So I never should have laughed at the heat wave and thought I had it covered with my cucumber water, nature bats last. The heat has been unrelenting, overpowering, nerve fraying and exhausting. Screen time in the house has gone up, creative play has hit rock bottom. We are counting the hours until the heat is supposed to break.
On the farm, first our chard and lettuce fried. That was reasonable, it’s summer. But than it got personal. Our cucumbers, the cooling, abundant, gazpacho powering cucumbers — withered in the heat. They are a summer crop, they got some water, but this is too much heat.
Honestly, I have been inside way too much and I am not sure about the rest of the damage, sometimes my sweet husband protects me. But I know he has been irrigating, a lot, and hopefully most other crops are withstanding the heat better than I am.
Since I search for the bright side, I will say that my first pickles have fermented nicely in record time — two days! I spoke to pickling hero Sandor Katz earlier this year for my own personal fermentation pep talk and I was happy to see a batch of my own finally work out. We don’t have central air so the kitchen is pretty toasty.
The heat is supposed to break a little tomorrow, here’s hoping. I wish anyone reading this a lovely cool day. Here is our farm in winter, it looks so refreshing!
yes, this is my farm too, winter 2012
Hang in there! A cold front from Canada is supposedly arriving as soon as Sunday. Sorry to hear about the cukes. Will they be good for pickling?
yes, cool air is coming thankfully, and we can pickle some of the cucumbers. It is possible the vines will even recover a little if rain comes.
ahhh, thanks for that refreshing snowy picture! this heat is merciless. I am hiding inside too :(
Sorry to hear about the cucs. I have been succesful in planting this late. So don’t dispair!
The extremes of heat are amazing aren’t they, we soon forget how hot or how cold something is – that’s a great photo to share !
thanks Claire, and yes it is getting hotter each year. It is not something I want to get used to.