I grew up on a farm (just in case that wasn’t obvious), but I never understood why the weather was always of such interest, and therefore, the main topic of pretty much every conversation I ever heard adults having. After graduating high school I ran off and joined the Navy. I spent the next eight years working outside in rain or shine. When it came to fixing all-weather fighter jets, whether or not it was raining was never a question “Maintenance Control” ever asked when telling us to go fix something. So, my blissful ignorance to the significance of weather patterns remained intact for a few more years. Now that I am back on the family farm I understand why the weather was of such importance to the adults all those years ago. Today, there has been a lot of deep heavy thunder… and it is snowing.
So, more about this weather…. Two weeks ago it was eighty degrees and sunny; last week it dipped into the teens (with wind chill) at night. All of our fruit trees had started to blossom (I posted some pictures), and all of our perennial vegetables (who cares about the flowers) had started to peek their heads out of the ground. The unseasonably warm March, followed by two wicked cold snaps in a row, has pretty much guarantied we will harvest absolutely no fruit from the trees this year. This is a bit of a side thought, just in case you were wondering why it is in all italics… We have two cherry trees, two plum trees, two crab apple trees, one pear tree, and an apple tree… just in case you wanted to know. So, yeah, the weather, it turns out, is rather important to a farmer… apparently, it plays a rather significant role in whether or not we eat… hmmm.
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