Jul 09, 2020
Not a good year for cherries
I seem to be relaxing too much of late and the to do’s on my desk shows that as does my absence from the blog. Oh well, right now I just am choosing to live in the moment and to heck with the do’s. If things continue as they are, we may be here all winter 😯 and there will be plenty of time to blog.
All the rain we have had has been bad for not only our personal garden but also for the fruit crops that the Okanagan is known for. First of all there was an unexpected cold snap of -7.8C/17.9F on April 2nd, that damaged many cherry blossoms. Some orchardists say they will have a 50% crop. Then came the rain and even more rain which splits the cherries. Some farms have lost their entire apricot crop and a good part of the plums. Thus far peach and nectarine crops should be okay. The harvesting of the cherries in our area began this past Monday and it was sunny promising day.
But it rained the next day and as soon as the rain stopped late afternoon, this past Tuesday, we heard the helicopters. The orchardists are desperate and have brought in heavy duty helicopters to try and dry the cherries. This jet ranger rents out for around $1,500.00 CAD per hour. You can see the cherry trees on the lower right being bent by the wind created by the helicopter. Sadly the rain began twenty minutes later. A waste of money.
While the helicopter was flying just across the highway this guy was having a good time. As soon as the rain stops, the few boats on our lake head out.
Our first peas. The long one in the middle is a different variety and it actually tastes different. We are still very concerned about our tomatoes.
Our dinner included carrots, peas, beets and steamed beet tops from our garden. The tomatoes were from Costco as was the romaine and the lemon & cracked pepper wild Alaskan cod. Colin had a mix of rice and quinoa as well but I had enough to eat as you can see.
As the sun came out, yet again we were treated to a very bright double rainbow.
It went from the left of our home all the way over to the right with the pot of gold being in the lake.
Then it rained yet again. Interesting to watch the rain fall ( see the drops in the lake ) while the sun continued to shine.
The end to an interesting day.
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The cherries on our daughter’s cherry tree still haven’t ripened, they are so late this year and not nearly as plentiful!
That last picture is very powerful.
Well at least she will get some. Hope they are the sweet and very tasty ones. Yes that last photo gets me right in the heart. They are doing so much to save people, many of whom won’t even help themselves by wearing a mask.
Hi Contessa: Glad to hear you’re well but just a little bit lazy when it come to ‘things to do ‘, it’s ok it happens to all of us sooner or later 🙂 . Regarding the last picture, as almost everything in life the interpretation of it is subjective, so is the use of the masks. Some of us use it because of fear to contract the virus, some trying not to pass the virus shall we have it in ourselves. BUT… many others believe this virus deal is a fear mongering political maneuver & it’s based on the believe that politicians are lying & manipulating people while pursuing some sinester purposes…y tu que piensas ? My regards: Lucy.
Yes I am fine but becoming rather sloth like. Working on that. Here in Canada there are no politics nor sinister purposes involved in wearing a mask. Our politicians make decisions based on science. As you can see by our numbers and how we have flattened the curve, wearing the mask and social distancing is indeed working for us. None of us have been ordered to wear a mask, we are doing do willingly and as the numbers show, it works.
Glad to see you back. Unending rain and cloud here too. My vegetable garden is ok as I have my rows hilled very high which helps with drainage. I gave up on tomatoes years ago as it’s too cold unless I had a greenhouse. The worst thing about the weather is that it makes you feel down while sunshine cheers us up. Hoping for Mexico in the fall.
Yes I agree, we need sunshine to cheer us up……and the garden:) All we can do is hope for Mexico. Many are saying that they will wait until January. Easy for those who are flying.
In the motorhome you’d be the safest if they just let you pass through the US.
Hi Contessa and hi to you Kathy, Our friends Mae and Wilf who we visited in Canada had this little bitty green house that he put a couple of tomato plants in and it helped them to have tomatoes that they might not overwise have. Thought it was the neatest little thing. Have either of you heard of these little green houses? Nothing in them except door/Window to control temperature. Sadly Wilf has passed but still remember his green house.
As to Mexico…….I think we will be buying new Winter coats and staying put – don’t want to go to Florida or to Texas either so West Virginia it is.
Stay well and stay safe – not very good numbers coming from Guayabitos/La Penita area in Nayarit and one of the local DR that came to the RV Park for those who were in need of his attention has the virus as does his wife. Very sad.
Hi to you too Sandi. We own a house in Mazatlan so really hoping to get there! Raphael from Las Jaibas is looking after it and he says Mazatlan isn’t doing too badly running around 100 cases. So hard for the locals if we don’t come. I am posting on Facebook as it doesn’t take too much data. Are you on Facebook? Thanks for being a go between Contessa.
Yes I have seen those green houses. Normally we have enough sun here but it has been an unusual year. The last two summers I had more tomatoes than we could eat. That is such sad news about the doctor and his wife, hopefully they will recover 100%.
So much bloody rain. The rivers around Kamloops and Alberta are so swollen. The night before we left to go to the funeral both highways to Alberta were closed due to washouts. By the time we got to Kamloops they had reopened Jasper but with 3 hour waits. The next day we got to Jasper midday and thankfully most of the traffic had cleared out and we only had a half an hour wait. Time for summer, dammit!
So glad that you are back and safely. I have been thinking about you the entire time you were away. Hopefully summer starts this weekend
Your garden looks like it is thriving. Good thing you like kale lol
Is there anyway you can share that last picture? I would love to see it in FB to see how many likes it would get.
Take care and keep well.
I sent you an email about the last photo but I thought you were asking about a different one. I will resend. And yes, it is a good thing that we like kale.