The Hot of Summer

[parsley]

It's one of those days, the sun beating down
while I'm hilling perky potatoes and the birds are
having a family reunion in the bright and fresh-
green branches. Summer in June in
Saskatchewan has to be one of the more
memorable places in the world. What a day for
humming. Pars

[makar]

And in the peace country its showered for 10 days and I am burning wood. No sun no heat.

[burnt]

I will long remember something Dad would say when I was a kid and we were walking to the barn to do chores on a June morning.

The warmth of the sun, green grass were only shortly before lay snowbanks, the birds practically bursting their lungs to out-sing each other - a perfectly idyllic setting - it all combined to bring the Shakespeare out of Dad, and he would often quote:

"What is so rare as a morning in June..."

[burnt]

Correction - the originator was James Russell Lowell, and while Dad said "morning", it was actually "day".

Still, he wasn't wrong!

[parsley]

Solar heat, makar?

[parsley]

You were the tag-along, burnt. It's the best way
to learn. Can't believe the lady slippers. Thought
maybe the winter was too long for them.

[makar]

Its just overcast and dreary, highs of 12 to 14. 1 to 3 inches of rain from the showers, I am closer to 1. Miserable spraying weather.

[burnt]

The lady slippers will do just fine. The "hot of summer" has an amazing ability to shove aside the frost of winter!

Out here on the land we have a privilege that is very easy to overlook - that of watching the earth's incredible regenerative capability!

I remember having a small, irregularly-shaped sliver of ground that did not get planted into corn one spring and by fall it had 3 foot high poplar trees growing on it. This was ground that had been cropped since the land was settled.

If you have ever seen the tenacity of grass, weeds and trees growing up through cracks in an unused concrete or paved yard, you have to wonder how long it would take for the land we farm to return to it's long-ago, uncleared state.

Just up the road from us, in front of an empty farmhouse stands a small maple tree that has grown out between the front porch and it's top step. In not too many years it will have heaved it's concrete prison off like last years leaves.

I think that it's a lack of exposure to these realities that causes so many people to panic when they see an iceberg calve off of an ice shelf, thinking that it means the end of the world because we filled our SUV tank with gas. Their sense of doom is amplified by their unbounded ignorance.

Those poor, deprived, deluded souls...

We have got it so good if we live in rural Canada. Be very grateful folks!

[hobbyfrmr]

We are very fortunate to live the way we do. I
have noticed a pattern with my city friends. They
have trouble planning a one hour drive to rural
activities or events. Its almost like they are
scared of the highway.
Inversely i am genuinely afraid of getting caught
sitting idle in traffic for 40 minutes.

[furrowtickler]

I hear ye hobby, I just hate going into S'toon or even N.B. this time of year - just cant stand the waste of valuable time around farm. Even just poking around the yard this time of year is better then a run to town. Unless i am out of beer...