There’s a coolness in the air. Just the tiniest bit of crispness can be detected in the oppressive heat. It will be August tomorrow. Cumulus clouds are building on the horizon. The sky is just a little paler than yesterday. The air smells different. The vibrant green of the trees is slightly less, but the wind is still blowing out of the west.
Harvest season is approaching and everything knows it. The wasps are more aggressive and people are getting ready to start canning. There’s a distant rumble of thunder. Dragonflies, big and bright, swarm over head. They are the universal symbol of change… Signs, perhaps, that a storm is coming.
The monsoon rains are due. The weatherman says they’re coming soon. The Canadian geese are already here…. Anxiety sets in. Will the weather turn before it’s time? Will the harvest be lost to a freeze?
We had a long cold Spring. If the weather holds, we should be harvesting well into October. It’s hard to say what to expect. Nothing has been normal lately. Not one thing. It’s been a rough couple of years. In 2020, we had a hard freeze in late Spring for three days in a row.
None of the orchards or vineyards made it. Then in October, while the leaves were still green, we had a heavy, wet snow. Blocks of fruit trees were destroyed because they weren’t dormant yet. This Spring, we had another late freeze which took out a lot of the cherry crop. The life of a farmer is difficult. We live and die by the weather, yet our passion drives us on.
Nomadic Farmer 