My anxiety about the food chain isn’t going to help. Between corn and soy losses with Agribusinesses and our own local issues with losing apples, cherries and peaches it will lend itself to an interesting winter in food choices AND pricing for most of us. My cherries in my food co-op have already gone up over 30% a pound. I fear it isn’t over. But unlike gas prices, I understand what is happening and it isn’t based on a rumors of turmoil. The cause and affect are clear. Mother Nature is moody. The science is evidence based.

The gardens are okay. In all gardens the lettuce is a wash. Short harvest with the heat before it turned bitter and started to flower. Kale is doing well. I planted pole beans and pulled the pac choy and peas in the wellness garden. The spaghetti squash is doing lovely – the chives seem to have really helped repel the pests so far.

The Welcome to the Village garden’s sunflowers are starting to bloom. Lovely sunflowers “Royal Flush”. They just make me happy to see them.

My home garden, the rural urban garden, is seeing some pathogens with the tomatoes. My worst fear is that it is early blight. I have been trying to avoid the truth and nurture the plants as best I can. I don’t see any markings on the stems so far. We’ll see. They are what I really look forward to the most besides the cucumbers and kale … and the strawberries, rhubarb, peppermint, lemon balm… and basil of course. Ahhh it’s all part of the puzzle. It would just be a missing piece if I lose them. But I know I’ll get some. I picked my first eggplant and grilled it with some zucchini and beets for dinner.

The volunteer pumpkin is doing great. It hasn’t set fruit yet, but it is meant to do what it is going to do. Either way it is quite spectacular and thriving.

Oh yes, nature… if you leave it alone it won’t hurt you. That’s a fallacy we need to teach our children about. I was sitting in my car with the door open talking with my grandson when a wasp performed the perfect dive bomb and hit me in the eye. I jumped and with instinct, albeit not a good one, grabbed at it to throw it off me. He, with no unreasonable doubt, told me how it felt about that before I could throw him.

I have never felt such searing burning pain which felt like the creature must have weighed a pound with a stinger that I was sure went through my brain and out the other side. The neighbors must have thought I had gone temporarily insane.

The love of my life informed me it was a small yellow jacket – I could have sworn it was black but that was just my imagery. I never saw it coming. The wasp didn’t even have the decency to die in honor like a honey bee. But flew off in front of the love of my life like he was saying “I still got it.” It throbbed all day around the eye socket. I woke up this morning looking a little bit like Popeye’s sister. I think it would have been worse if I hadn’t chewed an allergy pill and put ice on it. It is my goal and desire that never happens again.

I close this journal on a happy note that it has begun to rain again and even have a little thunder. If feels marvelous knowing all our area garden babies are all getting a little drink.