The Drought

The grass in the shady, damp lane is much taller than it is up where the sun gets at it all day.

Is going to hurt pretty much everyone even if it starts raining all across the country within the next five minutes. Corn is already being imported from Brazil and our grain price is sky rocketing. I shudder to think what food prices will be this fall, winter, and next year.


Here in Upstate NY we saw a bit of what it has already done when Alan and I went out to walk and clear electric fence yesterday. We (really he...I carried tools, kept him company and took pictures) inspected and cut brush out of the wires, propped up a couple of tired posts and fixed this and that. We got over about half of it...it's a big field...before the old lady petered out from the hot sun and we came back down. It was time for him to go get Becky anyhow and the boss needed him to help unload hay that he had baled

Anyhow, the grass was as curly as the fur on Gil's back and not much longer. There were more wasps and bees than weeds and thistles.


This is not at all normal. The cows have been out of that field for weeks...maybe even a month. In an average year, even in the doldrums of summer, there would be grass at least up to the top of your ankle and weeds as high as your head anywhere the dirt was exposed by cows making paths and such. 


Nada.


We did see a nice selection of birds though. Lots of gold finches, indigo buntings, turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, mourning doves, brown thrashers, song sparrows, some unidentifiable small warblers, crows, starlings, pigeons, cardinals and probably a couple of others I am forgetting. No good pics though. They weren't feeling friendly and the light was so bright...

We will try to finish up today. The cows will get a few days supplemental grazing while the other field recovers. It is just barely worth the effort though.....