As all of you know, my home state is on fire. This is not a new occurrence. This is happening with regularity now, every single year. Many factors go in to why this happens; forest management is but one of those reasons. These particular fires were caused by freak lightening, something we almost never get here, and certainly not in August. This lightening happened during an extreme high pressure dome which had us experiencing very high temperatures for over a week (and are still lingering inland). The causes of the lightening and the heat dome are rooted in the same cause of the extreme weather that is happening everywhere. Climate change is here, friends; we are no longer simply anticipating it.
I stopped on the road yesterday as I was driving to the store, to take this picture. Smoke is just a very real part of our lives now, every August through November. We need one kind of mask to help keep us safe from Covid-19, but another kind of mask altogether to protect us from the particulate matter in smoke. We’re told to stay outdoors to protect ourselves from the virus, but to stay indoors to protect ourselves from the bad air quality. Choose your poison, folks.
image credit: Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle
Of course, there are some who cannot choose. California farmworkers are still laboring beneath the smoke-filled skies, to make sure the world has as many strawberries and almonds, and as much lettuce, as they would like. Climate change, like institutional racism, affects certain populations first and hardest. The definition of privilege is surely this: Me complaining about being stuck in my air-conditioned house, while distance learning at my expensive university, on my home computer.
These hard weather days have seriously affected our garden and livestock. Our oldest OG chicken, Molly, died very suddenly in the heat. I went out to spray the chickens with water one afternoon, pretty much the only thing I can do to cool them off (which they hate, but need), and Molly was lying, quite dead, under the quince tree. It looked like she went fast, which is a blessing. (Gertrude, the chicken with the bum eye, is much better and reintegrated with the flock, at least. I think she might be blind in that eye, but she is eating and drinking and managing very well.)
We found the world’s smallest swarm on the chicken coop door one night. Who knows if it came from our colony? Regardless, even the bees, who love heat and keep the hive around 93 degrees at all times, couldn’t handle the extreme heat and smoke and made a listless break for it. Tom scraped the swarm off into a box (receiving an inevitable sting on the wrist just above his glove), and placed the box under the oak tree. The next day, they flew off.
The plants, particularly the tomatoes and peppers which are under full sun all day, are quite crispy and no longer producing. Tomatoes, especially, cannot set fruit if the temperature is much above 85 degrees F. And their leaves are all very yellow and desiccated. I’ve noticed that some of the local trees have started changing color, several months before they should, protecting themselves by cutting off nutrients to the leaves.
All the seedlings I started in the greenhouse have been eaten down to the soil, I imagine by squirrels. This has never happened before. I cannot shut the door of the greenhouse because it would be a thousand degrees in there, but my light agribon cover isn’t doing anything to keep out serious threats.
red sunset shadows through smoke on the back fence
So, some flexibility is called for, not only in the humans, but in the garden. I have ordered more seeds and have decided to take the summer garden out early. I plan to do the season changeover on Labor Day weekend rather than the first weekend in October. I’ll take out all the summer produce (luckily our canning shelf and freezer are full, as I had more time this summer to preserve; one good side effect of being stuck at home) and get those fall and winter seeds in the ground, covered with low tunnels to protect them from those pesky squirrels and birds (who are also just trying to survive the horrible weather and smoke). I feel good about this decision.
Another good reason to do this changeover on Labor Day weekend is because the Friday before, we will be taking Adam to college. Or at least, that’s what we expect will happen (flexibility has been required in this department and more may be needed as plans change. UC Santa Cruz was just evacuated due to nearby fire). Staying busy in the days that follow that will be just what I need.
Meanwhile, we pray for the firefighters, one of whom lives on our block and has a toddler and another baby on the way. We pray for our leaders as they navigate a confluence of big, scary events. We pray for those that have had to leave their homes and go to live in shelters, many with just the clothes on their backs. We pack go-bags and make sure the emergency binder is updated with all the newest information and prepare to leave at a moment’s notice if necessary. Another lightening event is possible Sunday night into Monday as another tropical storm moves up the Baja peninsula, which also could cause high winds. We haven’t even had our usual autumn big-wind events yet. Fire season is just beginning.