My son's surgery, my MIL' death, and the fact that the power company is going to put a temporary road through my back
yard, combined with record heat, all combined to take something out of me. For a while I simply had very little to say.
An update: this spring I bought American Plum
trees through the state Conservation department, along with some crystals to absorb
water and get them through our usual summer dry spell. Well it was a LOT hotter than usual, but to my shock even the plums on the
dryer areas look alive and fairly healthy. This is on
land where very little other than grass will grow because it is sandy and dry, but the plums look VERY happy!
Bees have moved into an empty hive on that land: usually I would be pleased but I simply lack the
energy to move them, and hives do NOT! winter over in that area! I lose 2 hives out of 3 at that spot. I think that I will put up a windbreak instead of moving them, and likely
feed them this fall so that they have full bellies.
The asparagus looks healthy, as usual.
An interesting tidbit: apparently red eyed peas-and probably black eyed peas- survive Kansas heat and THEN some very well. It was too hot to water and they did better than anything else. Sweet potatos were also surprisingly tough. For a lot of calories I think that corn, black eyed peas, and sweet potatos would be excellent choices.
Lastly, since the power company knows that this temporary road will do a lot of damage they will be paying everyone the road goes through. I cannot complain, really. I WILL be loosing most of my fruit trees, as well as some other good things, but they ae actually paying generously for them. I will replace them this spring, if they are out of my back yard by then.
I
