Erik and Meghan at Dicot Farm

As you know, we OFTEN talk about the weather because it so affects the day to day operations of our farm. Because of this daily obsession with the weather, we notice patterns others would probably miss.

The pattern that is the most indicative of climate change to us is the increase in the crazy weather records that constantly seem to be broken. Climate change has many impacts, but when we keep reading about "highest rainfall event EVER" and "most 90 degree days this month EVER" and "year with most precipitation EVER" and "strongest hurricane EVER," we can see how our world is changing right before our eyes.

Exactly a year ago in our market email newsletter, we were lamenting the lack of sun, cool temps, and too much rain. This past September was the exact opposite: one of the warmest on record for the region and virtually no rain at all here on Dicot Farm. While we've been better able to manage the farm this year (since flooded and wet fields really limited us last year), the impacts of too dry and too hot can be seen in the loss of some young fall transplants whose roots just couldn't get enough water, the use of a LOT of water as we are constantly irrigating from our well, and exhausted, hot and grumpy farmers.

So, what to do? These patterns are scary. We sometimes are so overwhelmed by this that we just want to give up, but mostly we want to persevere and figure out how to make our farm work by helping sequester carbon and slow down climate change. Some ways we currently do that are by taking some fields out of production to grow cover crops that build up the organic matter (carbon!) in the soil, adding compost (carbon!) to our soil, and choosing hand labor over machine work to minimize our use of tractors & fossil fuels. Plus, we're constantly looking for other ways to minimize our impact on the earth and climate.

So, what can YOU do? First, you are doing a great thing by being a part of our CSA and eating veggies. Eating more plant-based foods is overall the most important step to minimize some of the food system's most negative impacts. To learn about more food-based changes you can make, check out this article, and for other changes you can make, this page has a lot of helpful tips and tools!