Yesterday the clouds moved in and we heard some thunder, got a few raindrops that made big polka dots on the sidewalk and that was it! Then about 2 hours later the wind changed from south to north and we sat out on the porch to feel the cooler air it brought. The nice breeze continued and the house cooled down by about 5 degrees within a couple of hours, making for better sleep. Sometime during the night we got actual rain and my rain gauge was showing two tenths of an inch just after daylight. THANK YOU, LORD! We have had several showers so far today. The clouds are low and the air is clean, plants look better already and the house feels much cooler. I took advantage of the showery weather to burn our accumulated paper trash and cardboard boxes. The rhubarb plants were being watered by the sprinkler running slowly to soak the root areas thoroughly, a job that I had started the day before. It's nice to have those plants on a pretty tight watering schedule because it is easier for me to keep track of when I should do them all again. Later if we get sun I will check the winter squash for bugs. Yesterday's count was 3 before watering and 7 or 8 afterward while they were seeking sun to dry themselves. I picked a few almost ripe tomatoes and have them on the windowsill to finish ripening. No big slicers yet so we will enjoy these in salads.
Speaking of enjoying, yesterday we bought our first corn on the cob at the farmer's market in the next town. There were two long lines of people at a stand and one line was going directly to the end of the table where there was a small mountain of corn. I should have bought more than 6 because they only lasted for one meal. I think the corn is early this year because of the extra hot weather, and this corn came from an area near the Columbia River where it is always hotter than it is here. Tomorrow I will check at the farm stand in our town because they bring in a lot of seasonable produce from that area. Wednesday is our town's farmer's market day, and in another direction there is a farm that sells produce M-W-F and Saturday mornings. In corn and melon season it is very useful to know these things!
This rain will make a big difference in the pastures and hay fields. Here in the dry hills we only get one cutting of hay per year while down below us in the valley they get 3 and sometimes 4. What makes the difference? Water. They irrigate out of the river while our irrigation water comes directly from streams fed by melting snow. The valley is about to be in trouble because the reservoir that stores water to be released into the river when the farmers need it was down to 6% capacity this past month. The rain won't help that a lot but will directly water fields.
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| Yea Rain! by GardensJohn | Aug 7, 2021 5:54 AM | 3 |
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