When The Old Dog Crosses, You Wait

Farm News

What do you do when driving the tractor on the streets of a small town like Carnation, WA, with 19 cars behind you, when an old dog crosses in front? You slow down, wait, causing the people behind you to be even more upset and impatient. This is exactly what farmer Andrew’s day looked like earlier this week.

Many street signs with pictures of a tractor and “agricultural zone” inscribed, line the streets of Carnation; but the reality is that in our digitally frenzied world, waiting and having patience has become an ancient dinosaur.

As we travel the 5 miles through town between our farms on Griffin Creek and Carnation Farm, the tractor and implements must move slowly. Normally for a car, this is only a 12-minute drive. For tractors, the trip takes longer. This always proves to be very difficult, as you can imagine. When the weather gets nicer, when more people are out and about and driving much faster than us, – there is almost always that one person that can appreciate this reality and waves, which putting a smile on our face.

Springtime is for preparing the fields by turning over the soil. Our fields are indeed drying out and Andrew, Ziggy and Billy have all been working the fields with our new John Deere tractor and the enormous disc. The fields are beautiful, black rich soil and we are excited to start our season in earnest. We were able to plant radishes and spinach directly into the field, and we continue in the greenhouse with brassicas, lettuce, leeks and parsley.

It is invigorating to feel the days lengthen, the birds singing louder and yes, even slow down traffic for an old dog to cross.

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

-Wendy