June 16, 2008

Finally some good weather on our days off

After one of the longest and coldest springs ever, we have had some nice weather on our days off. The weekends at the store are too busy to not be there so we tend to take Sunday and Monday off -- this last few days have been gorgeous with weather supposed to stay this way for a while. One small sunspot on the sun after a couple weeks of none. Farmers are worried about the late harvest and really need this good weather:
Harvest needs warm weather
Whatcom farmers anxiously wait for sun to appear

Todd McPhail hasn�t put away his winter coat yet, and that�s not a good thing for a Whatcom County farmer in the middle of June.

�Once things start warming up, everything will start happening and we�ll be OK, but this is very unusual,� said McPhail, who has a 50-acre farm near Lynden where he grows several varieties of berries, corn and pumpkins.

�This season we�ll have berries that are smaller and not as many, but it can still be a good year. A lot of us have had a tough time remembering when it was this cold and wet in June.�

The return of sunny and warm weather is being anxiously awaited by local farmers, particularly those in the berry business.

Right now the berries are green, awaiting some direct sunlight to start ripening and producing the sugars needed for that sweet taste berry lovers crave. If it doesn�t get sunny soon, then it could put quite a crimp in a multimillion- dollar industry.
And it isn't just the berries:
It�s not just the berry farmers looking for sunlight; farmers who produce seed potatoes, hay and corn are waiting for things to dry out. Dick Holden, who has been in the hay business for 50 years, has been waiting all month for four days of good weather so he can start cutting about 75 acres of hay into square bails, which he sells to people who feed horses.
And there are all sorts of problems that crop up:
When the berries are ready for harvest, it�ll create an interesting labor situation. Typically the strawberries are being harvested now, which would leave a bit of a break until the blueberry and raspberry harvests.

This year it�s possible that all three berries will be ready at the same time and pickers will have to work quickly to get them all picked.

�It�s not just a Whatcom County problem; there will be labor, processing, packaging and freezing issues from British Columbia down to Oregon,� Burrows said.
Heading out again -- Jen is getting the front acerage mowed and then we will let Daniel (the 14 year old nephew who is visiting for the week) take over. The mower is a lot of fun -- a zero-turn Kubota Diesel with lots of torque. Posted by DaveH at June 16, 2008 12:21 PM
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