Getting My Head Around It

    It's been a while since  my last post and somehow Summer is over. That Autumn chill is in the air and my Japanese maple is starting to drop a few leaves. Summer crops are reaching their inevitable decline, and I'm starting to look at my Fall crops with anticipation. 

  It was a bit of an odd Summer, to say the least. Enough unseasonal rain that all my cucurbits got white powdery mildew earlier than usual. My courgettes are done for. I have tried to keep my pumpkins going long enough for their fruit to ripen fully. But of course, I can't complain. 

  Cyclone Gabrielle plus additional flooding from even more unseasonal storms have had catastrophic consequences for those just north of where we live. In light of the horribleness of houses damaged or destroyed, lives lost even, we have been incredibly lucky. It's heartbreaking to think of people who had tended a little backyard garden, anticipated the satisfaction of harvesting home grown veggies, only to have their gardens drowned under flood waters, advised to discard their lovingly homegrown food due to flood water contamination. It's not the biggest piece of the tragedy, I know, but sometimes it's the small, relatable things that are easier to get my head around. That open the door to broader understanding. Dear reader, if you are one of those directly affected by these events, I am truly sorry.

  I think about this as I pick my green beans and tomatoes, as I eye up my butternut pumpkins nearly ready for harvest. I'm lucky to have this. If that cyclone had aimed a little further South, who knows how bad it could have gotten here. My whole city is one broad valley, a flood plain. I contemplate the larger scale tragedy of vegetable farmer's crops wiped out. Of orchards of fruit trees with their roots under water, a situation that might kill the trees, not to mention this year's crop. I am doubly lucky to have the resilience of a little bit of produce right in my back yard. There are going to be some gaps in the supermarket produce section this year.

  Because of climate change, these extreme weather events are going to keep coming, and that is going to affect every one of us, touch every part of our lives. And that's something we are all going to have to find a way to get our heads around. Having something practical to focus my attention on helps. My garden is a drop in the bucket when it comes to food resilience. But the mental health benefits are very important to me. I think more clearly when I'm out working in the garden.

 Today's post was going to be a look back at the Summer season in my garden. But I wrote this instead, so I'll save it for next time. For now, have a picture of a bumblebee on one of my sunflowers: