faux autumn? we’ll take it

About 50 mm (2 inches) of rain has fallen on the farm already today and it’s still blessing us. It’s the first significant precipitation we’ve had since mid-August and couldn’t be more welcome. It’s part of a major storm system that is immensely helping firefighters contain the five wildfires in central Vancouver Island. The rest of British Columbia still has 40 or so blazes out of control, most of them in the south.

I also appreciate the rain because it’s subduing the pollen of the many Japanese knotweed plants on our property. They are considered an invasive species in the province, but we control it by mowing some patches. The rest we leave to flower. Bees love it. The patch we have by our front door buzzes uproariously dawn to dusk. It’s also edible, with a lemony rhubarb taste. Some neighbours use the plant’s hollow stems to make Mason bee nests.

So I’m breathing a lot easier physically but also existentially because the rain has allowed us to re-open our micro-hydro pipes. We had shut them off June 8th, when the stream that feeds them dried up. They’re only open about a fourth of the way, but that’s generating about half a kilowatt and slowly replenishing our battery bank.