where they always have by mid-February. At one point with the mildest of December and January in many years, I began to think we might be in for a very early spring. But no; February was as cold as any I can recall, and here winter is rolling on right into March.  As “they” say: Go figure…

Figure this, no two years are alike. As a farmer colleague in North Dakota once claimed: “I’ve witnessed 39 unusual farming seasons in a row.” With that in mind, I’m guessing all is well. Our snowpack has grown and with this moisture gain, I’m leaning toward a later spring, as the previous two have been. The “3-year trend” here in the Methow seems to be a later start to winter and a later finish. Truth to tell, we’ve just had our two latest farming starts and two of our earliest harvest in 2017/2018.  ?? So, Mother Nature continues to make amends and continues to keep us on our toes. I’d have it no other way.

The juggling act of being a producer/processor, as is the case here at Bluebird, in many ways connects the seasons altogether. When we fire up the cleaning line to run weekly orders and we see the hard, deep-colored emmer kernels released from their shiny, bright hulls and go pouring onto the gravity table, another season entire is brought to our senses – snowstorm be damned! It is that sun-cured, summer ripened season that graces many a palate year round no matter what the calendar reads. This is what brings such pleasure to this farmer. This sanctifies what we do at Bluebird, with the final joy being able to share the richness with so many of you.

By producing these grains and then truly custom milling them, not only do we get to know our food from plow to plate but so do you! I’m not sure there is another way to ensure the freshness, and therefore the flavor other than doing the cleaning and milling on an as-need basis.  When we fire up our flour mill and the whole grain einka gets ground into a light, fluffed sweet smelling flour as it does every Monday, we know your customers are getting the soft, amber light of a season released.  And, thanks to so many of you, we’ve had a busy past month cleaning and milling and delivering the goods for sure!

This upcoming farming season – and yes, it will come – I’m going to concentrate on really growing out our seed stock for the einka and emmer.  We’ve now been growing these two Mother wheats many years here in north-central Washington – the Methow in particular – and therefore feel we’re nailing down some of the best of these varieties for this northern climate.  By next month, we will be selecting some of the “best of the best” and making sure we plant this seed out. Now that we’ve arrived at the consistent, nutrient-rich grains that we’ve had the past 3 years, we want to ensure that the seed stock from these crops flourishes for seasons to come. Seed selection and seed saving, after all, has been the age-old cornerstone to all farming. As some of these tricks to the trade get ever impinged upon, it is even more important to keep this tradition alive for the generations to come. When all is said and done, if Bluebird accomplishes nothing else, we hope to at least accomplish this.

I look forward to sharing next months “Notes” when it is…. Spring??!!

Yours, Farmer Sam

The New Year is barely a month old and one can already feel time slipping away! How can this be? To use one of my daughters once upon a time go-to lines when frustrated as a child: “Not Fair.” Well, I suppose fairness is as an objective assumption as any, yet it just doesn’t seem fair! But what about that Wolf Moon eclipse!!  Now there was a fair sight to behold.

I believe I left off last years notes with some concern about the “order” of things as I reeled from seeing bluebirds in our yard the middle of December. I wish I could say I resolved this mystery, or that I witnessed no further oddities but this isn’t the case. True the bluebirds moved on but just yesterday while walking the dogs along the creek I heard the unmistakable voice of the robin. Truth to tell, I’ve heard them off and on this winter and remember seeing them in our drainage earlier in December. I also observed a shift in migratory wildfowl while out hunting this season… one that left our freezer a little low I might add! Word was a significant change in bird activities this winter… even the experts say.

So what does this mean for farming and grains and flours?  Hmmm…. Although the winter has been perhaps milder than some, we are catching up on precipitation here in the eastern foothills of the North Cascades.  Following a lovely, albeit dry fall, this first half of winter has brought several smaller storms from the south that have gradually added up. As of this writing, I believe snowpack is about average, and given that the ground never totally froze before the insulation, already I anticipate good infiltration of the soils come spring.  This will also help our fall cover peas which we’re finding are really helping the health of our spring grains.

The emmer we’re running right now is off of our Big Valley lease and I have to say is about the best crop I’ve grown. Our clean out is low (percentage loss of unusable grain) and the density and color very deep and consistent. This has to be attributed to our soil fertility – part of which is the winter peas in the rotation, of course, the weather is always a factor and… well, maybe good farming practices? Too many things out of my control factor into a given crop, so I’m always reluctant to take much credit. For you inspiring farmers out there, take note. It’s amazing how much more I thought I knew about farming 25 years ago!

