Hot and Dry

High temperatures and dry conditions continue with no relief in sight for the next 10 days. Temperatures are predicted to be in the upper 90s and low 100s over that time period.

Sadly, plants are beginning to show effects.  Many are drying out.  Some seeds have been slow to germinate.  Some plants are turning brown.  Some berries are ripening up and others are withering.  In my walks in the woods, I have noted that plants along the ground are "wilting". It's really strange that we could have had high precipitation years recently and now, it's drought.  Last year, they even broke a dike over on the Mississippi due to flooding.

Green beans in the garden seem to be producing.  However, they are getting bug bit making processing harder and longer.  Plus, waste is greater. Green beans are a main crop for us, so any little glitches are felt keenly.

We Humans work in the morning and the evening.  We are careful not to overextend.  We spend afternoons inside attending to tasks which need to be done and resting.  We try not to use the air conditioning but sometimes, that's important too.  We are eating lighter meals.  Meat just seems too heavy.

Gardening is harder work. No matter how you look at it returns are less. We are beginning to talk about focusing on certain crops in the garden and letting others go. We need to make decisions about watering.  Plants just won't produce without nourishing water. Of course rain is best.
 
We know that wet and dry cycles are normal.  We need to study this more. Recent articles in the scientific press are beginning to suggest that the Earth may be reaching a "tipping point".

I have to say that this is no fun.  It flies in the face of our naive expectations.  When we lived in town all those years we got used to seeing a constant presence in produce aisles.  If one had the money to purchase it, the product could be found.  Such an approach subtly teaches the Human that we live outside the cycles of Nature.  Well, we don't.

Overall, this surely is an exercise in how small we are as Humans.  We should know that already.