We are here at the forefront of another harvest season in 2023. However, there’s something different this year: it’s cold. Our spring in South Central Alaska was late by over two weeks. In fact, we experienced the eighth coldest May in the last eighty years in 2023, which was not ideal for farmers and gardeners eagerly pleading for thawed soil to till and plant.

Overcast and lower-than-usual temperatures drove the final melt well into later May. Although higher temperatures seemed promising for the start of June, the reality was two weeks in the upper 50s F at best and days on end of driving rain. Old Man Winter seemed unwilling to let go, even with the promise of summer looming in tantalizing appeal just out of reach.

The result of this has been late flowers. Not only were the early shoots impatiently springing up through the snow in May, but we don’t expect our earliest varieties to be harvested until the first of July and our later varieties until the end of July.

The Sarah Bernhardt, Henry Sass, and My Love are still in their initial shoot stage and have not yet leafed out and lost their red stocks.

The Dutchesse De Nemours, Coral Sunset, Coral and Red Charm are only now — the tenth of June — leafed out and showing initial budding. On the record for our farm, this is the latest season we have ever seen.

And we aren’t entirely out of the woods yet. Temperatures are hovering around the high 60s F with occasional stints around 70 F. Rain remains a constant, though drier weather is forecast for the end of June. July will be the driving factor for this year: warmer days and longer dry spells will drive the peonies to production.

The problems with this weather are apparent: a longer wait for harvest is presumed, but also the increased risk of disease, both in the field and in storage.

This year, we must throw all available disease-prevention techniques at the flowers to prevent any initial or latent infections.

Farmers are pressed with greater urgency to harvest when the sun is out and increased incentive for expedient product sales when encountering these conditions. We are feeling a sense of urgency this year.

However, like all things, there are benefits, even to the cold and rain. Harvests will be spread out this year: typically, a two-week scramble may turn into a four-week spread with plenty of time between various harvests to keep the cold storage from crowding out.

Markets in this regard are generally easier to manage and have the potential to develop and maintain a steady flow of sales and harvest without overstepping the other.

So, although urgency is required, it will be so on a smaller scale, which should keep our storage stocked with fresher flowers than that of the 2022 heatwave.

Time will tell what we have in store, but that’s the nature of it: farming is farming, regardless of the crop and location. We are subject to the weather and climate and whims of nature. It’s best not to fight it and instead try our best to work with it.