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| Green is slowly returning |
November typically marks the return of green to our area, after what always seems to be an endlessly long and brown summer. We've had an inch and a half of rain over the last couple of weeks -- not enough to end our drought, but definitely enough to replenish the dry ground to a point where the green grasses and other native brush are just starting to emerge again.
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| Not just grass, but roses too! |
When people come into the winery at the end of the summer and I tell them that in November all those brown hills will emerge in a kind of green haze which will grow and become more colorful until we positively look like Ireland by springtime, they always look at me like I'm slightly daft. After all, the vineyard grapes are turning various shades of brown, orange and yellow by then, which is what most folks typically equate with fall. But for us, November not only marks the end of the grape-growing season, but also green season for everything else -- everything native -- and this will last until about June.
And even the backyard vegetable gardens start to spring forth with new life again, as winter gardening is not only possible, but quite popular here. Truly, fall, winter and spring in this area are the seasons of life. Summer is for surviving.
I know some folks love fall for the beautiful turning trees and the coming of snow, but for me, I'm always excited to see the return of green after many long, brown months.
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| Pretty red pomegranates, ripe for the picking. |
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| Onions, scallions and lettuces are coming up, too. |
I would love to visit in November! Seeing the world blush and then explode in green is such a welcome and inspirational sight. After a long and picture perfect fall, winter arrived furiously on Sunday. Six inches of snow (which even in my childhood was very unusual and now occurs multiple times a season), and frigid temps. My herbs that I love to use at Thanksgiving are black and buried. So it's grocery store herbs for me! Yuck. I'm so happy you're getting rain! Has it kept up? Perhaps we should install conduits on railways to distribute water around this country. Ha! Can you imagine the fighting and billion dollar government contracts that would entail??
ReplyDeleteThat is actually a great idea -- if we connected a pipe in Buffalo, NY, right about now that would work out well for everyone! We've had a bit of drizzle since the one good rain, enough to keep everything going, but we really do need weeks of significant rain for things to change. Don't know if we'll get it. And I'm sorry about the loss of your herbs, that is always a sad thing and that big snowfall was very unexpected so early. I know my basil will fall to our first hard freeze in a few weeks and I will hate to see it happen. I may even dig it up and put it in our sunroom just to see if I can save it...it's so pretty right now.
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