Rain is Time

Rain is the drumbeat we march to, when the percussion stops we pay

Nothing, it would seem, changes the priority and routine of a farm more than the sudden presence, or persistent lack, of rain. In recent years, the forces governing precipitation in our area appear controlled by a demon.

But we received more rain in the past two weeks than the past few months combined. And just like that, our priorities shift. Earlier this spring, we put a lot more willow in the ground – their roots are not deep enough to survive a prolonged drought. The rain keeping them alive translates directly into less labor from us. And more time for other things. That's the geese honking.

Without the rain we would tax our well to irrigate the field. Hard decisions would be faced about where to put the water: give to the needy or support the strong? Either way, plants would die. Avoiding these possible scenarios has left us with a reserve of gratitude.

And then the sky cleared on the very day we scheduled our annual Mow-Down, leaving us wondering if who decides rain is not a spiteful demon after all. In that brief moment of sunshine, our friends and family joined us for a day of chopping down plants that had given enough of their own thanks to rain.

• Charlie cleared two downed trees

• Jon saved the barn from vines

• Tim and our dads each mowed a days' worth of fields

• Bo trimmed the fences and anywhere the mowers couldn't get

• Maren and I hauled material and attended to the more finicky weed management tasks

• And Carol and Katibeth watched the kids, which made all the above possible

How can I express my gratitude to them? Every time I walk the farm, look at our fields, I see their work and travel time. It's more time with Z, it's more time with Maren, it's more time to write and it's more time to grow things.

Thank you for all that time, thank you for the rain!

We took a group photo, but couldn’t manage to get everyone in the shot. I tried using AI to create an image that included everyone using a few reference photos and this was the result:

I don’t think any of the people pictured attended the mow down — they might not be real, three actual attendees were wearing jeans.

And a beam fell in the barn. Don’t worry it wasn’t structural, but that is Maren’s work table.