California Icycles

Waiting for the rain….. the dry spell surprised us all this winter. It’s not that we want to complain about 65 degree temps in December and January where one can go out for a walk at will, any time of day, sometimes with no jacket. Or that the clear starry nights were not noticed while out and about throughout the Holidays. We were carefree as we had little concern for roads conditions or remembering umbrellas as we dashed out the door.

Those of us that live in Rural Farmtown America know better than most the weird twist and costly risk of this type of weather pattern. Established orchards that lack rain and water slowly dry out to the point that a hard freeze can be fatal. Twenty degree mornings will have their effect on the trees and the cost of no water will eventually hit us all in the pocketbook.

An occasional wintery site will result from farmers scrambling to save their trees as the irrigation is turning on to keep the soil moist only to result in freezing water for those magic few hours of the early morning. It creates a visual excitement amongst the townspeople as they scurry about to work and to school. An area that sees no snow form year to year suddenly is graced with icycles glistening in the sunlight.

  

A little winter magic…. As we are waiting for the rain…..

Wallnut Orchard in Central Valley, CA

Worth The Wait

Pink buds and blossoms line the path on either side of me as I stroll through our local orchards for some daily exercise. July will bring an abundance of juicy peaches from these tiny pink blooms. Our area produces some of the best peaches in the world and much tastier than the hard small replicas that are presently being offered in our supermarkets. The “real” ones are worth waiting for.

Cherries are my favorite, possibly due to the very short growing season curbing the duration of their availability. My Dad said you could not pick a Cherry off the tree until June 3rd! Those were the days when the Santa Clara Valley was chock full of orchards, growing cherries, plums and apricots. He grew a vegetable garden in our urban backyard and taught us the anticipation of waiting for each specimen to properly ripen before we could harvest or even taste.

Anticipation builds as I have learned to wait for the Bing Cherries even though they are a later crop. A fully ripened Bing will grace my lips first in a given year. The earlier varieties have their merits but my Bing Cherry ritual of waiting it out has rewards beyond compare.

Slowly the kinks work out of my body as I walk on and my thoughts drift to the time my Sis-in-law visited from Iowa. Off we went to the corner grocery store for munchies and she loaded my cart with six avocados that were $2.99 a piece! (That was when avocados were .50 cents when in season). I choked at the bill and every nerve in my body went off to think that we could not just make do with salsa under the circumstances. This incident was an eye opener to realize that the whole population did not understand the concept of waiting until the local harvest brought the abundance of fresh food. To know that some folks do not even consider the cost and waste of energy that occurs with each shipment of fresh produce.

Waiting – for food to ripen, for funds to be saved for a purchase, for the right job… It seems the lessons at hand have to do with learning patience… and to wait for what is best.