Author: Sam Lucy

Sandhill cranes sanctified the autumn equinox, making their punctual southbound journey way up in our September sky just a couple days before the “official” calendar date. Each September, I anticipate their lofty chatter. Sure enough this year we heard them, and then looked way up to see 100’s scarcely below the puffy afternoon clouds: at times resting by catching the thermals and riding round and round, before continuing on. Epic. Ancient. Humbling.

Besides the changing colors of the Oregon grape, the aspen trees, and the serviceberry one other mark of autumn is Harvest! This year’s harvest will go on record as the earliest in the history of Bluebird.  Amidst the sometimes dungeon of smoke here, and finally a couple of clearer days in the end, we finished harvest on August 31^st! Never have we finished cutting before September. Some years we’ve barely gotten started by then. Alas, the grains were ripe and the equipment held up with nominal repairs required and our trusty truck driver Jolly and I went to it. What’s more, it was a decent crop with an over-all average yield and good quality with a second year now of absolutely no weather damage. I’m not saying I like these smoky, dry summers but it does seem to make for good harvesting.

Each year I know less about what actually makes a good crop. So many factors play into it surely has to be a combination of things. What I’ve determined is one has to set a plan, try and keep to that schedule, and be ready to change everything. And certainly, it makes little sense to try and anticipate any particular results. Simple!

I believe some of the quality of this year’s crop is attributed to our fertility program, yet we had a cool summer as well. The only real heat came the last 10 days in July and early August and then when the smoke settled in, the smoke actually kept the temps. well below average for August.  Our emmer and einkorn are so close to being wild grasses; grasses like it cooler so… maybe the grains thrived due to this? That is one of this year’s theories.

I’m not sure we’ve had as busy of a later August and September at the granary. Lots of bulk and retail orders weekly and we literally were hauling some loads of emmer straight into our cleaning line to process orders. Field to Table? This grain is about as fresh as grain gets I suppose, and our emmer is cleaning very well again this year. Very pleasing. Kent and Jorge are doing a fine job cleaning and milling up all the orders, including keeping the gals (Tiffany and Sheah) fully stocked for a glut of retail orders from all over. Thank You!

Tom Stahl our wheat growing up in Waterville has cut our hard red spring wheat and reports the protein tests to show over 14%. This is a premium reading. Now he is into our hard white spring and he feels since it is seeded on similar ground, results should also be good. Go, Tom!

September has been cool and finally, the smoke has cleared out for good and this comes as a luxurious reprieve for all of us here. We’ve still not had more than a rain shower since May but the irrigation supply held up due to the big recharge last winter. I was able to use our pivots to apply digester to our grain straw – a combination of humates and microbes – and here at the month’s end I’m busy using our no-till  drill to sow Austrian winter peas on a couple fields that are due to be rotated out and given a year’s rest form grain. In October we’ll begin fall tillage, primarily working down the grain stubble now that the digester has had a chance to begin “chewing” on the stalks for a few weeks. This helps turn the straw into more soil, ultimately, and by kick-starting the decomposing with microbes, less nitrogen is needed to break down the biomass. Which, with both the emmer and particularly the einkorn, we have a lot of!

As I mention most every year, fall is my favorite as the shadows lengthen along the hillsides, birds gather, fat clouds seem to stall overhead and the whole of the earth comes close to stillness.  September is perhaps the mellowest month of all, with October a coming treat unto itself.

Please remember the ritual of school this time of year, as well.  And all the little ones are on the streets, and darting around so… be mindful driving. And enjoy this beautiful season!

Yours, Farmer Sam

We all know much can change from month to month. Here in the Methow following as nice of a June/July as I can recall, August arrived with our first wildfires of the year. The good news: fires held off until August this year! The bad: the West is stuck in this seemingly endless annual fire cycle. And it’s not as bad up here the Northwest as in ravaged California.

Yes, this all affects our weather. Yes, the weather affects agriculture. Yes, these both affect the birds! This past Sunday morning I woke to the voice of a chickadee. I’d not heard a chickadee in a long while. Since it was one of the few mornings all month when the air was relatively not smoky, I had coffee on the porch and soon heard a meadowlark. Just the other day I watched a number of bluebird young dance and splash in the birdbath. And the swallows have gathered and gone. That fast, the waning of summer is upon us.

What troubles me much as anything, however, is while on a dog-walk that Sunday morning I came across a fledgling yellow warbler, alone on the roadside and unable to move. Its bright yellow chest heaved as the bird tried to nestle its head back into its downy shoulder when the dogs and I approached. What had happened I’ve no idea? I was reminded of a line from one of my favorite poets and fellow bird hunter, Jim Harrison. In the poem he’s summer driving across eastern Montana and hits a young meadowlark: “Everywhere we go we do harm…”

When the dogs and I returned baby meadowlark no longer struggled.

