Our horses, Tuffy and Bull, are eyeing a shade, the cows are shoulders deep in the ponds, the ducks are bobbing their heads in and out of the water and we are clustering and bunching together inside around the chilly frigid vents of the air conditioner. The last month has been a screamer of hot weather and as parched and arid as a desolate tract of desert.
Our pastures were once green and flourishing with so much tender moist grasses on which our big black Angus cows were happily munching to their heart’s content. Now the once green grassy fields are a somewhat more brownish, the color of burned toast. The cows are walking back and forth from the cool water to the tough stringy fodder of the dried-out fields searching for even a blade of green grass.
Last year, a few weeks before now, we had another drought hit here at the Circle S and we were forced to sell some of our big beautiful black cows because we would not have enough hay to feed through the winter as the hayfields were burned before we could harvest the fodder for our herd. After realizing some of our miscalculations of last year, we cut earlier this year and our hay reserve should be plentiful.
The heat has completely depleted and exhausted everyone’s gardens earlier than anticipated and I can say for certain it caused us to lose a couple of weeks of my succulent vegetables and I am not happy about that. After mine are gone, I can usually buy some to put up and can or freeze, but this year everybody’s provisions were in short supply.
Everyone blames this excessive heat on the “greenhouse effect.” The gases involved with this scenario are carbon dioxide, an odorless, colorless gas and waste product that your body makes when it uses food for energy; methane, usually found in natural gas; nitrous oxide, an inhaled gas usually as a medication; and fluorinated gases used in refrigeration, air conditioning, heat pumps, fire suppression and electronics.
Well, think about this, carbon dioxide comes from our breathing into the atmosphere. We have to eat and breathe. In the frigid temps of January, we have to have heat, methane. As for nitrous oxide, I sure don’t want to be wide awake during a painful procedure. And then the last terror, fluorinated gas. I need my refrigerator, heat for winter, my country music on my radio, my phone and my fire extinguisher. (Already had my house burn once.) So, what and which of these glitches in our atmosphere can you give up in order to save the air we breathe?
But I will tell you it has been so hot out here on the farm that I could cook on my back porch steps, and I would, might have, given up my country music for a little while to keep some fluorinated gases from drifting to the stratosphere.
Salmon Patties and Roasted Potatoes
1 can of pink salmon
1 medium onion diced small
½ green bell pepper diced
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. thyme
1 beaten egg
½ cup of seasoned breadcrumbs
¼ cup of vegetable oil
Mix all well until smooth, except for vegetable oil, and drop into hot oil and fry for 2 minutes on each side and turn to simmer for about 10 minutes more.
For the roasted potatoes, use 4-5 medium white potatoes cut into quarters.
Shake the potatoes in one envelope of golden onion soup mix and ¼ cup of vegetable oil. Place on a parchment-covered cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.
