Summertime blues, 2019

This summer has been challenging at best and depressing at worst. A cold, wet spring that left us in mud until late June led into a July and now August with barely an inch of rain for 6+ weeks.

No cash crop was planted this year. No sweetcorn, popcorn, beans... Our berries were in standing water until mid June. No strawberries, honeyberries, blueberries...

With mid July bringing us Japanese beetles as they invaded with the result of:

Our aronia berries were already taking a hit because of the wet spring but this beetle attack has reduced our yield to about a third of last year's production. (I made a very dry wine from the aronias last year.) We may not have enough for our use, let alone any to sell at market.

Apple and nectarine trees did not escape the beetle wrath.We are looking at losing several trees, not just this year's crop.


We do have some good news, our pawpaw trees are growing well although still immature. Our surviving chestnut trees are also coming along nicely. We have several oak varieties that squirrels have conveniently planted for us and I look forward to relocating them next spring. So it isn't all bad news.

Pawpaws:

As we've seen this year, nature has its own way of working. We can be blessed or cursed and the only thing we can do is to keep working towards our goals. Learn our lessons, adapt to change and keep working. Success will come our way.