Although weeks on end of smoke and nearby fire can sure drum up the gloom spooks, I began harvest mid-month just the same. And our first field of emmer was in excellent shape and ran a strong 15% above average on yield. As did our field of einka.  Both gave the Gleaner a heavy work out, and I managed to have a few mechanical hiccups but all is clear for the time being and I’ve moved onto our fall rye, and just finished our winter wheat crop we planted for seed-stock. Alas, another unexpected change came in: Rain showers!! And temps. below 70!  I’m not sure one could anticipate this for the last week in August – likely the last weekend one would think of for rain– but here we are. A minor hold up on our harvest is more than a fair trade for some cleaner air and a boost for firefighters.

I just moved the combine back down the valley where the majority of our emmer is ripe and waiting. If these fields run anything like our first, we should be in good shape indeed.  Good news for Bluebird, and all Bluebird fans!

This whole time the granary has continued to operate and business remained steady through all.  Our custom milled flours and fresh grains will continue to give us health I hope, and help us survive the vagaries of Mother Nature who always does what’s best, whether convenient for our humankind or not.

I trust the shortening daylight; cooling nights and stirring air will one day tamp down the fires and clear the air for good as autumn gradually weighs in. Meanwhile, try and enjoy the bounty of the season as it so seems to have been a great growing season above all!

Yours, Farmer Sam

Fledgling bluebirds, flycatchers, hummingbirds and yes, wrens! One morning about 3 weeks ago I stepped onto the “coffee” porch for the early hour and suddenly, all was quiet. After a month or more of ‘wreny’ chatter, it had ceased. That fast.  Soon I spied a few chicks taking short flights, and they were gone from the nest above on the rafters for good. Then the bluebird young were at the bath, and the flycatchers took over being the noisy ones. Truth to tell, I’m not sure how/if the “John Deere wrens” survived?  They no longer ride around the granary yard, tucked up in the wiper housing… So I can only hope they are happily off somewhere.Hmmm.

I’m not sure I can recall a prettier July here, with the temperature staying very pleasant all the way up into the final week. We’ve not had any long-lasting fires yet, and just now the skies are getting smoky from Canadian fires. The reprieve, or reprieve until now, we are most grateful for and now are reminded that another bad fire cycle could begin anytime with the real heat is here to stay.

An overview of the grain crop is a positive one at this point. The crop looks strong, hasn’t weathered any real stress at all during the developmental stages and just now is feeling the heat which should prove to be perfect for finishing the grains. With sustained sun and high temperatures, the crop should cure in a classic fashion we often hope for, and receive here, east of the Cascades. I turned the last of the irrigation off on the 23^rd and I look to start harvesting our winter grains in a couple weeks. There should be little lapse in harvest as we head right into all our spring emmer and einkorn after the winter rye and wheat.

It is during this time between irrigation and harvest that I service the ole’ Gleaner, as well as perform mid-summer service on any other machines that may need it. After draining last year’s oil, blasting out the Gleaner’s air filters and topping off fluids after a full greasing, I climb up into the cab, shove the throttle all the way to full, turn on the key and, without fail –even after sitting for 10 months – the Gleaner always fires right up and idles like it has been running every day. Truly amazing!  I had a few sensors that weren’t reading accurately, but that is all remedied for now and near as I can tell; she is “ready to roll”.

Another mid-summer project is turning under our cover crop. We fired up the red demon (aka International 1086 tractor) and began disking down the vetch with the off-set disk. Nice to know these green goodies will protect the soil during the heat, as well as add back a bunch of green nitrogen for next year.

There has been no lull at all with orders at the granary even as the heat settles in. Very lively pace all summer, and we are grateful. Nice to know that we have such a loyal group of buyers both on large scale, and the home users. In our 14^th year now, who would have known!? Guess we better keep on doing more of what we do.

I hope this finds all of you enjoying the full summer. My reprieve has been a few evenings to a favorite trout stream, where our Lab Tucker can wade alongside me while I try and catch dinner. I’m not sure who enjoys this more! Indeed, it soothes the mind and body after working in the heat. Or, in Tucker’s case, sleeping in the heat.

I look forward to reporting on the harvest next month.  Until then, stay cool!

Farmer Sam

The common house wren – easily confused with the winter wren: Tenacious, noisy, spider-man like the way it clings sideways to siding, posts, tree limbs…alas, does not just like houses. For two years now one particular mother has nested up above the exterior lights in our John Deere’s cab. To be exact, directly on top of the wiper motor. This is our smallest tractor that we use mostly around the granary unloading grain, moving totes, pallets, loading freight etc. However, once in a while we do still use this machine in the field.  We were using it earlier this spring, before she returned.

