Summer in the Desert

Wow, we got slammed today and it's the first week of June.  It reached 100 degrees here in the high desert.  Two weeks ago I was wearing a jacket and it snowed up the mountain.  Unbelievable.  I covered the raised bed garden with shade cloth so felt good about that.  I have heirloom tomatoes, hot peppers, watermelon and bell pepper.  Outside the raised bed I have okra and strawberries and they seem to be doing well.  Planted the okra from seeds and they are quickly growing new leaves.  Summer is tough here.  Everything appears to either die or go away.  It can be lonely.  People go inside, animals find places to cool and the landscape is brown, dry and dusty and waiting for future rain to show itself.  You don't feel much life.  It's hard to keep your energy going as you just slow down.  I try and remember the people who I imagine homesteaded my current home in the 1950's.  They didn't even have electricity or cooling.  They did OK.  So, I get out there and keep working on that chicken coop!  But, it's hard to not imagine the greenery I am going to eventually see in Arkansas.  Green always cools and brings a little relief.  I am trying to grow as much green as I can even though that's working against the nature of this desert space.  It helps buffer the relentless heat of the summer.  I am grateful to be here, though.  Grateful I have my own place and a large area of land and the opportunity to try...