Arkansas is back into the triple digits with summer heat, after a couple of days of reprieve. At least it finally rained here, after all measurable rainfall detoured around the homestead from July 13 until yesterday. Today we actually got close to half an inch of rain, if the gauge is correct. That rain was followed by air so thick with moisture that it fogged up our windows from the outside. It’s easy for me to long for cooler days. But then I remember how long and dark winter was for us in early 2010. 
It was cold. The garden wouldn’t grow. We got cabin fever. Maybe I can deal with a few more triple-digit days if it means the days of summer can continue just a bit longer.
Which is your favorite season?
Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.
Beautiful photographs!
My favorite season is autumn. I find the nostalgia of crisp, cold evenings nearly unbearable, especially when the dark recesses I’m passing catch a stream of light from a kitchen windowpane. Suddenly everything warm and cozy comes alive in my mind’s eye. The dog on the hearth rug, a child reading in a winged armchair, Father lighting his pipe before tuning in One Man’s Family on the Philco, and Mother removing baked apples, redolent with nutmeg, from the oven.
Thank you, Meg. You’ve created a perfect picture in my mind, complete with the scents of autumn.
I prefer spring and fall. I am not an extreme kind of person, and that includes in my weather. I don’t like extreme hot or cold and function better at a nice 75 degrees. I also have seasonal depression, and like lots of light to keep my spirits up. Winter is very depressing for me, and while summer is great (no school, lots of stuff to do outside!) the heat can get me down.
Regina, SAD was one reason why I couldn’t stay in Michigan. It was just so dreary, so long. I heard the other day that researchers are exploring whether there is a summer version when the heat keeps people inside.
Spring for me. Cool air, no humidity(yet), new life, new baby animals on the farm, budding flowers, green everywhere, the promise of longer days.
Not to mention that the huge man-eating s-p-i-d-e-r-s have not had a chance to grow and get fat yet.
That last one is the only thing that puts spring ahead of fall.
We have tarantulas here, but I kind of like them! I guess if they got Aragog size I might feel differently.
As for me on seasons, put me down for late spring or early fall.
Those researchers should come interview ME! Yes, there is definitely a summer version when the heat (mostly dew point) keeps me inside. Along with mosquitoes. And watching squash bugs take over and feeling helpless to rescue my pumpkins…
I really, really don’t like August.
What I DO love is Fall. Meg B. captured it perfectly! Can’t wait for my first Fall in the Ozarks.
Vivian, you can save those pumpkins, but you’re going to have to squish the squash bugs. I squish every squash bug I find, and I pull off the portions of leaves with eggs and microwave them before composting them.
For squash vine borers, watch regularly for signs on the stems of predation. If you find it, slit the stem, pull out the vine borer, and destroy it. Then bury the squash vine at the damage point. To reduce the red-tailed moths that are mother to the vine borers, hang bright yellow buckets full of water around your garden. The borer moths will go in and drown themselves.
I had to get past the ick factor to save my pumpkins and squash, but after watching them destroy harvests, I knew it was them or my pumpkins. I do find that certain varieties of winter squashes are more resistant, others more tasty to the predators. I also mulch with pine straw now, and that seems to confuse the predators.
Fall in the Ozarks is lovely! Try driving the Pig Trail or Highway 7 or across 16/27.
Ok – you encouraged me so I didn’t give up on them. About half are dead and they had like a white powder on them too – so I burned them. And you know what I found effective in getting about 100 or more beetles??? A light torch (you know, to start a BBQ). I burned those suckers without doing any harm to the plant. And their eggs and the little larvae make a very satisfying POP
We’ll see if the two hours I spent rehabilitating them gives them a small leg up on the bugs. If I can keep them watered and attack another handful of bugs a day, they MIGHT flower and give me some pumpkins. (crosses fingers).
Vivian, I’ve done that before with the grill lighter! I pull off the section of leaf now and microwave it. And I do love that pop! I thought the eggs were pretty until I realized what they held. I’m still paying for my mistake years later, in more bugs (although the numbers are diminishing each year). For the powdery mildew, you can try Neem. It’s organically approved and is a botanical fungicide and insecticide that you can use safely very close to harvest.
I hope your pumpkins make it!