Notes from the Farmer
March Farmer Notes
Springs Concerto The way a spring creek leaps rolls and glistens in the sharp, March sun; each bubble a gone-by snowflake each turn a great crawling out from the white blanket and such burrowing in. New eyes blink- … Continued
February Farmer Notes
Winter remains alive and well here in Cascade foothills with some of the coldest temperatures of the season and more white fluff continuing to fall from the sky. It’s beautiful looking out, and beautiful once out albeit a bit chilly! Chickadees rush the feeder, along with Purple Finch, and in place of Waxwings, we’ve had… Continued
January Farmer Notes
Juncos and chickadees usher in the new year, chatting away as they visit the feeder, then hop atop the snowbanks, or zip over to the elderberry bush where a shrike lurks nearby hoping to catch one off guard so he/she can peg it to a rosehip thorn, or barbed wire fence. Administrations change, viruses… Continued
December Farmer Notes
Whether it feels a lot like Christmas or not, it definitely is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at least from our perch up here in the Rendezvous. This morning we woke to another 5-6” of fresh snow, and now as the sun reaches its height for the day, finches and chickadees and juncos… Continued
November Farmer Notes
That fast, the countryside has transformed from a very brief fall to early winter. The birds know it, the deer dread it, we humans perhaps feel mixed. Regardless, Mother Nature rolls on with unending surprises; with unending beauty. You’ve read it here before: Mother Nature always has a way of balancing things out. At the… Continued
October Farmer Notes
From a late start to Fall, we’ve gone right to an early beginning of winter in scarcely 3 weeks’ time! My, a faster change I do not recall here in the North Cascades. Yet, I had the feeling, after months on end of high pressure, that we might be “living on borrowed time”. Indeed. The… Continued
September Farmer Notes
We are a couple of days past the autumn equinox as I write these notes, and finally, we got a shower last evening! This is noteworthy because I believe it has been 3 months since we’ve had significant rain and our drought rolls on. Up here in the Rendezvous, we’ve also been frost-free for 6… Continued
August Farmer Notes
And there lay this lovely note tucked under a hand-made scythe alongside my combine when I arrived to check on our Pasayten hard white wheat field. The note read: “Farmer Sam, Wishing you and all at Bluebird Grains Farm a bountiful and successful harvest! Here’s a piece of the valley history for you to… Continued