Almost Heaven

Hey There !

Dave from McElhoes Family Farm/Belmont here.

Last week, in my enthusiasm for the big start to our growing season, I exclaimed "Let the games begin!" And begin they did.

As I marveled over the tiny peaches and apples, the blackberry and raspberry blossoms, Monday the Weather Service put out a frost warning. Here in Zone 6, the chart says our average last frost is about the 16th of May, but I was raised a couple of hours south of here and remember at least one killing frost as late as June 8, maybe later.

"Mother nature is a brutal bitch, red in tooth and claw, who destroys what she creates." - Ernest Becker

I don't suppose I am quite as pessimistic as old Becker. The hummingbirds and orioles did arrive last week, after the newsletter had gone out, and we escaped the threatened frost, but I have just come in from the truck patch... Over night, I have lost almost 50 cabbage seedlings to slugs. Last evening, I chased the crows out of the early pepper patch. They love to pull seedlings out to search for seeds still attached. I suppose it is a good thing we are late planting the early sweet corn patch.

At any rate, the lambs are almost hidden in the tall grass and that is a glorious thing. The new "Country Chickens" are growing happily. Still no word on our special breeding stock, but hopefully they will arrive with enough of our fleeting Summer to settle in properly. I am reminded of Gene Logsdon, the author that has been my inspiration for much of what I have thought and done for much of my life, when he said "All flesh is grass."

There is a brief time, a moment or perhaps a few days, where the grass is just tall enough, just starting into seed. It waves in the breeze like ripples on a lake and is just so glorious and promising. I have always called this "June Grass," although it sometimes happens as early as mid to late May or even as late as mid June.

I don't know much, but for me at least, this is heaven.

Dave