The Very Latest

We have had a little liquid heaven in the last 10 days or so, and while I am thankful for it, the total accumulation is not even an inch. A couple of times the dirt has actually changed to a darker color, but there is nothing that could remotely resemble mud going on here.

Our first crop to arrive in any quantity is summer squash. Mike started transplants of yellow crookneck and a lovely scalloped pattypan squash; he also direct seeded both of those plus an Italian zucchini. The tranplants have been bearing now for a couple of weeks. (Those plants direct seeded look good but are still a few weeks away from production.) The squash tastes great and I have roasted and stuffed the pattypan a couple of times. It has a nice sweetness that comes out when it's roasted.

The lettuce, which we can't eat quickly enough to keep up with, has begun to bolt, or so have the largest heads. The tomato plants look good and we completed the trellis this week for all nine rows. Yes, we have close to 300 tomato plants in the ground. The cherry tomato plants have begun to set fruit and I am anxiously awaiting the first hint of color. How else do you know it's summer?

In the tomato bed we have 7 or 8 volunteer watermelon and/or canteloupe plants that have situated themselves close to a drip irrigation source. This same field last year was given over to the johnson grass weeds that popped up instead of the corn we actually planted (this was the second corn planting that we lost to last summer's drought....are you catching a theme here?) The summer before that, in '05, for those still hanging with me, we planted watermelon and canteloupe in that field.

We knew there were a few volunteer melon plants of unknown varieties that grew in with the johnson grass, but the weeds got so high and thick we gave up on trying to find any actual melons. These little volunteers that are showing themselves now are second generation to the last melon seeds we bought in '05. Don't you love heirloom, open-pollinated plants? I am fairly certain I have at least two different varieties this summer by looking at the leaves. And since we have drip irrigation around the tomatoes and we keep that area weeded well (ok, weeded), we should be able to harvest something. I'll keep you posted on what they turn out to be.

I have harvested a few potatoes from my potato bed and while I'll do things differently this fall when I plant more, I am generally pleased with the outcome.

There's more going on and I'll just have to check back in by early next week to post those details. The chickens are growing and the roosters are crowing and the beans are blooming, and life is good. I hope yours is.

Read This and Weep

I did. Peaches. Blueberries. Apples. HAY, for crying out loud. All of it, frozen and worthless because of this cold weather. With more on the way for this weekend.

Blackberries are the only fruit we've got left for the year. That's a dent in the ol' wallet.

Effects of the Weekend Freeze

All of the blueberry plants were in full bloom last week after two weeks of glorious warm weather. And all of those plants now have withered, brittle blooms after the deep freeze that hit last weekend.

I will be very surprised if we get enough fruit from 260 bushes to make a couple of pies, some smoothies, and if we're really blessed, I might be able to freeze a couple of quarts for the off-season. There won't be enough to sell at market.

My potato plants are looking like goners, too. The leaves are mostly dark brown and the stems seem soft, which I can't think is a good sign. Never having grown potatoes before, I'm not exactly sure what a dead plant looks like, but I'll be shocked if any of them survived. The wheat straw mulch, although applied thickly, does not seem to have worked. I should've gone with plastic. Rookie mistake. I don't know....it was so cold for four days, it might not have made a difference.

To say that I'm crushed is a bit of an understatement right now. I'm pretty heavily crushed.

Where's My Global Warming?

I read this piece in Slate today (hat tip: Drudge) on how there is no perfect temperature anywhere in the world and all this climate change hysteria is out of control. Here are the money quotes as far as this little dirt farmer from NGA is concerned:

The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.

[snip]

Ten years ago climate modelers also couldn't account for the warming that occurred from about 1050 to 1300. They tried to expunge the medieval warm period from the observational record—an effort that is now generally discredited. The models have also severely underestimated short-term variability El Niño and the Intraseasonal Oscillation. Such phenomena illustrate the ability of the complex and turbulent climate system to vary significantly with no external cause whatever, and to do so over many years, even centuries.

[snip]

Moreover, actions taken thus far to reduce emissions have already had negative consequences without improving our ability to adapt to climate change. An emphasis on ethanol, for instance, has led to angry protests against corn-price increases in Mexico, and forest clearing and habitat destruction in Southeast Asia. Carbon caps are likely to lead to increased prices, as well as corruption associated with permit trading. (Enron was a leading lobbyist for Kyoto because it had hoped to capitalize on emissions trading.) The alleged solutions have more potential for catastrophe than the putative problem. The conclusion of the late climate scientist Roger Revelle—Al Gore's supposed mentor—is worth pondering: the evidence for global warming thus far doesn't warrant any action unless it is justifiable on grounds that have nothing to do with climate. (emphasis mine)

The bio at the end of piece states the MIT professor who wrote the article has never taken funding from corporate energy sources and has only been funded by the US government. I wonder how fast that revenue stream will dry up with a Democrat-controlled White House in place. I hope the guy has a fall back plan.

My personal complaint on global warming/climate change is this: these same people (meteorologists and Al Gore) trying to scare me and my legislators into changing my lifestyle cannot even provide me an accurate weather forecast for this upcoming weekend. Not one of these experts could warn me two weeks ago that the last four days of severely cold weather was coming. Not one of them did, anyway, and two weeks ago, I might have been able to do something to protect my blueberry crop. A water spraying apparatus or something. But when I get the heads-up two days in advance, my options are much more limited: prayer and bed sheets.

And yet, because their computer models show a precipitous rise in overall planet temps in the next 100 years, I need to stop buying refined petroleum for my car and install solar panels, no matter the cost to me.

I'm not buying it. The actions recommended have nothing to do with controlling climate change and everything to do with power grabbing.

Snowing

On April 6, tonight, we experienced a brief snow shower at 9pm. The temperature tonight is targeted to hit 28F, with Saturday night's low dropping to 24F. I can't remember it this cold this late. I'm sure it has been, but certainly not since we've been farming!

Every blueberry bush is already in full bloom. Mike and Mom and a couple of the offspring covered up the largest ones with sheets. Our only irrigation is a drip tube at the base of the plant; the other huge blueberry producer two counties over has overhead sprayers in place to intermittently shower water on the blooms to protect them right at 32F. We do not have that option.

And I didn't even think about the honeybees! We're six hives down already with the colony collapse going on, and if another one is lost to the bitter cold.......will there be enough bee action to pollinate the blooms, assuming there are any remaining after this deep freeze?

So I pray. I pray that God will protect our blossoms and the fruit they will yield, and that He will be glorified in our crop success or failure. He knows what we need, how much fruit we can handle and I trust Him to provide it.

Tomorrow, construction of the chicken pens. Pics to follow.