The fact that all the sticks she’d left last year “sticking” out every which away – wren like – was lost on this unobservant soul. Even after I burned out the wiper motor this winter snow plowing. Dah… did I bother to take the top of the cab off, dig out her handy work then button things up again before spring? No.  And of course, she returned. For a month now every time we hop in to use the machine she flutters out and sits on a nearby post, or side of the granary, waiting out the activity so as to return. Just the other day I could hear the chicks, and now she was ever busy back and forth with food.

One characteristic not always associated with wrens is patience, yet she has showed great patience, forced or not, due to her “mobile home” situation. Fair enough; shelter in the driving rain we’ve had a couple times so far; shelter from the building wind. And though I’ve wanted to pull the John Deere and use it in the field for some lighter duty work, I dare not! Did I mention I have an affinity for wrens?

Which brings us to June.  Around here, we often call June “Junuary”. Although not as wet of a month this year as June often promises to be, it has made up for lack of moisture with much cooler temperatures than this May ever had. Truth to tell, this year the two months swapped. There was a light frost in parts of the valley earlier this month, and here it is the end of June with morning temps. still in the 40’s, and daytime barely 70’s. Ideal grain growing conditions. And our grains are digging it.

We are grateful for the supplemental irrigation. As mentioned, we’ve not had a lot of moisture this month but plenty of wind. A couple fairly violent downpours did come through not long ago with small hail. but the crops seemed to have survived. Our earlier plantings have hit flag-leaf stage and I’m applying a second round of fish and sugar at this critical developmental stage in the cycle. From the flag-leaf come the eventual grain heads. And within the next week, some of our emmer will be booting out. From that stage, we’ll get a couple more rounds of irrigation and then be shutting it down to let the curing begin. Wow, the cycle is fast! And intense.

So far I’m pleased with how most of our grains look at this stage. The emmer shows excellent color and uniform growth. How this will play out into the filling cycle of the grain is anyone’s guess and I’d be more the fool for trying to predict. So much can happen between now and harvest. If things go well, I could be harvesting our rye, and possibly our two experimental winter wheats by the end of July. Alas, we’ll have to wait for the next newsletter to report on this.

Meanwhile, I want to give a special thanks to Brad Halm who came on board the “Bluebird” boat 3 years ago and has been a huge help – first in the granary where he ran the processing and milling operation – then transitioned into office work, where he documented many of our systems and also took over keeping track of our sales and was our main contact as far as outreach and marketing. Brad has been a steady, cheerful and thoughtful member of our crew here and we’ll all miss him as he moves on to a new career. We wish him the best in this. At the same time, we welcome back my wife Brooke full time! Brooke will be working along-side me once again, as we steer Bluebird into the next chapter.

Enjoy the long summer light! Surely temps will rise up as the intense sun of July will soon be upon us.

Very best, Farmer Sam

Most all of the Methow’s spring birds have returned, so far as I know. It isn’t hard to know when the house wrens return! This year they arrived the first of May, and have been the voice I wake to most every morning now. Truth to tell, there are far worse things to wake to than the sound of birds. The myriad of morning bird sounds might just be my favorite aspect of spring. The tanagers are now busy building nest in their favorite elderberry bush below the house. As are the Bullock’s Orioles, also late arrivers. The Lazuli Buntings love playing in the emmer hulls scattered about our garden. Perhaps the most distinct sound of all, however, or one I favor as much as any, is the whipped-up crescendo of the Common Snipe, which I can hear morning and evening from our porch as they “helicopter” into the sky from the wetland down the road that I can’t even see! But I hear them, and have watched them with joy many a time doing their peculiar, determined spring mating dance. The last hold-outs: poorwhills and knight jars will soon be coming.

Spring surely rushed in on us this year. The first of May left the rather reticent and cold beginning of this spring far behind. Since, we’ve had about as nice of a May as I can recall:  Lots of ground water, lots of sun and warmth, a couple rains and really not much wind. Wow, what more to ask? The fine weather has enabled me to go full on with field work and planting.  Despite the later beginning, I’m on track to have all our farro in by the time this goes to press. This will be about as early as I’ve had all our grains sown.

I was able to get one field of farro planted right on the cusp of last month’s full moon. This is a split field – half einkorn farro and half emmer farro. Both grains are in their two-leaf stage, and soon will hit their 3-leaf stage. The other fields are all up except the final planting. In fact, given the good soil moisture and the heat some of the emmer shot out of the ground 5 days after sowing! One simply cannot overestimate the power of a seed.

Our cover crops will go in soon to finish up the spring planting. The chickling vetch I’ll drill first, and then later in June I’ll put in buckwheat. I think I’ve finally dialed in the tine-weeder and I’ve harrowed our early grain plantings with it. Next, I’ll top-dress the young grains with the feather meal/calcium blend and soon follow with our first round of fish and sugar so we get maximum benefit by adding the biology and trace minerals of the cold-pressed fish. Following this, at some point I’ll begin our irrigation. Then, then… the growing season. My favorite part.

