A Drop in the Bucket
By Pamela Boe
With a hot , sweaty arm , I swept salty droplets off my sunburned forehead , glared up at the cloudless summer sky , aimed the garden hose a skosh closer to the pear tree I was watering , and reminded myself how much I love my mother ’ s orchard .
Not far from my own little Fern Cottage in the Agricultural Reserve , Grandma Jane ’ s orchard sits on the site where beloved Bill Poole ( of Pooleville ) grew up . “ Orchard ” is a generous name , as the mere couple dozen fruit trees that remain on it provide largely for wildlife , more than they do for human consumption . Also , I ’ m no orchardist , so as its sole caretaker , it ’ s a Darwinian orchard , at best .
Only the strongest trees survive ! Oh , I know to spray fungicide on the trees when they get nasty crud on the leaves and branches , and I know to protect the bark from rutting deer in the fall , but other than that — and watering — it ’ s survival of the fittest , I ’ m ashamed to admit .
As I stood there in the wicked heat of the day , I began ruminating over two questions bouncing around in my sizzling skull : 1 ) How is it I can never get my act together early enough in the morning to get work on Grandma ’ s orchard done before the hottest part of the day ? and 2 ) glancing around at the scorched , dry , dormant grasses and clover in between the rows of thirsty trees , I wondered how wildlife survives such hot and dry conditions as we ’ ve been experiencing this year ? Because hot it has been . “ Hotter than a two-peckered alley cat ,” to quote my husband . And equally dry , at least in our portion of the county . Luckily for the critters at Fern Cottage and Grandma ’ s orchard , we always have birdbaths on pedestals and on the ground filled with fresh water . But how do they survive outside these two tiny specks on the map ?
Curiosity had me Googling these questions and finding all kinds of answers , most of which were terribly scientific , and required more intellectual commitment than I was willing to give . Condensed and dumbed down for the likes of me , I can sum up thusly : When free water is unavailable , critters often rely on metabolic water for hydration . ( Say
12 plenty I autumn harvest 2021