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Wow! What a wild weather season it's been. We've had it all — heat, humidity, monsoon-like downpours, wind and more wind, power outages, smoke from the wildfires up and down the west coast, and often with mixed fog from the usual seaside air here. We're grateful that this wasn't the weather in spring while the blueberry plants were in bloom, one gust of wind like we've had this past week would have knocked the majority of the flowers off and that would mean our crop would have been mostly gone. Eesh, farming is wild & wonderful.
We're wrapping up the post-harvest season and getting the plants ready for their annual slumber. Soon we will be mulching to build up tilth. We’ve done this extensively since we took over the 65 year old conventional fields and converted them to organic. Mulching adds nutrients, helps fertility, retains moisture, suppresses weeds and diseases, and keeps their roots warm through the winter months.
Below is a visual of what it takes to run Bow Hill Blueberries:
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We've wrapped up some of these items, are about to embark on the first, recently finished the third, and once the leaves fall from the plants, we'll begin the second of pruning every plant by hand. Once finished with the pruning process, we take all the trimmings and add them back to the organic matter that feeds the soil. Then it all begins again.
No rest for the weary, but hey, we love it.
With love and support,
Bow Hill
P.S. Need an extra bit of encouragement these days? Our friends at Sustainable Connections put some positive encouragement out when they wrote:
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Fall is a time of change, and sometimes that change can be dramatic...Professor Aisha Ahmad of the University of Toronto...describes the "six-month wall." After six months of dealing with a major disruption in life, we can feel a bit like things might never get better.
But, she says, they do. We've learned how to get groceries, have meetings, school our kids, exercise, and even socialize safely. This took a lot of mental effort, though, and we need to allow ourselves to recover. What better time than the onset of fall, and what better way than by eating good food?
We have so many options for good, local food to help us break through the six month wall. Farms are still harvesting fresh food and fully stocked with storage crops. Farmers Markets are still selling directly to the public. Restaurants are still up and running with delivery, carry-out, and some with dine-in service. And if food preservation is a hobby or interest, now is a great time to give a gift to your future self or start on gifts for the holidays.
So if you're feeling stressed out by the ongoing challenges of daily life, take a step back. Think about how you can nourish yourself and your family with good food from local farms, restaurants, grocers, and markets.
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We're wishing everyone the best as we push past that six-month wall. xxoo, Bow Hill |
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