Confucius said: ‘the best fertilizer for any soil is the footsteps of the farmer.’ Depends on the farmer I suppose. I try not to do a lot of farming from my truck’s windshield and get out on the fields the best I can. Still, one tends to second guess every move in this farming game. The real measure is what one ends up with as far as quality come harvest, and also what is left in the soil for nutrients – a tricky balance without question.

For instance, the compaction that just one raindrop can cause is fairly amazing. With this in mind I really try and use our supplemental water judiciously. Always, I like to let the young plants fight for themselves. By this I mean it is important for young grains to tiller on their own and stress a little so that their root systems develop and develop to better “mine” for minerals. Of course, the minerals have to be there. This year with plenty of moisture a couple inches down, it is hard to say when I’ll begin irrigation. When the plants hit their 3^rd leaf phase is my best guess, as much to apply the fish as anything.

Whatever we did last year sure worked as far as the quality of our farro. I’m most pleased with how it continues to clean and we certainly have been cleaning a lot! Emmer farro has been a hot item for all, so it appears judging from the orders rolling into the granary. It has been a juggling act, more so than usual, as we not only process and mill various custom orders, but also clean up seed stock for planting. I think we’ll let out a sigh when all the seed is where it safely should be: In Mother’s womb!

The wildflowers were full on but already beginning to fade as the light lengthens and we head toward the summer solstice. That fast, so it seems. The Forest Service is prepping us for summer by making sure we get use to a little smoke as they touch off “controlled burns” in various areas around the valley foothills, and beyond. The substantial snowmelt combined with some pretty warm nights have brought the rivers and streams right up to flooding in many areas. Nature rules; all one needs to do for a reminder is to look at the tributaries of the mighty Columbia these past weeks! How does a single fish survive!?

School will soon be out. The long June light will soon ring true. I hope all who read this find some time to enjoy the new beginnings of the season.

Yours, Farmer Sam

April – ever the month of change. On the coat-tails of the wettest spring in years last year, this April is proving to be even more so. Living in what is still classified as a semi-desert climate, as we are here in the Methow, abundant water is always exciting. This spring is proving to be exciting indeed when the seasonal freshets all run true and little potholes that are often dry brim-over and the wildlife seem to rejoice.

Some might call it a delayed spring – others a late winter. Regardless, the first half of April showed no signs of giving in to spring, instead clinging to winter tooth and claw. There were days of the usual biting wind, most nights stayed in the 20’s, and then a rain/snow storm arrived about the second week that proved almost too miserable to go out in! Alas, as I write, glory be… Three days in a row of 70 degrees, full sun, nary a breeze and my oh my is the countryside flowing green! Just now, the aspen are popping, the bunchgrasses are jumping, bluebells, yellowbells, and spring beauties are suddenly accompanied by the signature balsam root.

Two weeks late is a good estimate on the season, if one could ever call Mother Nature “late.” Later than what we may have been used to. Wherein our first hummingbirds just arrived – (two weeks late!). The swallows showed up today; the migratory bluebirds have moved on and now the nesters have arrived. Grouse pound the hillsides with their swollen chests and necks; geese fly every which away. Fact is, just before the last big storm – or last we’d had – I watched flight after flight of geese heading north on a southerly wind.  Only to turn back around! The next day: Rain and snow. Then a couple days later, the weather cleared and Sandhill cranes could be heard day long and the geese finally got straightened around and most all have gone north.

In the fields, we got going a little earlier than last year, only to be shut down for several days. Alas, with the first sustained high pressure for a long while and the accompanying climbing temps, we are rolling. On some of our heavier cropped fields last year that are going back into grain, we’ve had to lightly disk  to break up the surface and “ wake up” the dormant leftover straw that we’d applied digester to last fall. We follow the disking with a culti-packer, which both grooms then firms back up the seedbed. As well, the culti-packer spreads around the straw so the fields truly do look “mulched.” There is plenty of subsurface moisture so we’ll easily be able to sow seed right into the germination zone. 10 days ago the soil temperature was 43 degrees FH, today, it is up to 57 and plenty warm for grain to germinate.

The combination of mulching and the lighter use of our tine-weeder, plus a good start for earlier seeding is this year’s strategy for weed suppression and a healthy crop-stand. I’ll let you know how it worked in September! On our fields coming out of seasonal cover-crop last year, instead of disking we run the field cultivator since there isn’t the straw residue to manage. We are doing this as some earlier; deeper rooted weeds had begun before we could safely get on the fields without causing compaction.

The rock picking is always good in the wind and wet ground! Finally, we’ve gained on most fields in this regard. Some fields where we’d been picking 6-8 tractor bucket loads, this year we were down to only 3! Still others have some stubborn spots left, but we wouldn’t want to get too out of practice so this is okay.

