it's august?!

not only is it august, but it is the end of august. i have no idea where the summer has gone. i think the heat of july really threw us off. of course you expect summer to be hot, sometimes humid and sometimes dry. but you also expect a break every once in awhile. well, this july provided no breaks, no relief. it was hot, humid and dry for just about every day in july. we tried to plant, but things would just shrivel up under the sun and heat. nothing wanted to grow. forget greens like lettuce and kale. even the cucumber plants wilted to nothing. and speaking of wilting...how do you think we felt working in that heat and humidity. even going to market was hard. standing in the shade of the tents and the sweat was still just pouring off of us. as if produce farming isn't tiring enough, but when you are out there in such extreme heat and humidity for days on end, it completely drains you. it is hard to breathe at times. your body is working so hard just to keep cool and hydrated, it takes any extra energy away from you. you get home from work, take a shower and want to crawl into bed. you can't even think straight. you take cold showers, but still come out sweating. it is physically and mentally exhausting.
i know, there i go talking about the weather again. but you can't be a farmer and not talk about the weather. it effects everything you do and grow on a daily basis. the sweet corn didn't grow well, and what did grow didn't pollinate right because it was too dry. like i said, we had no greens in july and no hope of even planting them. no point in planting anything - too hot and too dry. some things that were planted before the heat did okay...summer squashes produced well, tomatoes did (and are doing) well, potatoes did very well this year, garlic did great, onions are looking very good. 
besides the weather, we have had other battles, too. the critters, mainly rabbits, love to chew on any newly planted crops. so we finally get a cloudy, cooler day to plant, but by the next day half the plants are gone because someone needed a snack last night. and the bugs...we knew the bugs were going to be bad this year because of the warmer winter we had. even with hand picking the harlequin bugs, they are on more crops than last year. the caterpillars, flea beetles and grasshoppers also love our greens, just like our customers. someone at market complained to me last week about our arugula being hole-ly and that she didn't want to eat it. i wanted to say, you try farming, or evening gardening, organically - and by organically i mean you don't spray anything on your crops - and then come back to me to complain. but i bit my tongue and said 'sorry.' 
needless to say, it has been a tough growing year, but fortunately, august has been considerably cooler...and wetter. plants are actually growing again. we are already harvesting some winter squash. we are up to our necks in tomatoes. greens are growing again - arugula, lettuce, chard, broccoli raab. inside seed starts are done for the year. everything we are trying to plant outside now is for fall and winter harvest - cabbages, cauliflowers, broccolis, kales, collards, chards, brussels sprouts, carrots, turnips, radishes, beets.
another year under my belt. another year of experience as a farmer. another year of saying 'i am going to so this differently next year.'