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… Continued
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… Continued
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… Continued
“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… Continued
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… Continued
Swallows have gathered and gone, as have the bluebirds, hummers and meadowlarks while the sun lowers and days shorten with the autumn equinox already past. Although there may be a certain melancholy to the fading of summer, some of us are glad the smoke has finally cleared and the temps. have moderated and, truth to… Continued
August: Dust, heat, smoke and a full eclipse. Swallows gather; bluebird families frolic in the birdbath. Hummingbirds take their last nourishment from our flowers and feeder before heading out, while the yellow jackets thicken. As wet as the spring was, summer has been ever the drier. Not uncharacteristically, August has been a struggle to work… Continued
Glory be… we’re having an ole’ fashioned summer here in the Methow. Which means nothing but high pressure: Days in the 80’s and 90’s, zero precipitation, on and off wind, very “stable weather.” This is not something we take for granted. Although working day after day in the intense sun and afternoon heat is… Continued
To be sure, my prediction last month of a later start to this year’s farming has come home to roost. We’ve just begun in the last week or so, making this the tardiest beginning to the farming season in 25 years. With an already full soil profile at the beginning of “spring”, we’ve had several… Continued
According to the kitchen calendar, the first day of spring has arrived. The chorus of birds each dawn, starting down along the creek then spreading up through our meadows, is proof that they too trust this date to be so. Robins, finches, juncos, towhees, sparrow, chickadees, a meadowlark and already thrumming blue grouse add to… Continued