It wasn’t thunder that woke us. Just a deluge. Our minds wandered over our undulating landscape picturing where the young pigs, poultry and goats were moved today, remembering who has which shelter, confirming if there is anything that needs to be done besides worrying for everyone downhill. It persisted (in the end for more than an hour, a long hour) and we popped out of bed to check if water is coming in the basement and pull up radar on the screen.
Sunday night’s rain was unwelcome here in the high hills of Williamstown (roughly 2/3rds of our property) and Northfield but the farm fared well, as it had in July 3rds deluge and the many interim moments of monsooning between then and now. Loop Road took a hit but Town crews had it back in one piece within 1/2 a day. Others downstream all around us are not so lucky, including Small Step Farm and many others in the Mad River valley and the village of Williamstown.
Somewhere in there Andrew and Guy found a dry enough slice to get the Jang seeder to function, seeding 200 bed feet of winter storage carrots. Anna fought back weeds, while Tessa and Josh cleared the barn bedded pack. Penelope and Amber found dry ground for our dear goats who really detest having wet feet. Josh progressed clearing our road boundary so we can avoid pollution from invasive species seeds that piggy back on town cutting equipment. And Mari, Laura, Noah and guests from West Virginia settled in 25 feeder pigs arriving at the farm to fill in the gap until our new young breeding stock get us back in rhythm.
Thanks to our well drained soils and our farm team’s creativity we are on track not only to bring you bountiful harvest this week but continuously throughout this year and beyond! It may not always be just what we planned but come up and celebrate monsoon season by eating up all the lush and lovely produce.