This has been a strange year indeed in central Kentucky. Spring was quite moderate by historical standards and furnished everyone with a long and accommodating period to plant crops and gardens. Then, after all the seeds went into the ground and managed to sprout, the faucet got turned off. We went into a dry spell that was exacerbated by some lengthy periods of hot weather. If the hot and dry periods hit your growing crops at pollination, it was lights out for production.
Unfortunately, a few row
crops and gardens fell into this category.
Fortunately, most crops and gardens did not. It all came down to the sync between the
maturity and weather. As late summer
bled over into early fall, it appeared that there would be no second cutting of
hay, the ponds were all down to extremely low levels, and the ground water
table had taken a beating. Then, lo and
behold, we hit a wet spell and that precious rain fell in most areas. Hayfields and pasture bounced back with an
incredible recovery and we headed into a moderate season that permitted almost
everyone to harvest their crops uninterrupted.
A decent second cutting of hay was realized by most everyone. And even though there was the good news of
high yields and good markets for the field crops, the low water lines in creeks
and ponds conveyed the undeniable fact that the ground water table remained at extremely
low levels.
Then, somewhere right
about the first day of November, the unseasonably-warm temps gave way to grayer
days, cooler nights, and steady winds.
It seemed that the switch had been flipped from late summer to winter and
our fall got somewhat abbreviated. Where
it had been not uncommon to have good grass and even some hay up into December,
we are now in the middle of November and wondering if maybe the hay needs to go
into the rings. The combination of early
low temperatures with high energy prices is not a good omen at all.
It has been a strange
year for nature in many ways. On our
farm, we had no pears or apples, the buckeye tree yielded less than half a crop,
and there were hardly any peaches or plums whatsoever. The hickory nuts were pretty sparse and the
acorns were rare, but we had the best grape crop in years. The garden gave us a good yield of green beans,
onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes; but the squash production was
disappointing. The sunflowers grew to
extraordinary heights and their sunshine flowers were huge and heavy. There were no cherries this year; the cherry
blooms must have gotten bit by a late frost.
And although there were bunches of red berries on the briars, the dry
and hot weather dried the blackberries up before they could ripen fully.
We had a handful of good,
old country thunderstorms, but nothing that was too severe. The wind kicked up a bit here and there and
dropped some limbs and old trees on the fences, but again…it wasn’t that bad
and certainly could have been worse. There was enough wood that hit the ground for
the firewood ricks to be replenished.
In the dryer parts of
Kentucky, the usually brilliant colors of fall were dulled somewhat by the dry
weather. The leaves seemed to hang onto
the trees a bit longer than usual, but for many areas, there was simply
insufficient moisture to create the kaleidoscope of color that we usually
experience. As for my part of the
state, we had a glorious landscape with rich and varied color galore. When that cool and cold weather hit us in
November, followed by a fairly heavy rain or two, the leaves came tumbling down
in torrents and covered the ground in a thick, crunchy blanket.
Something…somehow…seemed
amiss with this year. Mother nature and
the weather patterns just always felt a bit disjointed and out of sorts. It almost leads one to believe that this
coming winter will have an episode or two that will not play out quite
according to script. Perhaps a deep,
deep snow or an extended freeze. Heaven
forbid we experience another ice storm like we did a few years back! One of those in my lifetime is quite
sufficient, thank you. I will eternally
marvel at the ability of the land and woods to recover from adverse weather and
somehow restore a sense of order to what we too quickly perceive as
crisis. My son has been down from the
city this week to deer hunt and has taken a buck and a doe for the freezer;
both appeared to be sound and healthy.
There is one thing for
certain…we were truly blessed to witness our beautiful and bountiful world in
all of its glory and wonder this year and no matter what the winter months
might bring, there has been ample opportunity to lay by in store and prepare
for the days that lie ahead. As calendar
year 2022 winds down to a close with Christmas Season inexplicably commencing
before Halloween even arrived, we once again thank the Good Lord for another
year of life and privilege to live where we live in a wonderful nation full of
good people.
This weekend, we will
gather around the table with our children and grandchildren and enjoy a feast
of a meal. We will have the freedom and
right to discuss anything and everything that is on our minds and any form of censorship
will be way off limits. On Sunday, we will
attend our church and worship according to our faith with no concern whatsoever
about anything but our God Almighty.
Life is good. It is “Thanksgiving”
indeed.
