Our wild roses in full bloom.
What a difference a year makes! Last year on this weekend, Scott, Alex and Ian were backpacking in the Adirondack Mountains with our Boy Scout troop, attempting to scale a total of 9 peaks in one long weekend, and I planned to put in the garden. Little did we guess what surprises Mother Nature had in store for all of us
On Thursday night, the wind picked up and the weather reports turned dour. At 8:30 pm, the power went out. All night long, the wind and rain howled. In the morning, a friend texted me to tell me that school was cancelled. As I headed out to the barn, I noted with gratitude that 2 100-gallon stock tanks had been placed under the drip line of the barn, and were full of runoff from the roof. Good thing, too, because rain water was all there was going to be for who knew how long. (It turned out to be four days.) I have lived at various times in my life without running water and electricity, so I shifted into "powersave" mode, and began hauling buckets of water to the animals, and using only the sparest amount from the pressure tank in the basement of the house. When Dad called later that day to tell me how bad the storm had been, and that the power was likely to be out for a while, days even, I decided to get out my wind-up radio and listen to the news for myself. A tornado had been sighted! Rainfall and high winds had taken out power lines everywhere. As the weather cleared a bit and I took a walk around the property, I could see ancient trees that had been uprooted and toppled, all in a very clear path. Much, much too close to the house and barn for my comfort, but still, the house and barn remained standing.
Meanwhile, in the Adirondacks, my family was trapped on the side of a mountain, climbing with full gear when the storm struck. Trails were turned to rivers, trees were down, and everything was soaked through. The group made it back to base camp and then headed home, a day early. Needless to say, they did not "bag" all 9 peaks! (They did manage 5 of them, however.) The garden was trashed and never did make a full recovery. The rain continued all summer, with a 3 week window for us to put up hay...in late July/early August.
This summer is shaping up to be the opposite. It is 90 degrees out there, threatening thunder but never quite getting there. The garden is so dry, I am hand watering individual plants and wondering if we should have brought our soaker hoses from California after all! The wild roses for which our farm is named are blooming several weeks early, making the air marvelously fragrant. Most of the garden is planted, and it looks like it will be a good year. I just wish it would rain!
On Thursday night, the wind picked up and the weather reports turned dour. At 8:30 pm, the power went out. All night long, the wind and rain howled. In the morning, a friend texted me to tell me that school was cancelled. As I headed out to the barn, I noted with gratitude that 2 100-gallon stock tanks had been placed under the drip line of the barn, and were full of runoff from the roof. Good thing, too, because rain water was all there was going to be for who knew how long. (It turned out to be four days.) I have lived at various times in my life without running water and electricity, so I shifted into "powersave" mode, and began hauling buckets of water to the animals, and using only the sparest amount from the pressure tank in the basement of the house. When Dad called later that day to tell me how bad the storm had been, and that the power was likely to be out for a while, days even, I decided to get out my wind-up radio and listen to the news for myself. A tornado had been sighted! Rainfall and high winds had taken out power lines everywhere. As the weather cleared a bit and I took a walk around the property, I could see ancient trees that had been uprooted and toppled, all in a very clear path. Much, much too close to the house and barn for my comfort, but still, the house and barn remained standing.
Meanwhile, in the Adirondacks, my family was trapped on the side of a mountain, climbing with full gear when the storm struck. Trails were turned to rivers, trees were down, and everything was soaked through. The group made it back to base camp and then headed home, a day early. Needless to say, they did not "bag" all 9 peaks! (They did manage 5 of them, however.) The garden was trashed and never did make a full recovery. The rain continued all summer, with a 3 week window for us to put up hay...in late July/early August.
This summer is shaping up to be the opposite. It is 90 degrees out there, threatening thunder but never quite getting there. The garden is so dry, I am hand watering individual plants and wondering if we should have brought our soaker hoses from California after all! The wild roses for which our farm is named are blooming several weeks early, making the air marvelously fragrant. Most of the garden is planted, and it looks like it will be a good year. I just wish it would rain!