The ground that was in later cover crop last year will be our first to plant. Fact is, I’m hoping to have some acreage of both einkorn and emmer in before the months end. Anything before May, I consider a fairly early seeding up here in the wilderness. Plus, I believe we have a full moon right about now – always a great time to sow. From there, we’ll keep rolling with our emmer. Also, we’ll be putting about a third of our acreage into spring seeded cover crop, as we do most every year. .

Our winter wheat experiment seems to have been relatively successful so far. We put in an older variety of both hard red winter wheat, and a hard white winter wheat on our Alkire fields – about 22 acres total.  Lo – it survived! This is good testing ground as Mazama holds snow as long as anywhere here, and often we hear about “snow-mold” issues in conventional Ag. This doesn’t seem to be have been the case with our wheat. Then again, we do not use Anhydrous Ammonia for fertilizer… a whole other topic.

Our fertility is always something we’re working on, particularly in the higher magnesium soils. Again, we will be putting soluble potash and calcium rock blend in-row with the grain. This year after the grain is about 2 leaf stage, we are going to try something new by “top dressing” the crop – going over the crop with a spreader wagon and flinging feather meal which is fairly high in Nitrogen. Next, we’ll feed a couple rounds of good old fish through our pivots for biology and trace minerals, and next… hopefully step back and admire!

Last year’s grain continues to amaze me with its quality and clean out. And so, we hope for something similar this year. As you will read in Announcements, we’ve had a little turn-over in staffing here during our busiest time of year yet we’ve managed to keep up in the granary and its swift pace. This time of year gets complicated because Bluebird is both a processor AND a producer. The juggling act can get even more interesting as tractors become tied up and less available up at the granary where they live all winter. We can use all 3 tractors in the fields this time of year, yet always need one here to process orders, load freight etc. We’ll get it done, not to worry!

Meanwhile, enjoy these last cooler nights (I’ve built a fire in the stove every morning this month). And ease into the warmer days and gathering light of this season of rebirth!

Yours, Farmer Sam

Writing this on the first “official” morning of Spring 2018. The thermometer reads 26 FH on the back porch at dawn and already I hear restless geese down along the river as the night-time owls grow quiet. A week ago we had a solid rain during the dark hours and the very next day as the weather cleared, a pair of Bluebirds appeared by one of their houses along the fence! That fast, I heard a distant meadowlark and not long after, a robin. Since, it has been a steady flood of new bird song as finches join the winter-time juncos and chickadees at the feeder, towhees flit about the aspen and despite the still wintry look about the foothills, Mother knows spring is here!

To be sure, we ended up with a very good winter insofar as moisture. March began with perhaps our biggest snowstorm of the year. Here in the foothills of the North Cascades, we are in excellent shape moisture-wise heading into spring. It has been a slow unwinding of winter which has allowed most of the melt to go straight into the soil profile, with plenty more snow to go. Last spring was our latest start in the fields to date and I’m guessing this year will be similar. A late start means good moisture so that is always worth the patience.

Our granary has been a-buzz winter-long with a variety of orders both big and small. Our grains continue to clean very nicely and mill up fine. There have been the usual seasonal challenges with working in the weather and shipping out but suddenly as the roads dry and snow recedes we are reminded how logistics here will even out. I had to plow out two of our storage tanks so that we could access more grain and already those areas are bare. Better news: Our supply has held strong!

I’m reticent to let go of winter more so each year. Yet, one can not help but feel the excitement of Spring with the lengthening days and opening of the land. We are beginning to formalize our planting plans, mostly set in motion with last fall’s field work. As well, we have our seed-supply to draw from and during any spare time in the granary, we will be cleaning up our seed selection so we can sow when the time comes.

When will that time come? There’s one that is hard to predict. Will it be based on intellect or intuition? Are intellect and intuition one and the same? One thing that remains true; I feel like a beginner each Spring and this alone can be exciting.

We will continue to do our best to safe-guard our crops from any contamination, which is more easily done up here in the mountains than elsewhere. We’ve been certified organic since the get-go and have only grown and processed organic grains here at Bluebird ever since. Organic, however, doesn’t always mean nutritious, though it certainly should. That is why we test our grains from time to time for nutrient content, and all the time by tasting them! What we feed our family we are happy to feed yours.

One more family member down this winter – at least I hope it’s the last. This one is dedicated to our old girl Teal, who was part of Bluebird from the beginning. Teal came into our lives lost and then unclaimed. Thanks to my mother-in-law Sis, she wound up spending many an hour trailing in the fields, happily digging up gophers and mouse after mouse.  She was always good at finding yummy morsels to test – only after properly aged. Strong headed at times to a fault, she became one of the best hunting dogs I’ve had to date. If ever there was a dog that loved the water, Teal was that dog. Now she’s resting near that never-ending stream…

Here’s to new beginnings…

Yours, Farmer Sam

Mother Nature has surprised us once again, switching gears just when she looked to be leaning toward an earlier spring. During the first week of this month a true Chinook wind blew through our valley for most of a full week, the snow sunk as temperatures soared and it sure seemed winter had lost its bite. Not so! Here toward latter February we’re experiencing the coldest temps of the year! Along with more fluffy snow. This brings more strain to the work here at our granary, but feels better and more right I suppose, in the sense it might be good for the land.