The granary crew is delighted with the growing daylight and dropping temperatures – well, at least the growing daylight. Traveling up the sometimes plowed and sanded Rendezvous to work by itself can be fun. Then plugging in cold tractors and hoeing out grain wagons and plowing out the driveway and granary and scheduling out-going freight and then meeting trucks …  Truly, they are doing a swell job. After the predictable post-holiday lull, we are cranking again in full form with orders pressing time-lines. Just the way we like it!

We had another year of growth in 2018 thanks to all of you faithful and all of you new!  For this, we are very grateful. We love the idea of offering fresh grains and flours – the majority still grown here in the Methow – far and wide.  Yes, I have to admit that it is hard sometimes to send our “primo”  emmer far and wide yet not everyone in Washington is hooked -yet! And our einkorn flour seems to be almost as popular! We mill A LOT of einkorn flour each week and it may well be our most popular flour.

So… keep baking and cooking and eating this year!  We love it. We promise to keep doing the important parts of what we do in keeping the soils strong and our grains tasty and working more to spread this ethic to others down the road.

Yours, Farmer Sam

And another year has come to pass. At times it is easy to think it has all been a blur, yet if/when one can find time to reflect and can begin piecing the year back together a bit at a time well, the pieces can easily fill up a year.

Winter should be this time for reflection: short light, colder days and a seemingly slower pace.  Good time for holidays as there suddenly seems to be more time to gather round and count one’s blessings even after checking off, perhaps, substantial losses. Does life come full circle at the end and the beginning of the years? For some.

Birds bring so much into focus as I still think they are always sanctifiers of Nature. Generally, if the birds are doing what they “should be doing” such as migrating at the “right time”, singing at the right time, hatching at the right time and so on, all is bright in the world.  Which confounds this farmer even more, for I’ve been trying to make sense of our beloved bluebirds! Not a week before Christmas I was standing in our kitchen one morning and looked out to see a flock of birds in the apricot tree.  Upon closer inspection, and with the confirmation from Brooke, indeed they were a small group of bluebirds. What’s more, they all soon were fluttering around the nesting box they’d hatched from in early June! What?? There are a number of ways to get hold of us here at Bluebird – none of which I really know how to use: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest  (thrust?) etc. But please, please enlighten me to why winter Bluebirds? I have a couple hunches but none are satisfying. So…. I look forward to hearing from y’all.

Meanwhile, “Santa’s Workshop” here at the granary was whirring away indeed this past month.  Lots of gift basket orders thanks to so many of you. Lots of local stores bulking up on our dry goods for the holidays, as well as many distributor accounts and a variety of home bakers. It is our pleasure to service one and all. The fun of ferrying freight out of the Rendezvous has begun in earnest with the first snows, yet despite the complications that winter weather can sometimes present, I’m mostly glad for the snow and cold and extra challenge because if it were otherwise this time of year well, it just wouldn’t seem “right”!

The workshop crew came through shining and we are grateful to our entire staff here – some quite new – some longtime employees.  One and all deserved the nice holiday dinner Tappi in Twisp hosted for us just before Christmas, where we were treated to a scrumptious 5-course meal highlighted by baked split emmer with cheese topping, and slow roasted pork.  Wonderful Italian wine helped us digest it all and it was a fine celebration to end another year. This past week between the two holidays is the only week that Bluebird shuts down during the year. Fear not, the milling line will soon be back running to mill new flour orders and clean more batches of our hulled grains that are cleaning beautifully this year.

Please keep those less fortunate in mind during this joyous time for many, yet hellish time for many others. Please keep the faith that the winter bluebirds are a harmless oddity that will be explained satisfactorily. Please hold hands and embrace one another and, above all, our Mother.

You’ll hear from me soon next year!

Peace, Farmer Sam

“The desolate, deserted trees,

The faded earth, the heavy sky,”

Oh, I can’t help but quote Robert Frost’s My November Guest when one of my absolute favorite months settles in.  Indeed the trees are bare, and skies have turned heavy here right around the year’s earlier Thanksgiving.  This, however, only after weeks and weeks of stunning high pressure with crisp blue sky, lengthening shadows, and a quiet that stretched across these foothills.  Tis’ the time of year I swear I can hear the earth sigh as she begins a winters’ rest following the business of summer, and all of its demands

Seems we could have used more rain this fall. A few systems came through in early October but really we never ended up with the measures we would have liked, particularly following the dry summer.  I’ve mentioned before that we count on fall moisture here to open up the parched soils after a dry summer, so that the following (hopefully!) snow can percolate down into the profile come spring.  Our ground is not yet frozen, but we’ve very little snow cover so far and surely it could freeze any time.

