End of Year Wrap-Up

     The rains held off in September, for once, and the beans matured and then dried partly on the vines. Transported into the barn to complete drying, hanging on twine tied to the rafters, they will make good baked beans and chili. But the lack of rain and near-drought conditions made it difficult for the other crops in the garden, while the apples remained small--as was the harvest. September thru November was unusually warm, and the rains finally did come by mid-October. The first frost didn't occur until mid-November. We've been getting those first frosts a few weeks later, now, than in the previous century, probably the result of climate change. Another result, though, has been more bitter cold weather around the time of the winter solstice thru mid-January; and this year is no exception. For the past five days the temps haven't risen above ten degrees F.
     The cold weather in New England apparently prompted our nation's leader to a skeptical statement regarding climate change, directed to the "blue" states here that did not vote for him in 2016. In saying that the cold weather disproves global warming, he is in error: climate change intensifies the heat and the cold both--that is, weather extremes due to the current climate change regime are greater, as are storms, hurricanes, snowfall amounts, rainfall amounts, while ocean levels rise along shorelines. Global warming refers to the overall rise in the temperature of the planet, not to whether we have a cold spell in the winter. It is remarkable that our nation's leader withdrew the US from the Paris climate change agreement while he ignores climate science and on the basis of his recent statement, evidently misunderstands global warming. 
     Several years ago I was invited to write an essay for Antioch College's reflective environmental journal, Whole Terrain. I chose to write on the sound of climate change, something that I heard for myself in the terrible storm of 2014 that blew down and snapped off so many trees. With climate change, the habitat will change here and so will the populations of plant and animal species. Already some of the unwelcome insects from the southern parts of New England are on the march here, migrating to where they will find fresh food. The rise in deer ticks and Lyme disease in northern New England is one indicator. The changing bird population is another. This winter I've not seen juncos about, the way I normally do. Perhaps these cold-climate birds are just late in arriving. The white-throated sparrows, once abundant here in the previous century, are now largely absent. Weeks go by in the spring and summer without my hearing their songs in this place. 

A reminder of spring: Jack-in-the-pulpit, May, 2017

     I expect that I'll be able to grow more crops in the garden next spring, as my knee has gradually improved. And walk more often in the woods, seeing skunk cabbages, jack-in-the-pulpit, and other plants and wildflowers in season. But I'm also spending more time reading and writing now, working on various articles and book projects, not to mention preparation for lectures at conferences; and all of this leaves less time for gardening. Still, I was able to plant one new apple tree variety last May, Zestar, and it seems to have done all right despite the drought. The other recently-planted apple tree, Garden Royal, finally grew a good deal this past spring, and is now above deer height. If I have the time and inclination I'll do some grafting next spring, as I have a few spaces in the orchard yet to plant.
     Winter is always a good time to take stock of the previous year, and plan for the next!

Garden Report September 2017

   This year's garden was smaller than usual on account of my arthroscopic knee surgery in the spring. Unable to kneel and unwilling to twist my back from a low stool, I planted everything from a standing position, digging trenches or small holes with various tools and dropping in seeds or plants, using the earthway rolling planter for beans. Thus several rows of dry beans: Kenearly, Light Red Kidney, Black Coco, King of the Early, Saturday Night Special, Flash, and Jacob's Cattle Gasless. Snap beans: Levi Robinson, Black Valentine, Rocdor, Pension, Provider. Some of these I planted so that I'd have viable seed going forward: Saturday Night Special, Flash, and Pension. Fedco has dropped Black Valentine from their catalog, while Black Coco is on offer only every few years because of crop failures; evidently it is hard for their growers to get a good crop although I don't find that to be so myself. Johnny's dropped Pension, but this is a vigorous, tasty, flat-podded green bean. No tomatoes this year, but I did plant broccoli, potatoes, cabbage, chard, lettuce (seed tape), beets (seed tape), and cucumbers. On account of a spell in which almost no rain fell for six weeks (mid July through August), the cucumbers failed and the broccoli was stunted; the potatoes were small but the beans tolerated the weather well. I can't irrigate from my well because many years ago when I tried, it stressed the well--evidently in this ledgy island, groundwater is not abundant. As usual, the September rains threaten the beans with mold, so I put under cover those plants that are half to mostly dry by now--most or all leaves fallen, the rest plucked off when I pulled them from the ground. Some kind of critter, probably a groundhog, got into the garden and ate up my first planting of dry beans, so I re-planted three rows two weeks later than I wanted, and now I must leave these in the ground to weather the rains. We'll see how they do; I'm not hopeful.

Sheepnose tree in bloom, May 2017

    The apple crop this year is only fair on account of the cold weather during pollination time. The spring was unusually cool, and the bees and birds didn't pollinate as they would have in a warmer year, even though blossoms were abundant. Still, some trees cropped fairly well, and I've gotten a decent lot of Red Astrachan, Anoka, and a wild apple that has Yellow Transparent in its makeup somewhere thus far. No cider making this year, but plenty of apples to eat thru the end of winter, with a fair crop of Liberty, Golden Russet, and Baldwin to come.