Hottest Summer Ever Marches Forward...

Has it really been a month since I posted last?  I continue to set new "blog absence" milestones.  *sigh*

Our hot, hot summer continues with temps over 100 every.single.day.  I've given up looking at the 10 day forecast.  Each day forward I am only rewarded with the sight of yet another 100-degree day at the end of our 10-day forecast.  Suffice it to say, I am looking forward to autumn very, very much!!

The garden is doing fairly good, in spite of the high temps.  We set up a soaker hose amongst the corn and the cantaloupe plant.  Yes, the cantaloupe plant that we had given up for dead has bounced back with a vengeance.  There are at least 5 good size cantaloupes ripening and we're expecting our first juicy harvest by next week perhaps?


The two spearmint plants that were, for all intents, dead, have also put forth new leaves from their roots.  The four roma tomato plants are bushing out and beginning to get buds, although I think the heat is really sapping their energy to produce fruit.  We also have a row of pumpkins and a good row of pickling cucumbers, which have begun to produce small cucumbers.  Not enough to can yet though.


The guinea eggs are incubating, and due to hatch sometime this week.  Time to get the brooder back out! I put 13 eggs in the brooder initially, and through candling, removed two that didn't appear to be fertile.  Out of the 11 that are left, I still have doubts about one egg, so that would leave 10 good eggs.  This week should provide the answer, and I anxiously await!


The chickens and the guineas are surviving the heat, although they walk around panting most of the day.  Some days we replenish their water twice, just to ensure it's cool enough for them.  We've set up two fans in the coop trying to keep the air cool and circulating.  That's Nater below, our one pearl guinea, telling us she's not happy with something - it seems they are always squawking their disapproval over something!


The original clutch of guinea eggs under our north tree break is still there - one of the guinea hens has added one new egg to it this week.  But we haven't seen any of the hens sit on the nest in over a week, so I'm presuming they won't hatch out.


The pond has pretty much dried up.  We have a puddle there this morning, but only because we got some pretty heavy showers last night.  In the past month, we have been very fortunate to have two days where we've received pretty heavy downpours, which really help to green everything up, if only for a short while.  I know the horses really love the pasture after these rains.  We've been refilling their stock tanks with water every 2 days or so; in a "normal" summer, we probably refill them every 3-4 days.

This will certainly go down as a scorcher of a summer!

I am really looking forward to autumn (did I say that already?!) and getting our fall garden planted.  It was so enjoyable to work with my spinach last fall, when the temps were mild.  With the row cover, the spinach did great well into early December.   This fall, I've already got my seed supply ready -- carrot, radishes, lettuce and spinach, and perhaps some green onion too.  Only a few more weeks to go and I can start planting!  Yippee!!

I'll bid adieu with an early morning photo that makes our greenhouse look alive with light.  I'm also looking forward to utilizing this little greenhouse more over the winter and definitely next spring!


P.S. One more photo I almost forgot about .... CiCi and Baybee have finally worked out their differences.  They are now sharing the air-conditioned guest bedroom!  :-)



9 comments:

  1. I'm ready to move to Alaska after this summer! It's horrible!

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  2. We were blessed with a little rain during the night. Not nearly enough but anything is better than nothing.

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  3. I can't even imagine. We had 90's last week, with one day reaching 100. It was more than I could handle. Today was only in the 80's and felt much better. Supposed to get hotter here by weekend though.
    Mosquitoes are so horrible that my garden is sadly being mostly ignored. This is one of the worst years for them too.
    *sigh* I don't want to wish for winter...

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  4. Janie (remember me?)July 25, 2011 at 5:21 PM

    You are officially a "farm girl" so you'll soon have to change the title of your blog. Ha! We just got back from Colorado and I've sunk into a deep depression over leaving the cool mountains and returning to this oppressive heat with no end in sight. I got all inspired to get out and ride a bike or run (well, maybe a fast walk) because everyone up there does that because it's so cool. Now I open the front door and it feels like I'm sticking my head in an oven so I quickly close it and vow to exercise "another day". Ugh......I'm so ready for winter.

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  5. Good to hear from your Oz Girl, and congrats on the nice garden.

    It has been a hot summer up in the NE as well.

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  6. Oz Girl, it seems to be hot every where. This year's extreme weather has made it difficult to keep a garden happy. We did get a nice 3/4 inch of rain last week which brings the total up to 1 1/2 inches for July. Our normal rain fall for July is about 3 1/2 inches. The heat index has been over 100 for days. The humidity has been above normal this year too. The mosquitoes were an issue until the 100 degree days started. I think the heat cooked them. I've heard of one child death due to West Nile Virus this year. The child got sick went to the hospital and three days later was dead. Be careful with mosquitoes this year. If August is anything like July, then September will be a welcome relief when it starts cooling off. I don't want to wish summer away but this heat is almost unbearable.

    It must have been a busy month, huh. Have a great day on the Kansas farm.

    Nebraska Dave

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  7. And I thought it was brutal in NY! Summer has never been my favorite season and this one has been particularly challenging. I've got my fingers crossed for an early fall for all of us!

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  8. Susan isn't this heat terrible! For two 'northern girls' we're not used to heat like this for so long. It's hard to believe I'm sure but where my daughter lives in British Columbia it get's into the 100's but mostly stays in the 90's and 80's for the summer. THIS heat we have is downright depressing...I've lost 2/3's of my strawberry plants and my raspberry plants are all but dead...we plowed the corn under because of bugs and raccoon's and the tomato plants are HUGE but other than a few cherry tomatoes we've only had one ripe Brandywine and there's not much for blossoms! Our pastures and lawns have turned yellow except for the new patch we planted this spring which I water twice a day and the new shade garden looks sick and it's watered at least twice a day! YES...I'm looking forward to fall too...can't wait to be able to enjoy being outside for a change. Love the photo of the sunrise through your green house! I hope your day is a good one.
    Maura :)

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  9. I forgot to tell you that we've had absolutely NO rain in our area for for at least a couple of months and before that we were lucky to get at most 1/2 inch. The last really good heavy rains we've had were on the 4th of July weekend LAST YEAR! We are 6" behind in our rainfall for the year and other than a 30% chance of rain today...there is nothing in the near future for us. Our water pressure is way down too so we have to be very careful about watering. Good luck to you with the rain!
    Maura :)

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