Another gorgeous day at the farm is well underway. Today is the last major day of transplanting here! Phew! From here on out we only have successions of certain crops to transplant in order to keep harvests staggered throughout the season.
The extreme lack of rain has been a major challenge for our transplanting process, as we are wholly reliant on drip lines and watering cans to keep small transplants alive until they are more established or it rains. As a result, we have experienced slightly higher mortality than normal. An abnormal number of cutworms, which thrive in warm, dry soil conditions, has also been responsible for the loss of many plants, including direct seeded crops like peas and beans.
To give you all some idea how dry it has been locally, so far in May we have had a little over half an inch (c. 15cm) of rain. On average, we would receive 3 inches (75 cm) of rain in May. June is usually our rainiest month, so there is still a good chance we'll see significant precipitation. We'll just have to hang our hopes on that possibility and keep on trucking water from Carstairs if it doesn't materialize.
As of yesterday we have hauled about 24 000 litres of water to the farm and, if no significant rain comes, by the end of this week we will likely have doubled that volume. Bear in mind that up until 2020, we had never needed to haul water from our local municipal supply. We had always received sufficient rainfall or had our ponds to fall back on. We are truly farming in a different climate now and if the drought trend continues for large parts of the prairie region this year, there are going to be very serious consequences for both the producers and the food system as a whole.
That there are still people who deny anthropogenic climate change and climate science in general boggles the mind. But as Upton Sinclair wrote, 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.' This explains so much about the dysfunctional politics of hydrocarbon rich Alberta.
Considering that agriculture fundamentally underpins the continued existence of our civilization and that conventional approaches to food production are going to be seriously challenged by a changing, unpredictable climate, possibly leading to the collapse of industrial agriculture and all the 'cheap' calories it produces, it is time for all of us, especially those lucky enough to have been born into the wealth of the 'western' world to start taking this seriously and to get all of our families, communities and policy makers to start asking some difficult questions.
There may come a time when the opportunity to guide conscious change towards a more sustainable, resilient, humane food system is lost to us. At that point in time the change will be imposed upon us by the dictates of survival.
Yesterday was our first Farmers and Makers Market in Sunalta and Tamara, David and Dakota had a great time. This market, along with the Farmers and Makers Market at Central Memorial park in the Beltline, are completely new markets for us and so far things have gone quite well. We are optimistic that these 2 markets will grow to be quite busy and will help us survive another season.
Tamara said that she met a number of people who have been supporters of our Online Market and it was great to be able to put faces to names that we know so well!
Thank you all so much for your continued support. By ordering from our Online Market or buying food from us at the Farmers and Makers Markets, you are directly helping to build a farm and food hub for the anthropocene era!
Sending big love from our little farm,
K+T
The extreme lack of rain has been a major challenge for our transplanting process, as we are wholly reliant on drip lines and watering cans to keep small transplants alive until they are more established or it rains. As a result, we have experienced slightly higher mortality than normal. An abnormal number of cutworms, which thrive in warm, dry soil conditions, has also been responsible for the loss of many plants, including direct seeded crops like peas and beans.
To give you all some idea how dry it has been locally, so far in May we have had a little over half an inch (c. 15cm) of rain. On average, we would receive 3 inches (75 cm) of rain in May. June is usually our rainiest month, so there is still a good chance we'll see significant precipitation. We'll just have to hang our hopes on that possibility and keep on trucking water from Carstairs if it doesn't materialize.
As of yesterday we have hauled about 24 000 litres of water to the farm and, if no significant rain comes, by the end of this week we will likely have doubled that volume. Bear in mind that up until 2020, we had never needed to haul water from our local municipal supply. We had always received sufficient rainfall or had our ponds to fall back on. We are truly farming in a different climate now and if the drought trend continues for large parts of the prairie region this year, there are going to be very serious consequences for both the producers and the food system as a whole.
That there are still people who deny anthropogenic climate change and climate science in general boggles the mind. But as Upton Sinclair wrote, 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.' This explains so much about the dysfunctional politics of hydrocarbon rich Alberta.
Considering that agriculture fundamentally underpins the continued existence of our civilization and that conventional approaches to food production are going to be seriously challenged by a changing, unpredictable climate, possibly leading to the collapse of industrial agriculture and all the 'cheap' calories it produces, it is time for all of us, especially those lucky enough to have been born into the wealth of the 'western' world to start taking this seriously and to get all of our families, communities and policy makers to start asking some difficult questions.
There may come a time when the opportunity to guide conscious change towards a more sustainable, resilient, humane food system is lost to us. At that point in time the change will be imposed upon us by the dictates of survival.
Yesterday was our first Farmers and Makers Market in Sunalta and Tamara, David and Dakota had a great time. This market, along with the Farmers and Makers Market at Central Memorial park in the Beltline, are completely new markets for us and so far things have gone quite well. We are optimistic that these 2 markets will grow to be quite busy and will help us survive another season.
Tamara said that she met a number of people who have been supporters of our Online Market and it was great to be able to put faces to names that we know so well!
Thank you all so much for your continued support. By ordering from our Online Market or buying food from us at the Farmers and Makers Markets, you are directly helping to build a farm and food hub for the anthropocene era!
Sending big love from our little farm,
K+T
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