Yesterday, I watched the Goodyear blimp fly over our little town today with its familiar blue and gold logo and tried to shrug off its unintentional sarcasm. It's been a difficult year ... as dry as last year was wet. I last heard we needed 10 inches of rainfall to make up for our lack.
Day after day of temperatures in the 90s, and week after week without significant rainfall, caused me to open John Steinbeck's acclaimed novel, Grapes of Wrath, as I visited the corn fields ... struggling against overwhelming odds.
"As the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward."
His book, set in the midst of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, provided bleak descriptions which came to life before me (Well, maybe I'm being a little melodramatic.). But ... it is disheartening to look upon fields that were once lush and shiny green only to now see leaves curling and stalks drooping and hope withering. Thankfully, we have been able to extend irrigation pipe to some plantings, and they in turn are striving to make it a "good year." The corn yield, at this point, is anyone's guess.
The Produce Division, on the other hand, has "good year" written all over it. Watermelon and cantaloupe LOVE this hot weather, and as long as the drip irrigation is providing the hydration, the plants are sending vines out like crazy! A few peppers have been picked, and onions are not far behind. Cabbage heads are forming and tomato plants are laden with green fruit.
Resilience ... could be defined as facing life's difficulties with courage and patience ... refusing to give up. Perhaps under the stress of severe drought, some, but not all, of the crops have lost this character trait. However, you can be sure my favorite sweet corn farmer hasn't. Yesterday, I heard him say that Monday he is planting more corn ... still trying to make it a "good year." I like his spirit! 
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