Alas, a sure sign of the changing season: Waxwings in our elderberry bush, chickadees and finches back at the feeder while a few stubborn robins still prowl the creek bottom for chilly worms I suppose.  Owls hoot outcome dusk and a few hawks still sore along the hillsides but most, too, have left.

The extended good weather enabled Jolly and me to finish up fall tillage in pretty good shape. The winter peas enjoyed the cool, sunny days and should go into the winter at a solid growth stage to fix next years nitrogen.  We were able to get an extra tractor back up here to the granary to help with winters work: plowing, loading freight etc. Oh, and pulling people out of snowbanks!

This year’s crop continues to clean and mill very well. The granary has been steady all fall, and now with the end of the year holiday’s upon us, we are anticipating the usual bustle in our packaging room. We were delighted to see so many new faces at our annual Open House and Granary tours Thanksgiving weekend. One thing Brooke and I sometimes miss being in the day to day is the perspective from the outside. Smiles and very generous compliments from so many certainly helps sanctify what we’ve set out to do here at Bluebird. So, THANK YOU all!

Other big thanks or at least something I’m always grateful for is Mother Earth.  Mother always seems to give us what we need to survive.  We can’t always understand why Mother behaves the way she sometimes does.  With the recent violent fires in California, and heavy flooding on the East Coast and often times general “Mayhem”… understanding can be a stretch.  And acceptance even harder. My heart goes out to all and although these misfortunes shouldn’t be reason alone to count our own blessings, they certainly serve as good reminders of how fast things can change, and sometimes change for the worse.

So… be grateful! Be grateful for the gray skies, the blue skies, the snow the rain the withered fruits the soggy field. This is the season to rejoice in what we have and certainly to lend a hand for all those less fortunate. Enjoy this final season of the year by spreading peace.

Yours, Farmer Sam

To be sure this October has been fine as any I can recall. Following the sowing of our winter peas we received a good ½ inch of rain here – our first, really, since May.  And after some mountain snows and blustery early October weather, the high pressure settled in. For almost two weeks now we’ve had carbon copy days of “Indian Summer” weather wherein the nightly lows in the high 20’s, soar up to daytime highs in the 60’s with nothing but blue skies and the countryside dappled in orange, red, purples and tans. Glory be!As mellow and lovely a landscape one could ask for.

This is the weather that might make one want to just lay down on a grassy slope, mid-afternoon, and stare up at the hawks and harriers soaring above.  Or listen to the late season crickets and the rustle of birds scratching up fallen seed and squirrels gathering up for the northern winter.

Scores of robins awaken and each morning just after dawn, and fly about the creek and rose-hips and what’s more, we’ve seen gatherings of western bluebirds and their unreal blue dot the now crisp shrub-steppe seemingly far later in the season than usual. These birds apparently enjoy the extended weather as much as farmers.  At dusk, one might here to hoo-hoo of the Great Horned perched in the aspen above the creek.  The owl’s low and steady voice surely puts an end to the purring quail talk as they get ready to roost.  Sometimes there are no sounds at all; the hum of silence perhaps the most profound.

I’ve applied our microbial straw digesters on the grain fields, and disked in the heaviest of our straw and sown the winter cover crops. To date, the peas have poked up and the warmer afternoons are giving them a good kick and hopefully they will reach 2-3 leaf stage before the ground freezes, and/ or it snows.  I’ve more field work to do if time allows, such as chisel plowing and a few other tillage activities.  That said, we’ve been most consumed up here at the granary where orders have been fast and furious!

Our new crop emmer continues to clean very well, and we are getting big cuts of #1 whole grain emmer when we hull. No sweeter aroma than fresh hulled emmer and custom milled emmer flour. The cooler mornings have our daughters requesting emmer pancakes often these days, and so “quality control” of our Bluebird goods has come front and center.

Yesterday I received the first load of hard white spring wheat from our grower Tom Stahl in Waterville. Once again, the wheat had excellent weight and falling numbers, and tested over 14% protein.  So, way to go Tom!  Even though Tom grows under dry land conditions, he uses similar fertility as we do at Bluebird:  Green crop rotation (generally peas) liquid fish and some pilled soft rock phosphate and calcium blend. The kernels look beautiful and I’ve little doubt that it will mill up into fine, yellowish whole grain flour good for baking just about anything.

As daylight wanes this time of year, shadows lengthen and this is my favorite time to be out on the land. I hope that all of you get the chance to enjoy this hallowed time of year. Be careful of the gloom spooks!  And all the little tricksters out there emerging from the great pumpkin patch! Now that I think about it, was that an owl after all??

Yours, Farmer Sam