The Hot Harvest Season is Coming, But Babies Don’t Keep

Cat On a....Well, You Know. 

 

The rain barrels are dry.  We keep hearing the word, “drought,” in the news. I’ve heard that word so many times in my lifetime living in California that I wonder why we keep calling it a “drought,” and don’t just call it, “the way things are here.”

Miniature Yellow Roses- Not Native

This is the season when my garden starts to look weary, and a small percentage of plants which I planted hopefully in March and April will begin to die, especially non-native plants like the strawberries, the lemon trees, and my miniature rose bushes. 

Aloe Vera Blossoms 

A better gardener might be able to keep them alive. I am not that gardener. The agaves, aloes, cacti, hot-weather succulents and other desert plants will stubbornly survive and continue to propagate faster than I can transplant them and give them away.

Harmless Garter Snake 

    Snake season continues upon us, and wildfire season looms its terrifying, red-hot head in our direction. Despite my brave confidence about our fire clearance skills, I still feel anxious. Perhaps the clean blue mountain sky will not fill with smoke this summer. Perhaps the Kern River Valley has burned enough and will not burn this year.

Winter Blossoms Mean Summer Fruit

The apricots, plums, figs, cherries, tomatoes and peppers should ripen over the next few months. They provided a beautiful display of blossoms in February and March- but only time will tell how well they were pollinated and how much fruit we will harvest this year. My goal every year is not to let any fruits or vegetables go to waste- Sadly, I do not believe I will meet that goal this year. These are the years that I wonder if the orchard is more of a blessing or more of a burden.  

The Potatoes and Strawberries- Flourishing for now....

My fourth baby is due a month from now, right in the middle of Apricot season. 

I will spend most of that time napping, waiting for labor, giving birth, healing from birth, and nursing a newborn. There may be entire weeks where I do not even leave the house or see the sunshine, much less harvest fruit. I will do what I can and tell myself that the rest can wait. Because it can- we’re having a baby, after all.  

One of my favorite songs about mothering is called, “Song for a Fifth Child,” by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton. The song ends with this gentle reminder,

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.

Unfortunately, apricots don’t keep either. Their delicious orange fruits will ripen, swell, and fall to the ground, wasted. 

I don't like it, but I'm going to try not to think about- babies are much more important. 

We'll get all the produce stored away next year.