Adaptive Farming (or the point at which I solve a problem)
The title of this post is redundant. I’ve come to realize for the short time I’ve been doing this that there is no such thing as farming without adaptation. I’ve also come to realize that the reason I love to farm is BECAUSE of all of the seemingly impossible challenges thrown my way. In any given year, the nature of those challenges can change drastically, so what worked last season probably won’t be applicable next season. It might, however, be applicable in 3 or 4 years.
As it stands right now, my current challenge is finding a field in which I can plant my garlic. There’s plenty of ground, but the overriding trouble is that none of it is dry enough to plow. I did have a field plowed for the garlic, but when I went out there after our last 2.5 inch rainfall, the field was porridge. With another 1″+ forecast for Wednesday into Thursday, I’m basically stuck. Another fun fact according to this precipitation map, we’re somewhere between 8-12″ over for the last 90 days. That includes Irene and Lee…Also note that we’re not as bad off as others.
With all of that said, I can’t and won’t complain about it (you can read some previous posts for some of that bellyaching). This is simply a challenge, and I’m going to meet it. If it means that I’m on my hands and knees planting garlic in mid-November through a thin layer of frost in a field that I didn’t prepare properly, then so be it.
Like the saying goes…come hell or high water. We’ve got the high water and I’m gonna give it hell.