by annie aronburg » Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:02 am
We've had an unusually cool spring in the Okanagan which makes the Saskatchewanians who've retired here grumpy.
It snowed at the end of April, causing damage to the cherry and apricot crops.
The local orchards are reporting a 50% loss which (if that figure stays constant) will mean a tasty crop and a good price.
I work in a plant nursery and I spend at least an hour of each day consoling old people who don't know when the heck they're supposed to plant their tomatoes under the new climate reality.
My boss yelled at me for planting way too many pickle cuke starts early this spring, but we've sold out our stock three times over.
Now he's scrambling to find more acreage for ground crops, a scarce resource hereabouts thanks to the price of wine grapes driving acreages beyond the budget of boring old food farmers.
"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.