We have gone from selective hand-watering and doubling-up on the drip irrigation two weeks ago, to days of overcast sky, and a real deluge over the past two days here.
There are times when I am very happy that we don't *have* to depend on our garden to keep us fed. Many people who see our yard for the first time whistle in astonishment, and follow up with a comment that we must be self-sufficient in food. Sadly, that is far from the case. Even if everything that we planted was actually productive, escaped pests, and was harvested in a timely manner for the table (and not forgotten to languish in the fridge), we would only be producing a large portion of our vegetable and fruit consumption for June through September. We dehydrate, freeze and can a portion for the rest of the year, but we also spend a good portion of our budget at the Farmers Market a short distance away, or looking for deals at the grocery store. The introduction of rabbits has affected how much meat we buy (though the cost is still hidden in the bags of feed we need to bring in - even supplemented with garden greens and forage crops), and we could produce more if we had a bit more room to rotate moms and put kits in grow-out cages or pens to reduce the stress on the mothers before breeding again. We have purchased cages, but don't have room to set things up exactly as we might like. The egg supply is almost in full swing, with the 2 new young girls arriving too close to winter last year, and then needing their energy for molting in Spring. As before, we generally work our system around what is available and avoid buying eggs if at all possible. More chickens for a potential surplus of eggs is a dream for the future, with more space and fewer neighbours to bother.
The cool weather of the past month has resulted in slow growth in the garden. The tomato plants, which were up to my shoulders at this time in years past, are only about knee high right now. The sawfly infestation in my ribes plants (currants and gooseberries), has hit an all-time high, and the gooseberry crop is ruined. (I will be digging out the bushes, pruning back hard, removing all possibly contaminated soil and replanting away from the other bushes in the next few weeks - after removing and destroying the remaining fruit). We managed to harvest a large portion of the black currant crop for our tradition of jam making prior to the heavy rain, and what is left is largely cracked or in danger of rotting. The cherry 'harvest,' which was looking like a possibility this year, has also been lost to the rain and is hanging over our heads split and ruined.
At times like these, and reflecting on how much people think we're doing here, I'm worried that people don't really have a concept of how much space and time and work are required to produce the food that they eat. Sure, I can go to the grocery store to supplement my hobby or if something goes wrong - but what about the local farmers who are dealing with the same vagaries of the weather and the same insect infestations as me? We are lucky to live in North America and benefit from all of the food that is available to us here, but I'm very glad that I understand what goes in to that production, and that I have a backup for my own failures.
Hug a farmer.
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