Though it should no longer surprise us, the weather continues to throw us curve balls. After a winter that never got cold and a spring that dealt us 80 degree weather in March, we now seem to have hit the dog days of summer in May. The fields are dry which is great for fieldwork like planting and cultivation, but it means that we are running around trying to keep water on all of our crops. One old-time farmer that we know likes to say, “wet weather will put you in the poor house and dry weather will put you in the crazy house.” After the last couple of years each with a lot of wet and dry weather in the same season, I’d have to say that I agree!

Fortunately we were pretty well prepared for the dry weather with irrigation already set up on a good number of crops. We just have to remember to turn it on before we go to bed every night and turn it off every morning.

The most difficult crops for us in dry weather are direct seeded crops (like green beans, carrots, beets, radishes, arugula, etc.). These need almost daily water in order to get them started. And while our old well pump works fine with drip tape, it doesn’t keep up as well with the demands of a line of sprinklers. So we’ll keep planting, hoping for rain, and trying to water as much as we can!