Complimentary Blueberry Juice

We’ve spent many of the recent years in memory extremely stressed, – especially in springtime – with lack of moisture. Seeing nothing but suns and scorching heat in May and June coupled with wildfires and smoke from out-of-province gave a really grim feeling to most work days, running around trying to keep up with irrigating and stressed transplants or seedlings with no end to extreme heat or dryness in sight.

This year is the opposite. We count ourselves lucky, as many other people in our local boat have things much worse. Given our heat and drought streak in the past number of years, I’m not about to start crying about it being too wet! Our transplants are happy, and while some crops might be slow out of the gate, they are at least out of the gate.

It all goes to show that no two years are predictable. Success of a farm always comes down to a set of management choices.

One choice is to simply hope for good weather, and that there’s nothing you can do when it doesn’t go a certain way. The flip side to this choice is to roll with the punches, make the best decisions you can based on your knowledge and accrued experience.

The other choice is more invisible: the way one farms is a choice.

If you’re stuck waiting for the mud to dry before getting the big machines on the field…this is a consequence of choices. Just as it is a choice to cultivate and till, to spray chemicals, to grow wheat, or celery, or apples.

The management choices and decisions the farmer makes play a far greater role in how a farm responds to climatic shifts or unfortunately unlucky weather. As usual, even with all the rain, nature is booming. The frogs are calling, birds are singing, trees and shrubs are flowering, and mushrooms are fruiting.

We can choose to model our farms in such a way that offers resilience.

The options and paths towards resilience are as diverse as nature itself. The consequence of building resilience into the farm management model is generally the same: a buffer zone that greatly reduces any potential impacts. A much wider range of choices and options become available if you can only imagine the possibilities.

Some time ago we were stuck in the mud. One day, we decided we didn’t want to be stuck in the mud anymore. Getting stuck in mud sucks! That was really our first step onto dryer land.

Mindset is the most powerful tool in the tool box.

Graham

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