August 29. Bittersweet Day. What would have been my dear Mum’s 89th birthday. The ginkgo tree planted in her memory in our garden has had to endure a challenging summer of extreme dryness and heat, but is bearing up.
As
Hurricane Isaac bears down on New Orleans to
torment once more, farmers in wide swathes of North
America scratch their heads and ponder the consequences of months
of agonizing almost total lack of rain. In this neck of the woods we have had
sporadic cloudbursts passing by to the north and south, but no soaking sustenance
here on our fields. The extreme aridity made weeding of sub-sized carrots and
beets impossible, so grasses and weeds filled in mercilessly. The hard-baked
soil is presently too dusty to till. Harvests are down, planting is down, but
still we continue to water most plants every two to three days, keeping them
going, if not thriving. The remarkably resilient lettuce in the field and the
mixed salad greens under row covers have fared fairly well.
Yesterday’s
airing of Beethoven’s glorious Pastoral
Symphony was a timely reminder that the fierce raging storm is followed by calm
and sweet serenity. The
fourth movement depicts a violent thunderstorm with painstaking realism,
building from just a few drops of rain to a great climax with thunder,
lightning, high winds, and sheets of rain. The storm eventually passes, with an
occasional peal of thunder still heard in the distance. The rapturous music makes the listener feel the tense disposition that captures man
helplessly facing the state of nature. When the storm is over, all living
creatures come to the surface, taking their place in the natural cycle.
September
sees the return of cool nights, more moderate temperatures, moisture in the
air, activity in the soil, and energy in the plants. Or at least, we can only
hope so, in this season of testing extremes. An eerily dry and exceptionally
mild winter was followed by March’s early heat setting plants off to precocious
growth, and by April’s late frosts nipping fruits in the bud. A delightful May
was the last moderation in weather conditions that we witnessed in this summer hard
on farmers, fit only for sun seekers and desert lovers.