As well, it has redeemed this farmer with the fact that with spring indeed a ways off; we don’t actually need to begin digging out equipment for maintenance just yet. Heck, there may even be more good powder skiing left!

I’m a bit concerned for the wildlife as there was an early push of birds near the first of the month. Blackbirds showed up a week early down at the ponds, chickadees were into full spring song and I’d heard of robin sightings in the lower valley. Now, it looks like mid – December outside! My worry likely goes unwarranted, as I know Nature generally can take care of herself just fine but I suppose my concern for the wildlife is simply part of my nature.

Nature is, and always has been, at the root of what we do here at Bluebird. The love of nature is why we began Bluebird in the first place. There are plenty of reasons to believe that the earth never should have “been farmed” and I understand this. At the same time, agriculture is/has been part of society for so long and continues to be the way in which we feed one another. With that said, it is ever more important to not only hold the earth in the highest of regard, but to treat the earth with that regard. During the course of a farming season, we set forth with the greatest of intent to do the “least harm.” And yet, I always get to second guess myself after every action.

My love of the land and the love of place comes to me through seven generations of New Hampshire farmers on the same homestead in the White Mountains where I was born, raised and allowed to “run free”… after all the chores were done of course. There always were plenty of chores and various hand tools and pieces of equipment to not break and to learn how to operate properly, and plenty of Uncles peering on. There, too, were plenty of woods to explore, streams to fish, birds to flush and mountains to play on. I learned from a creed that was both cursed and blessed by the simple satisfaction of “doing a day’s work.” More importantly, doing a day’s work and still having time to help others. And so, even if I don’t do well, I at least know the difference!

There are various efforts put forth to produce the Bluebird products that many of you have grown to enjoy. I can stand behind every one, but I cannot pretend to do it all myself.  First, we have to have all of you supporters, and then we have to have our crew that gets this idea of hard work and doing just what needs doing. I am so happy we have that crew and more importantly, I’m proud of the way they take pride.

Winter is not only hard on wildlife; it is hard on humans too. The fact that even “my creed” one day succumbs to the vagaries of hard work, ethics, and yes – grace – makes me no less the proud. And so when my 91 year old father passed away at the end of last month – he being the next to last of all my great elders left – a dear cousin of mine remarked: “I feel completely unmoored.” Yes, I thought, but at the same time, because of my Dad– whose accomplishments are too numerous to mention here – because of my wonderful Aunts and Uncles, and my dear ole’ Mum, I feel more grounded than ever. And more assured of the path. We hope that some of this path continues to find its way into Bluebird for a long, long time to come. There certainly are many different parts that make the whole, no? Here’s to the part my father played.

Cheers, Farmer Sam

We begin a New Year here at Bluebird with new snow, some rain, a big thaw, freeze, new snow…just like January! Juncos and chickadees are thick at the feeder and just yesterday the waxwings returned to our elderberry bush. We’ve a pair of bald eagles hanging around; various owls and I watched with admiration as a squirrel ran across the newly formed crust of snow, scooted up the apple tree, grabbed a shriveled apple, tumbled, then regained composure and raced off.

The post-holiday pace at our mill has been steady. It means everything to any small business to have good sales flow each week so we are grateful for the consistent orders, but also grateful for a natural “even pace” as winter thickens. Our freight drivers continue to do a fine job getting up here to the granary – or close – and so far, we’ve not had to delay any orders this year. I’ve been asked more than once “why did we build our facility up here in the foothills?” Simple answer: our home here was the only land we owned at the time. That said, we purchased some new agricultural property this past fall for both farming and for processing expansion in a more central location along Hwy 20. Of course, I’ll keep you posted on this prospective project as time continues on!

We continue to capture a high percentage of finished grain from our less-than average crop. Now that we’ve been running this year’s since September, we more clearly see some positive patterns with our clean out. Hopefully this will continue when we get into the harvest from a different field, here in a month or so.

At the time of this writing, snowpack is slightly above average around here and we’re in a 3 day storm cycle upcoming. We are happy for this as January is traditionally one of the bigger moisture months for our area. Drier cycles actually can begin Feb/March. Of course, Mother will decide all in the end no matter how much we may or may not fret.

