Monday, March 28, 2005

Spring

My last post was about Fall in the Palouse. I've rather intentionally missed winter - my least favorite time of year. I have lots of memories from winter - some good memories - some not so good. What with family and all - I simply get overloaded during that time of year.
But, Spring has arrived. And finally we have some moisture. We had an incredibly dry winter - most unusual for this wheat-growing region. Our soil here is rich - loess from volcanoes thousands of years ago. And most places do not require irrigation - with a wheat ranch of 4,000 acres - irrigation would be a daunting task! Yet finally we ahve our rain - mixed with snow. Any moisutre at this point is welcome. At times we have been down to under 40% of normal precipitation. We're above that now - yet I would guess still under 50%. it will be a dry year - and that menas range and wild fires. I'm not looking forward to a hot, dry summer.