It is like a time of anticipation and irresolution, these weeks between the fair and the start of high school. Time sort of hangs suspended between the seasons and can’t sort out whether it is one or the other. It still feels like summer, but there are hints of fall everywhere. Swallows are lining up on electric wires near the farms where they summered, collecting in large flocks for their migration to somewhere south of here. There are already very few robins, even though just a few weeks ago they were raising their second or third broods of the season and hunting the long lawn for night crawlers every dawn and dusk. Goldenrod is turning its signature color and staghorn sumac is just beginning to change its drab green for the cardinal red it sports in autumn. Still it is warm and sunny and the days are not too awful short just yet.

I started a few herb plants today. I have a number of pots of top onions growing well and a couple of chives started from seeds from my own plants. Today I added rhubarb from seeds from Grandpa Lachmayer’s strain and some lemon balm. All of mine died out when we moved up here and I miss its fresh lemony flavor in ice water, omelets and salads. I also planted some winter lettuce and mesclun greens in containers by the back door.

We took a drive over to Sharon Springs this afternoon to pick up some garlic from the garlic lady and some ginger gold apples from Sunnycrest. We are thinking of planting a bit of garlic this fall as we use a lot and like it fresh.

There is a lot of very badly drought-stressed corn around the county and many farms are already chopping for silage. Ours isn’t too hot either and we are going to have the crop insurance adjuster take a look at it as soon as we can. I expect that buying forage will be a real challenge this winter.

What a morning the milking crew had. I was chatting on the phone with my baby brother this morning when they came in with long, cranky faces and milled around waiting to tell me all about it. Seems they went out early in hopes of getting a few extra hours of Sunday down time today, but found the pump that moves the milk into the bulk tank from the pipeline broken down. The boss went to the truck stop for fuses and they fiddled with it until they got it going at 8:00 AM, and were finally able to start milking. Boy am I ever glad it was my morning off and I didn’t know a thing about it until breakfast time. Hope it holds together tonight so we can milk!

Prayers and good thoughts to all those who may be in the path of Hurricane Katrina. Looks like a real monster.
©Northview Diary 2005