ROUGH DROUGHT FARMSTEAD.
We need rain, and it looks like we need a good amount of it. The garden has become a dry, dusty and predictable place where everything is in basically the same rough shape it was the day before only less happy. Nothing grows, save for a few odd birds––beans, tomatoes and eggplant particularly––who seem to be flourishing. Mostly, however, everything just looks hot, sweaty and thirsty. And when it gets this way, it's hard to find things in the garden to do. Mulching seems futile because one good gust of wind will throw the mulch all over the garden. With the bizarre wind storms we've been having, it's not worth the risk. There are no weeds germinating, and what weeds were there, we've picked three times over (from a weed perspective, notably, the garden looks awesome!). Also, Kentucky has been a furnace this week. So needless to say, with not a lot of work to be done in the garden and being dangerous to do too much work anyway, we've needed to get creative to fill our days. Sometimes literally.Hannah's been painting and working on a new tab for the blog, while I vacillate between reading, writing, fermenting (got one last blackberry wine and some sour pickles in the works) and watching in awe as my wife works. In the heat of the day, we pull Wendell inside and try to talk him out of chewing on our possessions. ALL our possessions. The rabbits and chickens need extra tending around these temperatures so it works out that we're down at the house more. They both seem to be managing well, however, despite the heat. And the farm?––the farm is panting.Our forecast has pockets of promise, though nearly four weeks in, we're not getting our hopes up. At this point, it would take something torrential––five or six inches probably––to get us back to where we need to be. But honestly, we'd be happy with an inch followed by some more realistic temperatures. How's the rain situation in your neck of the woods?- Jesse.
