Today is January 8, 2012. The temperature outside in our urban hedgesteader’s yard is 64 F. The sun is out. The laying hens are confused as hell. Pancho is confused alongside them, and the soil itself, and all the ambient weeds are having existential crises in plural.
Last year at this time, it was a rainy day. January 2011 wasn’t insanely wet, but the soil was damp enough that we had to spread tons of old corrugated across swathes of soil to keep the weeds at a dull roar. Mostly? The outside temps were cold. You know, winter-like. This meant Pancho’s visits outside to dance in and out of rainfall were brief and efficient, and we had to keep a beat-up towel on the floor next to the patio door, just to tamp our feet onto after going outside to fish him out of puddles a couple times per day. Last winter was also a season where we had to re-straw the chicken run multiple times in order to: 1) keep the ladies busy and active and therefore warm, 2) keep the floor of the run itself dry and cozy, 3) distract the ladies from the weather during their waking hours outside w/ the waterer and feeder. I think I raked out damp straw and replaced it with 1/2 a bale of fresh dry straw at least five times. The dood did this when I was getting over a cold and stuck indoors.
All this being said, it was a freakishly warm winter last year, too, a few times. In February, we had Daisy put down on a particularly sunny and warm day, for example. The only reason I remember this is that the deep hole we dug for her under the half barrels of garlic and onions was in very solid clay, we broke a serious sweat digging it, and it took forever for the soil to re-settle after we’d interred her with picked flowers, and after we’d popped a pomegranate cutting on top. It wasn’t until some torrential rain a couple weeks later that that the earth settled. The dood had a slight brain freeze, and pondered could she possibly have decomposed THAT much in two weeks? and I had to remind him about the rainfall and water seeking its level and taking the dirt with it.
Let’s be frank, 2011 had no normalish winter either.
February 2011, we ran the cultivator in the back corner, planted a beautiful checkerboard of Anasazi corn and beans. A huge checkerboard. And watered. And then, in that post-Daisy deluge which lasted days, the ground got so compacted that the only seeds which germinated grew in this dwarfish stunted state. Corn up to the knees. Beans no taller than Pancho the rain-obsessed kitten. And I might add, it took over a month for those seeds to even sprout, because the earth was so damn cold. 4 big rubbermaid trashcans’ worth of beautiful composted horse shit from the local stables, mixed with still-rotting chicken manure, and the earth was cold.
March 2011, we had an afternoon of snow in the yard, when I got home from work and was busy reinforcing the plastic covering and some recycled tarps over the baby chicken coop in the patio. Snow. I’m one of the few snow virgins I know, having never traveled anywhere to ski or snow-shoe, and here I was in my commuting rain gear with these fat clustered clumps of snow landing on my hood, arms, and shoulders, as I was fiddling with bungee cords and wire. Pancho was howling to come outside and see what the white stuff was, and the young pullets in the baby coop and run were so flustered over being feathered and sheltered, yet feeling cold, dangit.
April came, and the soil sort of warmed up. And… we just limped through the rest of the year. It is a damned good thing we don’t rely on the yard for all our food, because even the nettles had a shit year. And the edible dandelions did as well. Wild lettuce took over the yard though.
I guess the reason for this rant is I am really worried about what the rest of the year will bring. This is the second week we have unseasonal warm weather on the left coast. No freaking rain. No juicy worms for the hens to go wild eating during recess. The tomatoes took eons to produce and then rotted because of the cold snaps in December. The peppers are still standing but I have to yank them up before they rot as well. Is this desert-type weather? Cold as heck nights and warm as heck days?
Very puzzling.
8 Responses to “seasons? we don’t need no stinkin’ seasons (*patooey!*)”
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I am getting worried about the rest of the year too. Average temps in Decmeber 2011 here were 10 degrees warmer than December 2010. This past week we had a day of 53F. In January, when the average high is supposed to be in the thirties. We’ve had few days in the thirties and pretty much no snow. Like maybe 1/8 inch. The ground hasn’t even frozen. Usually we are very gray this time of year; it’s been sunny a lot. If this keeps up, we’ll be entering spring with insufficient moisture and a ton of bugs that didn’t get killed by winter cold. I have not seen anything like this here. I spoke to my 90-year-old neighbor and asked him if he had seen a winter like this. He hasn’t. It’s creeping me out, seriously.
At this point, I am paranoid about keeping the plantings watered, once they make it into the raised beds.
We are ditching the center row tomorrow, when we get back from our trip to Petaluma for chicken feed. I am proposing we move the simple weather-proof greenhouse thing into that space, de-poop as much as possible (Pancho and his friend Tallulah got really busy in November and December in that bed), and then set up some wire fencing which goes below the structure to keep critters from scurrying in from beneath. It’ll be a huge meat bird dwelling, and I am going to sow craploads of brassicas in the soil as pasture for all the chooks to scratch and peck at. And they’ll be on dirt as often as they like, to scratch and peck and eat bugs in. Not just recess running amok like they do now from the patio.
I sat on the porch with Lucy this afternoon and read a book. January. The “cold season”, and we were outside sunbathing.
I get the impression I need to concentrate on desert-friendly crops from here on out. NO snow-pack in the Sierras. This is totally fucknuts.
I also am most uneasy with this weather. No hard frost, not enough water in the ground, the little garden has yet to be put to rest…
Have you eaten cactus much? I have eaten the fruits but not the pads. I have thought about growing them here.
Looks like you guys are in a moderate drought already:
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
its not surprising..last year, we had too much rain..i remember thinking that spring is going to come earlier next year. what’s next? its going to be warmer sooner..not necessarily a hotter year..just earlier. that was my prediction and that’s how i am planning the garden this year..at least for inland.
Where are you at, jonquil?
The Connecticut Valley. We have had a few hard frosts, but it doesn’t stay cold all day. A healthy amount of rain today. There are going to be more mushrooms than ever in a part of my small garden if this weather keeps up.
I’m south of the Fingerlakes. Saw a cardinal this afternoon. We don’t usually see them here until spring.