What our drought looks like (with the stirrings of hope for rain)

Maddie:  Mama, why are you so grumpy?

Me:  Blargh

Maddie:  Mama, what does "blargh" mean?

Me:  Muffin, I am just plain grumpy.  Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. *stomps feet*

Maddie:  Mama, I heard that it might get cooler soon!  And we might get rain.

Me:  *giving Maddie a great big bear hug*  That's the best thing I've heard for a month!

It's been the summer of records.  Record drought and record temps.  I feel so sorry for those that actually depend on their farms for a livelihood.

We've had some sad days here at Brunson Farms.

We pulled up the black beans this past weekend.  We had already pulled up the soybeans.  The pods on the soybeans were about 30% full.  So, 70% empty pods.  :(

We've tried to keep the stuff in pots alive, but it's pretty much a losing battle.

As is trying to keep the grass alive.  We keep watering, but it's not so pretty.

There are a few things that are doing well!

The horseradish is going like gangbusters.  It's in a front garden bed with auto sprinklers and a great big shade tree.

The basil and cucumbers are hanging in there (these are our second planting of cucumbers).

We've pulled all the stuff that was getting burned up/not growing.  Tim's mixed in dirt from the black barrels and we are prepping the beds for fall.

The pots have been fertilized and are ready to go.  Notice that the grapes are hanging in there just fine?  They love heat and no rain.

Tim buried the strawberry pots in hopes of keeping them more moist.  We've replanted a ton of peppers there.  The bed to the right has had dirt from the black barrels added and we are waiting to plant cabbages there.  Maybe in about 6 weeks.

The courtyard is also hanging in there, but the creeping fig has some damage and will have to be cut back.

We've picked about 3 lbs of cucumbers off the new plants (in fact, we ate two of them for dinner tonight!)

And the Thai peppers are drying out nicely.  They are going to be ground up and used as seasoning.

I've been really discouraged these past several weeks.  I'm not able to get out in the garden every evening (it was 110 tonight when I got home at 6:00 pm).  Things are dying right and left (we lost all of the lavender plants) and I feel wasteful with the amount of water that we are using trying to keep every thing from dying.  I'm very worried about the chickens.

So, blargh pretty much sums up how I feel.  Blargh.

On an encouraging note, however, we are forecast to have a break in the heat by the end of the week.  With a 60% chance of rain.

I've crossed all my fingers and toes, and I'm teaching the dogs how to do it, too.

XXOO
Donna