The Weather

When I lived in the city the weather was something that was on the periphery of my life.  Summer was hot, winter was cold and that was just how it went. Living on The Farm the weather has become a major character.   It has taken on its own identity and plays a huge role in our existence.  It is the most common topic that people talk about in our country town, and not just because we are all making polite conversation.

Sometimes the weather smiles on us and is our friend.  Other times it feels like a force that is continually against us.  In reality it is the major variable in our farming business.  We can predict it to a certain extent but it retains the right to be unpredictable.

In the past years we have had it all.  Sometimes it has been spectacular and sometimes it has been a little bit heartbreaking.

There have been storms.

First Rain of the Season 2010

A Summer Storm 2006

There has been rain.

Summer Rain, Sunset 2006

Sometimes too much rain.

Gravel Road, Washed Out 2006

And sometimes not enough.

Dusty Gravel Track 2010

The weather is linked in my memory with many moments in my life on this farm.  I remember the day we very proudly brought the miracle that was the newborn Farmboy home from hospital.  It was 47 degrees.  I went inside, turned on the air conditioner and hardly left the house for the next 6 weeks.

When we brought Farmgirl home it was pouring with desperately needed rain.  Farmgirl hardly slept that first night but I can remember contentedly sitting in a chair, rocking her and listening to the rain on our tin roof.  I had an overwhelming feeling of relief at being in my own home, with my own family and knowing it was finally raining.  I had a beautiful baby girl and all was right with the world.

This year we have had one day where it reached 50 degrees on the patio.  The heat was radiating up from the ground and you could feel it blast into the house when you opened a door.  We also had one morning where it reached minus 2 degrees.  We had frost on the lawn and the Farmchildren loved the crunchy sound it made.  Lightning struck our house in April.  The noise was so loud it made our ears ring for hours.  There was no serious damage but the house smelt of smoke from burnout electrical equipment.

I am used to the role the ever present weather plays now. I am always conscious of the fact that there are other farms, and families that farm them, that have fared much worse than us.

When I first moved to The Farm I worried.  Now I honestly try not to.  No matter how hard I have worried over the past few years, only one thing about the weather has been predictable.  It will do whatever it wants - not what we want it to do.

Double Rainbow, Looking West 2005