How did we make it through this season? I've asked myself this question several times over the past couple of months? We generally have a certain amount of staff that is present - March through October. This year, we lost human power to off-farm injuries, returns to more permanent work, and a myriad of non-iris projects that would normally be reserved for less demanding times of year. We were never really struggling (I don't think) and longer-term staff stepped up in pretty significant ways. Not sure if she wants to be called out in the newsletter so we'll just say: Thanks, ML - I still owe you a (several) bottles of wine! All in all, things seemed to just get done. In searching for the answers, my head moves to nature and what we might find there...both in revealing what happened this season, and perhaps guiding what might happen in the next one... Allegedly, the farm was not in a drought for most of the season. When I compare weed pressures in wet years to this one, I'm inclined to disagree with the models. Granted, we spent less time finger-plucking weeds and more time beheading them with mowers, but our time-to-weed numbers went WAY down. Certain areas may have been more neglected, but the areas that saw regular and less laborious attention look better. The soil remains covered and the drought (imagined as it may be) never left everything looking brown (at least by late summer Colorado standards). So, how'd we do it? One thing to consider is what weeds are good at... colonizing empty space. We very rarely went down to bare soil this year - probably a reduction of well over 50% across the farm. Turns out weeds are good at smothering competition, even from themselves. What about the iris, though? This remains to be seen - as our main areas of observation were suffering an extremely warm and dry fall, a viciously windy winter and early spring, and a precisely timed knock down frost. The plants that pushed through - I think they'll be stronger for it in the long run. |
