BURNSVILLE, Minn. — Stop by a farmers' market and chances are someone is talking about the weather.
That was certainly the case Thursday afternoon at the Burnsville Farmers' Market.
Peter Hughes at North Country Farm says the cooler weather this spring is a blessing when it comes to his herbs and spinach.
“Everything is growing really nicely this year,” Hughes said.
The rain is also helping Leighton Enz at Triple E Farms.
He sells beef products, but he also grows corn and alfalfa to feed his cattle.
“Every bit of moisture we’re getting right now is a welcomed sight,” Enz said.
Chris Utecht is also happy with the rain this spring. He and his two sons raise pigs at Utecht’s Homegrown Pork. They also grow sweet corn that they sell at local farmers markets.
“This season, we’re getting rain about every other day, and I’m not going to complain about the rain because we need the rain,” Utecht said.
But too much rain can be a problem when you’re trying to find a dry day to plant your sweet corn.
“I’ve been trying to get it in for a while now,” Utecht laughed.
“We’re going to try tonight. We should probably wait, but I got rain coming in tomorrow morning.”
A small problem compared to last year’s drought conditions.
"Yeah, this is definitely a one-eighty to what it was last year,” Enz laughed.
Amazing how much can change in just a few months.
The drought monitor map from September of last year showed most of Minnesota in the orange and red, which stand for "severe" and "extreme" drought.
The latest drought monitor released Thursday shows a few small pockets of Minnesota in the yellow (abnormally dry) but most of the state is currently white, which means no drought at all.
Local farmers are hoping that trend continues heading into the warm months of June, July and August.
"I mean, if we had this for the rest of the summer, I'd be happy, but it’s not going to happen,” Hughes laughed.
“You just hope for the best and do what you can.”
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