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
Juncos and chickadees and our annual flock of brilliant Bohemian Waxwings ring in the New Year here at Bluebird. These little birds indeed seem to be the lively “icing” on an otherwise cold, white countryside cake! Just in the past few days the temperature has moderated from a sustained stretch of below zero nights and… Continued
The gray and withered countryside of November has given way to a brittle and whitened landscape in these Rendezvous foothills, with sharp, cold Cascade peaks beyond. Perfect for the Winter Solstice here, just 30 miles south of ‘ole Canada… And as the snows begin, we are heartened by the fact that sleigh-bells, indeed, will ring!… Continued
Opening stanza from Robert Frost’s My November Guest : “My Sorrow, when she’s here with me Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree; She walks the sodden pasture lane.” The wettest October we’ve seen here in the Valley has now run… Continued
A cloudy day from the porch…. Beginning here by following up on the end of last month’s Farmer Notes…The weather has been far more conducive for eating than ‘being out on the land.’ If not the wettest Methow October to date, it has to be close. I’m sitting here in the kitchen listening to the… Continued
Sam inspects Einka sun-curing in our Big Valley Field The heat is on… again. After a hot spring and a much cooler and moister July than usual, August has finally shed the last (hopefully) of the thunderstorms, heavy rain, and hail and has come off cooking the way we think of August. Each day this week… Continued
Sitting here in the kitchen on a Sunday: Mid-day, mid month, rain falling, a cool breeze thru the screened windows, 65 degrees. This sums up how different this July has been for us here in the Methow; certainly in comparison to the past two years. There are lightening flashes and thunder; I’m hoping the moisture… Continued