Winter in central Washington State was a bit more harsh than usual, although nothing like the ferocious storms to the South of us in California. Still, we had pretty heavy snow that stuck around for months. But all that has changed.
We live in farm country, and Winter is a time of rest and silence. Step outside and hear… nothing. But since early March, the farmers have been stirring and preparing for another season. Last week, irrigation resumed, and the center-pivot irrigation system across the road from us was running yesterday for the first time, watering the wheat planted last Fall. The wheat sprouted before the snow came – emerging from the ground an inch or so. The irrigator is fairly quiet – only the sound of mist, and an occasional creak from a squeaky wheel that makes me wonder how old this one is.
And to the West, the alfalfa is greening up – the tiny plants are just budding out of the ground, not even an inch high yet. A perennial, alfalfa dies back in Winter and resumes its growth in the Spring. They haven’t started irrigating the alfalfa yet, but I expect to see the farmers out there any day now, starting it up after sitting all Winter.
Tractors have been pulling equipment up and down our road – mostly planters of various kinds, as many crops are planted in the Spring. It’s getting busy: the world is hungry, and this is how it is fed.
Peter H. Gregory 