I just looked at the extended forecast for this week and there is no rain in it for the next four days. Four days without rain! Somebody pinch me! There hasn’t been four days without rain since September! Truth be told, it hasn’t been the rain itself that has been the problem, but the volume of rain and the lack of sunshine. A spring shower here and there is normal, but these every other day torrential downpours mean waiting a long time before the soil is dry enough for us to get back out into the fields.
I was visiting with a retired farmer and I said, “I bet you are glad you are not farming this year?” He smiled and responded, “It is going to take a whole lot of equipment and man hours to get the crops planted this year.” He understands that in a year like this all the work stacks up and when the weather breaks, every farmer will be working around the clock trying to get two months of work done all at once!
We are really far behind in our plantings. Last year we planted our first lettuce starts on April 6th and our third planting was this same time last year. This year we had to compost the first lettuce starts. On Saturday I planted our second and third plantings of lettuce at the same time! What I planted the starts into would be considered “mudding” them in. Hope they make it!
I hope my headlights are working on my tractors and nothing breaks on any equipment this week, because if the weather holds we are going to be in the fields every waking moment. ☺