faith based agronomy
Down here on the South End Banana Belt, the Kauai of Camano, we get quite a jump on spring planting. Personally I like to roto-till about when I’ve eaten the last of the papayas and mangos, but some of my more conservative neighbors believe you should wait until the oranges have just about played out.
I guess we’re in what you call a micro-climate, sort of the sweet spot where the convergence zone hits that warm Pacific gulfstream up from the Hawaiian Islands, misses Everett and Utsalady, but is ideal for growing tomatoes the size of grapefruits by July. God’s honest truth — nobody down here would lie about their garden yields. Unless they were hiding the bounty from the poor raindrenched, fog shrouded, miserably cold neighbors up north.
Me, I like to believe, since we don’t believe in science based climatology these days, that the weather is really just a reflection of our clean living and high moral standards. Not trying to put too fine a point on it, but those poor souls who get a sour tomato ripening by, oh, October, well, maybe they should change their ways. Better weather through better living. Like us!
Sure, we used to study weather patterns, frost zones, jetstreams, all that hocus pocus we’ve relegated to the trashpiles of history. Science: believe it if you want. Experiments, proofs, double blind studies, computer modeling , labs and testing — not much use in this faith based agronomy we got down here working 12 months a year for us. Global warming? Hey, chill out! Stop by some winter day and have a Papaya cocktail with us. Fresh picked, blend em while you watch. Stick around, we’ll help you sort out your moral dilemmas. You’ll have more tomatoes by July than you can shake a stick at…..
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