Hot! Hot! Hot! Dry! Dry! Dry!

Lovely farm flowers just blooming like crazy even in our high heat.

Farm News

As we move into this second week of August, we will tie the record of 51 consecutive days without measurable rainfall.  As we enter into the driest week of the climate record we will also be hitting triple digits for temperatures in Carnation. It looks highly possible that we will easily see 52 days and begin a new record, not ideal for us folks on the farm trying to harvest veggies that ideally love cool and wet weather.  What’s even crazier is that this spring, Seattle had the wettest October-June record rainfall of 47.24 inches! These swings in excessive cold and wet, to excessive hot and dry, are quite challenging for agriculture as we scrambled to dry out and get into our fields by May – only to deal with excessive heat and dryness in July/August.

Our crew is amazing! Let me say it again – our crew rocks! We find it is easier to start at 5:00 a.m., hoping to end the day by 4:00 p.m. when the heat becomes unbearable. The once cold and dark wash station and cooler is now the most desired spot to work. Thank goodness our greenhouses are almost done. We still have a few straggler plantings we’ve had to water 10 times, when the norm has only been 3 times.

We are trying to replace a broken pump with a tractor so that irrigation will not skip a beat. We also do nightly prayer dances so the ice machine doesn’t decide to strike! With so much solar heat here in the Pacific Northwest, it is very extreme and quite tiring. We know though it will not last, and we dream up visions of September and October when the cool chill of morning draws in the smell of wet, winter squash.

Smokey skies.

We can smell the wildfires burning in Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana and realize they are likely having another record of their own. Last year, for the first time on record, 10 million acres burned across the nation. This year it is shaping up to be even more as the 280,000 acre Lodgepole Complex Fire in Montana is the largest uncontained in years.

What can we do with all of these difficult climate and environmental records? At Full Circle Farm we encourage you to continue making a difference locally getting involved on a constant basis, not only in the food you choose to eat, but the pollution we all generate in our daily lives. Our air, water and soil quality are in need of our utmost attention to protect our flora and fauna in this time of change. We urge you to become involved in any manner that you feel important to our environment because you do make a difference!! We all do!

Don’t forget to find us on Instagram (@fullcirclefarms).

– Wendy