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We are now in the transition phase of our summer where the college students and educators all return to school and we shuffle about trying to fill positions for the remainder of the harvest season. It is a bit of a mad scramble for all the farmers as the term of employment is really only for a couple of months, and any extra work that may be available into early winter goes out to those whom have been in your employ for the longest duration. There is still lots to harvest-tomatoes,potatoes,onions,corn,fall raspberries- so the days will be long for the workers even as the day length shortens. None the less,the cooler temps will be a welcome relief for those of us that felt this past summer was too hot for working in comfort. We are still very dry here at our farm and the summer showers were pretty fickle as many nearby farms have had adequate moisture where we have been irrigating out of the rivers and ponds. Every year we have to report to the sate department of environmental services how much water we use for irrigation purposes and this year we seem to have a bumper report going; quite a change from last year where we hardly showed any use because of the excessive rains. Normally a dry year translates into minimal disease and pest issues. Not so this year as we have had overwintering populations of insect pests due to the mild winter (remember,I had my first bumper crop of peaches…) and hot temps of the summer.We are looking forward to a pleasant fall and hope for a repeat performance of the fall of 2009 which was long,warm and sunny, as we have many projects on the docket.
