Almost Memorial Day Weekend, No Really, It Is

As you can see by the title of this post, things are not as they should be in Farmville. It is almost Memorial Day weekend and we have unsettled weather with a chance of hail tomorrow. If this is going to be the new normal for Sacramento, we might as well rename this place "The North Pole" and let Santa set up a satellite operation here. By now, we should have at least had a couple days with ninety degree highs and many more in the eighties. The upside to this unseasonably cool weather is the broccoli did very well. As you can see in the picture, nice and large without trying to form flowers. The cool weather has also been kind to the sugar peas, potatoes, onions, and garlic. Sometimes the first heat wave in May freaks these guys out and they struggle. The tomatoes, corn, melons, peppers, and cucumbers are growing super slow and my fear is they are not acclimating well for when the heat does decide to visit us. One thing I learned a long time ago while farming is since you can't control Mother Nature, you might as well get completely stressed out and get hammered on cheap beer worrying about it all. Just kidding. You have to just keep an eye on things and be prepared to take care of what may come with a sudden upswing in temperatures. Usually this means keeping the plants well watered when the hot weather arrives but another aspect is keeping the bad bugs controlled. Insects' entire existence is temperature driven, so when it warms up, their populations can explode within a couple of days.

The patience with the crooked rows of corn paid off. The picture above gives the complete illusion of straight rows that had to have been planted with some sort of laser-guided system. What really happened is they grew enough and I learned to take pictures far enough away to make it look this way. Those four rows have been divided into one third blocks, with each block planted two weeks apart. Hopefully this results in a very long harvest window so we can enjoy corn all summer long. I won't waste time repeating what has already been discussed under the previous sweet corn post, but know there is no better treat than to have fresh picked corn for dinner every night, if that's what sounds good. No hassle with going to the store, just go back there and pick a few ears.

Since Memorial Day weekend means crowds everywhere, the plan is to get a lot of things done with the project. I figure that the more I get done this weekend, when I don't want to be part of the big crowds enjoying the great outdoors, the more time I'll have during the upcoming weekends. Then I'll be able to do things without the crowds. The word is the shad running up the American River are unusually big this year. Some have been catching four and five pounders. Once it quits snowing in the mountains, the water in the creeks might warm up enough for the trout to realize they are very hungry. All of this could lead to some pretty good fishing during June and July. I'll try my best to not let the Farmville Reality Project become an orphan to the fishing, but no guarantees.