The sanctity of winter is never lost on this farmer, nor the suddenly growing daylight! More daylight at the days’ end triggers the new year like little else. And although I love the skiing and the sharp winter stars when the skies finally lift and the colder, fresh air, I also know how hard this time is on wildlife. We’ve seen fewer deer this winter around our place, and no cougar sign yet, but birds seem always abundant.  As I came down our driveway the other afternoon, 10 Hungarian partridge skittered along before flushing out over the new snow.  Likely, they were pecking for gravel. I threw some grain splits out for them at dusk, hoping it would help them “get by”. Then thought, hmmm, this might concentrate them and risk them becoming a meal.

Yes, we’ve been enjoying many a fine meal our spoiled old selves here. I really enjoy the split grains, pilaf or bulgur style this time of year. They go well with grilled wildfowl, or in

hearty soups, or with dried fruit and yogurt for breakfast. I hope you all are enjoying them as well.

This one is dedicated to dear Uncle King who passed away at 94 this month. WW II vet, golfer, tennis player, mountain climber, skier, fisherman and all around incredible human being. He once told me, as we were climbing in Argentina long, long ago, that one of the things the army taught him was:  When given food, eat; when given sleep, sleep. I’d say it served him well – almost as well as he served all of us. Rest easy, ole’ pal…

Yours, Farmer Sam

Writing this morning on the first full day of winter and doing so with joy. On queue, we received a bit more snow here in the Methow and the temperature has dropped. A wafer-thin moon hung to the south as the stars sharpened in the cold, quiet sky above our neighbor’s solstice spiral where we all took turns walking and wishing by candlelight. The resting months for the earth are sanctified by the winter solstice.

At this time of relative peace, I am also aware that winter is a hard time not just for many of the wild animals, but for those fellow beings less fortunate than some of us. We try and keep in mind the importance of sharing goodwill, as there never can be too much.

And, we keep the bird feeder full! For the chickadees and finches and nuthatches also seem to rejoice this time of year. Ahh, these feathered winter champions! Yesterday I heard, and then noticed a big bald eagle perched in an aspen along the lower pasture. He/She sat there and spoke out on and off throughout the morning while we worked – saying what I’ve no idea. But when I let the Labs out to have a wander down along the creek, they became quite interested in something there. Though I didn’t have time to explore just then, I suspect something had recently been turned into a meal.

We enjoyed the great turn out for our annual Open House up here at the granary earlier this month. Really fun to see so many new faces! And hear about how enthusiastic folks are about our grain products. This was very restorative for this farmer indeed; during the day-to-day the reasoning for doing what we do is sometimes too easily lost. So, thank you all for coming! And as always, thanks to those many of you who support us year-round.

Customer orders were brisk indeed as they tend to be moving toward the holidays. Lots of our wholesale customers are beefing up for the season, and many of you are ordering our gift boxes. The crew here continues doing its usual great job sorting through all the different special orders while also keeping up with our distributors. What’s more, so far we’ve been able to move freight in and out of the Rendezvous without incident. Phew!

The nice rains we received in November really set the stage for next spring’s moisture profile. And the ground never froze very deep before we got some snow. Still, we don’t have a lot of snow coverage and certainly hope for plenty more. That said, we’ve got a start and there is a solid snowpack in the high country, and so we remain optimistic for next year’s water.

Overall, it was another year of gradual growth for Bluebird and we will be busy planning strategies for 2018 up-coming. There are various directions we may take. However, to be sure, one thing we will continue to do is deliver fresh milled, Washington grown organic grains and flours to all who want.

A big thank you to our crew here. A big thank you to all of you. Please enjoy this special time and reach out to others. Here’s to a peaceful and healthy 2018.

Cheers, Farmer Sam

“She’s glad her simple worsted gray – Is silver now with clinging mist”… And so we usher in my favorite month of the year with a line from Robert Frost’s perfect “My November Guest.” This is the month for poetry. This the month for the soil to rest and replenish, for the skies to darken and purge, for the stoves to be stoked and stirred, for the wildfowl to head south and the chickadee, the finch, the nuthatch to return with the coming snow. And a visiting flock of cedar waxwings descended on our elderberry bush just this Thanksgiving morning to enjoy their own feast.

For a month many take to be bleary and bland, I rejoice! It helps that some of my favorite people were born in November including my Mother, her sister Mary, our daughter Larkin, and my brother Nat. Brooke and I first met 21 years ago this November, on this very country road we’ve lived on ever since.

With several rounds of moisture, some white, some not, this November has not disappointed. Thus far, milder temperatures have kept the soils thawed and allowed for the intermittent storms to sink deep into the earth’s womb. This soaking is much needed after our hot, dry summer. We are on track for excellent recharge both down in the valley floor, and higher up in the mountains where several feet of snow have already fallen. As I’ve often said, Mother seems to always have a way of evening herself out.

We were able to complete the field work we’d hoped to finish during the lovely October weather of last month. So the fields are cozy and tucked in for the winter. Now our efforts are spent primarily on the granary here, cleaning our grains, milling our flours weekly and making sure everyone is supplied for the heavy cooking season up-coming. It has been fun to see the different products that fit a season. We’ve been in business long enough now to track some of the more popular “holiday supplies.” One of my seasonal favorites is the sage biscuit mix; yummy with soups or stews or even savory with just soft butter.

