Rain on

Last week while driving over the hills in the golf cart to collect eggs from our mobile chicken coops I felt like I was on safari. I am not referring to jostling about as we drive on our bumpy pasture (a very important lesson I have learned was to ALWAYS hold the bucket of eggs, otherwise you end up with egg soup.) It is the vista that has changed dramatically, instead of lush green, we have grass that is yellow and dry and some tree leaves have begun turning red. A clear sign that nature was fed up with this intense sun and heat. Well nature isn't the only one pissed off. Working in 100F heat is no fun. Plus there is the added task of juggling overhead sprinklers and drip tape between the rows of our plants every hour and a half trying to keep them from dying.

Our plants are holding out as best they can but there is a concern that we may not get a second cutting of hay this year. Last year we had too much rain and this year not enough.

Last Thursday though it was like Christmas in July. I was hoeing in the afternoon and felt a few sprinkles on my face. A tease I thought to myself, it will never fulfill my desire. Ten minutes later that light drizzle turned to steady rain. It wasn't hard or fast but felt like standing a few feet away from a sprinkler. I have never been so glad to see rain before.

Over the weekend we got a bit more rain, but not enough to reverse the several weeks of deficit. Tuesday it rained again, on and off in the afternoon. People who are not farmers may complain about the change of weather, I would have too, funny how your perspective changes when you deal with the natural world. Who wants to be inconvenienced with umbrellas, soaked feet, and gray sky?

In the end though, my wanting it to rain is still selfish. I don't like switching irrigation every hour and most of all I don't want the crops to become exhausted by August. I just want it to rain about an inch or two a week. Is that too much to ask?