The long tail end of summer

Snake skin in the dry grass

The weather has been over 30°C (86°F) every day with very warm nights. It's been tiring, but there's a little moisture in the air this morning. We're hoping for rain this week. It's got to be our turn! I hear there's been flooding in the more coastal areas of the state. Here, the tank is about 1/3 full, and filling watering cans is a slow process. We're not using our water for baths or laundry, just drinking, cooking, dishes and the garden. If the water level in the tank gets much lower, we'll have to stop watering the garden too.

Marty and I have been spending a lot of time planning lately. The longer we plan, the better the ideas become. I think we're ready to put one of the shed plans into action though, which is very exciting! It's also a bit nerve-wracking since we're quite willing to second-guess ourselves multiple times.

I've been reading (and reading aloud to Marty) "The Intelligent Gardener" by Steve Solomon, borrowed from the library. It prompted me to dig out the soil test we had done on the property just before we purchased it way back in 2012. I didn't really understand the soil test when we had it done. Thanks to this book, I am starting to get the picture. I've still got a lot of homework to do, but it looks like our soils are quite deficient in multiple ways, and it would explain some of the difficulty we're experiencing growing food.

In the meantime, summer drags on, everything is holding it's breath in anticipation of (or perhaps just in hope for) rain.