The winter challenges with freight have begun, as our granary up here in the foothills isn’t the most accessible beginning about now. We all work together and are very fortunate to have more reliable “rural” freight carriers these days in Fastway and UPS. Our UPS drivers up here are terrific. As most of you also know, a lot of our smaller orders go USPS, which means at times we get to drive an entire car-load of USPS boxes down to the post office 5 miles away. Of the many thanks I give this Thanksgiving, I thank our Bluebird staff for doing such a great job in seeing to timely delivery. Also, to you customers who are so loyal.

Other Thanks that come to mind are to our veterans. My daughter Mariah and I enjoyed the Veterans Day ceremony at the Mazama Store this year and thought not only of the Vets present there, but Vets around the country – the world – who have served to uphold the democracy we enjoy in this Country. One Vet we lost this past fall, and who we celebrated this week was Bob Parlette – Brooke’s father. Known to our children as Grampa Bob, he served in the Air Force during Vietnam. We miss you Grampa… and thank you for all that you did in your life that enriched many lives in the Wenatchee Valley, as well as the Methow and beyond.

Our society is not without flaw as we all know. And this past year has been trying in a variety of ways as most every year is. I can only hope that we can take this time to gather round and count our blessings, and that we can reach out to help those who may not be as fortunate as some of us. We were welcomed to this country by the Native Americans and later waged genocide on them. I hope that this is common enough knowledge to us all so we do not repeat this sort of behavior. This country never was a “single possessive” country. And it surely will fail if it ever becomes one. It takes all kinds.

Cheers, Farmer Sam

With the gold and crimson hues filling the foothills; with the lengthening shadows, gathering raptors and southbound geese; with the hold-out robins foraging new worms from the suddenly wet soil from first-snow… comes my favorite of season.  Ahh, at long last the blessed fall.  There may be too many reasons to list why I so love fall, but of them a slowing down time and time for reflection has to be near the top of that list.

Another farming season is behind us. It will take some reflection indeed to sort through all we learned from this year, and more time to sort through what remains a mystery.  As I mentioned in the past letter, this year’s crop was not our best.  Smoke, heat, drought… who knows?  The mass of possible factors for success, or lack of, is too large to know what exactly makes a good crop or not.

That said our hulled grains are cleaning out better than ever. And so we are capturing a very good percentage of our grains and we’ve been selling a lot!  Many of you are already enjoying this year’s emmer crop, and all our grains are getting high marks of quality which is the most important to us.

October remained mild and dry right up to the 3^rd week. We were able to get most of our fall work done, including applying straw digesters, and giving the fields a once or twice over with our disks.  As well, we took fall soil samples and we are having them analyzed for next spring’s planting.  Taking a day to pull soil samples is always time well spent. We have our irrigation water analyzed also, so that we know the true conductivity realized once the water goes into/through the soil.  This is important to get a feeling for the complete growth picture. If some of our deficit in this year’s crop is due to low mineral levels, or other points of deficient fertility, soil and water properties give us a better platform to work from.

Knowing our grains the way we do here at Bluebird gives us advantages over some bigger plants/mills in that we are sure of the sources of our raw grains. Therefore, we can pin-point more easily where adjustments may need to be made since we know where the grains come from!  Often, the exact field they come from and the history of those fields. Work, yeah plenty of work, but understanding the whole picture is the idea.

The more I know the less I know – to quote an over-used but frightfully accurate phrase. This certainly pertains to my farming experience. Likely, I’m not alone here. This adds both excitement and stress to this peculiar yet basic occupation. Although the farming fraternity may have diminished over the years, I’m guessing the mysteries and lessons and work have remained much the same.

Seeing the fields “put to bed” for winter brings a certain satisfaction to be sure, whether it is a sign of “rest”, completion, hope… not sure? Being a processor as well as producer, we don’t necessarily get the winter off by any means. We go from two businesses to one is all, but this does seem somewhat of a break. That said the baking season is heating up!

Good thing our 50 + year old mill is running along nicely. Good thing Kevin likes to run it so!  One more good thing: you all love the fresh flour! All these good things complete the circle here at Bluebird. These sorts of goodies are sometimes hard to put value to. One cannot measure appreciation, interest, or loyalty in pounds and bushels or any other calculator of yield. In this, we feel very fortunate.

So… I’m hoping everyone can reflect some and go into the holiday season counting their good fortune.  There has been far too much tragedy just since I last wrote: Puerto Rico; Florida; Las Vegas; California…. Awful scenarios one and all. Our thoughts go out to these communities. This gives even more reason to sit with those you love, and break bread.

Yours, Farmer Sam