Country Roads

Company
So many questions; so few answers. Why do the apples have little brown spots? Bryce Austin says it’s due to the weather. This spring, why did so many pear and apple trees come down with fire blight? Bryce Austin and Gary Blasi both tell me it’s due to the weather. Peach leaf curl, apple scab, sun scald, mold, so much that is out of our control effects the end product in the world of agriculture. Ripening, not ripening; growing, not growing; stunted, bolted – all beholden to the whim of Mother Nature.
Obviously, there is nothing we can do to change the weather but we can tweak the situations somewhat, or, at least, avert small disasters.
For instance: there is such a product called shade cloth. It bestows a designated percentage of shade to a given area when stretched over that space. It needs to be secured to half- hoops in order for it to be lifted over, not onto the plants. It can be watered through as it is a mesh, yet it does an adequate job of keeping flying pests out. It is sold by the yard and comes in a number of widths. We order our shade cloth from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.
Timing devices on drip irrigation is another huge help during our long dry season. It still takes vigilance keeping crops hydrated but having systems on timers gives the gardener the important option of watering during night-time hours. All of this running around and trying to keep plants alive during our combination of drought and heat can take its toll on our usual chore list. In fact, during these busy months it is a challenge to get anything done other than keeping plants alive.
What’s for dinner? Does anybody ever dust? What do we need at the store? That window could use some Windex. The car needs an oil change. My to-do and repair list is quite long and I can’t find it. Do you know what I need? Company. Yes, folks, I can always find time to get these mundane tasks accomplished if, and only if, company is coming – preferably the overnight kind.
Suddenly the front door area is swept. The stove is cleaned and shining. I get up early and clean out the refrigerator before dawn. Old newspapers and magazines get deep sixed. Curtains get washed and ironed. Often, even the dog gets a bath. The furniture is vacuumed to remove the orange cat hair from our friendly kitty named Fred. He is never banished from the house so it builds up immediately, but, so what, at least we made the effort?
Then there’s meal planning. Soon there will be an actual grocery list created with a variety of entrees in mind. Ignored are the usual turkey burgers four nights out of seven. We will actually have meat balls for one of the dinners, fish for another. Oh joy, oh rapture – maybe I could even make a pasta salad instead of going outside and getting our lettuce and tomato, not that I am complaining about that – it is fantastic to have at our nightly meal.
It’s odd how I don’t see spider webs gracing the corners of my bedroom windows, or long settled dirt atop the refrigerator until I am expecting someone over 5’2’’ to visit my home. Our friends, Roger and Pat Swan, come merely for dinner once in awhile but Roger is way over six feet and I often wonder what he thinks of my housekeeping standard. He sees quite clearly the dust and dirt that eludes me most of my life.
So, to think like Roger I grab the kitchen stool and look around in amazement at the places I have ignored. The top of the microwave. The book shelves. The lamp shades. Curtain rods. Door jams. Mantles.
Even things at my level I never think to give the “white glove test.” The radio on the counter. The telephone. The computer and its printer. How did everything get so dusty?
Now there’s a question with some possible answers. Is it the farm that is the culprit? Is it the dirt road we drive on? Is it the fact that none of us removes our shoes when we enter our house? Is it the cat? The dog?
It’s the fact that I don’t own enough dust cloths to match the dirt and the dedicated time to do the job. Besides, it’s time for the baseball game. The Giants are playing the Cubs. I can just imagine Gary and Bryce commenting, “Only if there isn’t a rain delay.”
Renee Kiff weeds and writes at her family farm in Alexander Valley.