December & the Atmospheric River

Flooded South corner of the Willow Farm

This month has been the wettest Washington winter in history. Folks in the Pacific Northwest know how to handle rain but this is next level. Every puddle is a pond, every creek is a river, and the rivers are taking over. We have been unbelievably fortunate that our home is in a location with decent drainage. The farms in the north of the state have been dealing with significantly more flooding and the passes over the mountains are suffering severe damage. In our pocket of southern Washington we have had road closures and washouts, power outages, school cancelations, and everything unpredictable. But I think we can safely say we’ve been lucky both personally and professionally. The willow is soaking up the wet and patiently waiting to be cut.

We always plan harvest in February. It’s a touch late for some in our area, but works well for multiple reasons. First, even with the pounding rain we have leaves of some varieties. Leaves on the branches means that things aren’t fully dormant and so aren’t ready to cut. Secondly, Three boys ages 4, 6, and 8 means that December is busy and I don’t mind taking harvest off the to-do list for the month. Third, we are expanding every year. As a result, a significant amount of our stock goes towards cuttings we put back into the ground. Planting is best done (in our area) in late winter/early spring. Waiting until February means we can harvest and go right into planting. Cuttings last a while in a chilly environment (the veggie drawer of the fridge works great) but we like skipping the storage step and putting fresh cuttings right into the ground.