Today marks the last day of summer vacation for the school kids. Tomorrow it is back to school for my son, who will be taking a water taxi to and from the high school on Salt Spring Island.
Although not officially the last day of summer it really feels like it.
The drought on our farm this summer was most severe we have ever seen. Usually it is dry and hot for July and August, but this year it was dry in May and June as well.
This photo is from one of our hayfields in July. We put the sheep in when it was apparent that the grass was too short and too dried out to harvest.
For the past week or so we have had rain off and on - enough to make up for the drought, and now we are seeing green grass coming through. In a few days I will deworm the ewes and put them into the pastures, once the grass height is sufficient to support them.
In the meantime, they graze what they can in this field and get supplemental hay that we were able to harvest earlier in the season. Some ewes were sent to be made into burger and roasts, some will likely go to auction this weekend. There is just not enough hay to last through the winter, and the price for hay has gone up too much.
