PRE-HARVEST REPORT FROM GILBERT

The house at Gilbert sits amidst fields of amber winter wheat.

We spent four days in town, and when we drove into the farmyard yesterday, we were met with signs that a ferocious windstorm had come through. The furniture on the porch had been re-arranged -- and I'm not quite sure how it happened that the table switched places with Mike's green chaise. And the old chaise that we used to call a "sun tan cot" had been surreptitiously dumped into the yard. The wind even yanked the hummingbird feeder off its chain and flipped it into the yard. Pop cans and watering cans were flung far and wide. And while there were no large downed limbs, the grove was full of small branches and twigs.


It seems like a strange year. Aren't they all? But this year the grain just seemed to ripen so quickly. My garden hasn't done much at all, and I think it's because it's so hot. The young fruits just seem stunted on the vines. A little maple tree that was showing promise shriveled up over the weekend. And Mike despairs that he has seen only a few Hungarian partridge (huns) instead of the coveys he'd like to see.

Bess and Nellie nibble hawthorn berries

The noisy bird families of spring are gone now, leaving our world much more peaceful. A few hummingbirds still come to the feeders, but we haven't had as many this year. We do have a lot of yellow jackets, and that's usually a sign that the hummingbirds will soon be gone.



Left: June's field in the foreground, our north field, and then Central Ridge in the background.

One day the old barn at "mailbox corner" will be gone, but while it's there, I'll continue to appreciate its rustic beauty with a camera.

Nellie knows how to walk on the shadier side of the road. That's spring wheat in the foreground. The next field is winter wheat. Note the apple tree. I don't know if it's time to pick apples or not, but I do know that Nellie and Bess search under the trees for them - and they are rewarded.

The unit of pine trees in the middle is our grove. You just can't see the house. KW