Another hot, dry day. We talk about rain a lot. So does everyone. Hopefully, we will not have this situation all summer. Already there are farmers using irrigation that have not used it before and are now sucking the water supplies dry for high dollar grain that might be wasted on ethanol rather than food. Small farmers around here have always dry farmed and didn't deplete the water table -- maybe because we couldn't afford to irrigate, but now we have large farmers (or should I say ag business people since the term farmer to me is a person who lives where he/she farms and actually knows their land) who have bought land around us who are irrigating on their land, but using water that belongs to all of us. Those seem to be tearing out and burning every stand of trees on their property that sheltered our wildlife in the hopes of farming with big expensive equipment in the large fields like the fields in Iowa and Nebraska. This is not Iowa or Nebraska. I remember seeing quail, rabbits, pheasants througout my life and now I see them seldom because they have no thickets and standing woods to live in.
Farmer's Market tomorrow. We will have a lot of Swiss Chard and our usual food items, knitting items, handmade soap, but not much more in the way of vegetables. It's that time of the season when the early spring vegies are gone and the summer vegies are coming on. Although the cole crops are generally ready earlier in the year, we are just now beginning to see tiny baby broccoli heads and the cabbage is beginning to form heads. Squash will be here before long and sweet corn is coming up. Just need rain. Green beans looking very good and cucumbers are promising. Wish it would rain.
