Rain. Garden. Cloud

Rain. Every farmer’s dream or annoyance depending; of course, on what stage the fields are in. Recently there was a nice spell of wet weather in the rain-washed prairies so I went back north to Canuckland. There was a day and a half of ‘nice’ weather to work in. If you can call a brisk north wind puffing cold drafts down your neck ‘nice.’ 

The handy hubby had some time in the amount of spare change to work with me and he thought it was the perfect opportunity to put the vegetable garden in. Now, when he’d asked how big I had wanted the garden I said ‘small.’ Turns out ‘small’ now describes the well-defined borders of my new garden in the form of 30 feet by 40 feet.  Uff da. He’d gotten so excited about having a producing veggie garden with all kinds of yummy food that he had gone ahead and planted the sweet corn. Awesome! One less item I would have to plant. Imagine my shock when he’d planted four rows, with a couple different varieties thrown in for giggles. I think I can see a lot of blanching and freezing corn in my future this summer.  Oh, and shucking the ears. Perhaps I’ll design an outfit that will blend with all the silk that’s sure to stick like spider webs.

Shortly after planting all the veggies (I hope family and neighbors like cucumbers) and potting up a few of my new barrel planters (yay for flowers!) the rain caught up with me. Well, the ‘automatic’ watering system has kicked in. Finally. 

Since the rain followed me north like it had a tow line hooked to my truck hitch, I thought I’d take my chances and hopes for warmer weather down south.  Pack the truck, load the pup (in the back seat, not the front!) and off I go again. It’s always so nice to hear the ‘welcome home’ from the border crossing officer. 

Turns out while the rain ‘stayed mainly on the plain’ and in Canuckland, clouds were my constant companion. (Please tell me someone caught the My Fair Lady reference. Anyone?) Clouds are funny things, always changing and going somewhere.  But hey, at least there’s no chance of sunburn, right?

Tomorrow, I have the wonderful opportunity to speak with Bill Zortman on the Agri Business radio show. Perhaps if you have a tuned radio, you might drop in for a listen. Stop by around 10am on 1320 AM or 107.9 FM KELO Newstalk in SoDak.