Around midnight Monday the sky was clear, stars were easy to see, and ice was beginning to form on the steps near the entrance of the house. On Tuesday I woke to find it snowing with an accumulation of a couple of inches already on the ground. Jason and I headed down to the farm site to take some pictures of the occasion. Our onsite weather station recorded 1.29 inches of precipitation in January and 10.39 inches (not counting the current snow) in February. The table below shows data related to the average rainfall for the Willits area.

Source: WILLITS 1 NE, MENDOCINO COUNTY data derived from NCDC Cooperative Stations. 27 complete years between 1960 and 1995.

With the snow we are back inside waiting for our next opportunity to put some time in at the farm site. Once there is a break in the weather we are looking to transplant the peas that were sown on the 7^th of February. Another farm priority is the construction of a covered composting station. I visited Mendo Mill to get a price check on materials and it looks like it will be fairly reasonable to build the covered area. Under the shelter we will have room for multiple compost piles, and we are looking to get some straw bales to insulate the early piles in the cooler weather.

The Community Support page has been updated. Take a look to see the growing number of volunteers, local businesses, and organizations aligned with the Brookside Farm project.

Pan of the Farm Site Looking Northwest

Main Shade Tree On-Site (A Large Madrone)

Tree Collards Standing Up to the Snow

Snow Covering the Weather Station