The Briar Philosopher - Good Morning Glory

I can still hear my Momma saying that to me in the mornings, particularly this time of year when the blooming of the Morning Glories would greet us each day. We all knew that their bright faces were the first signal of the changing times to come. Soon the katydids would begin their call and cooler days and nights would begin make an appearance. This was usually a welcome thing after the summer’s heat and hard work.

Not that the hard work was over. At this time of year we were nearing time to put up the tobacco, harvest the corn for the corn crib, pick and dry the apples and any number of other harvest tasks but these usually didn’t have to be accomplished in the searing heat.

The heat and humidity this year have been so much more intense than anything I remember from childhood. It has been difficult to keep up with the grass mowing and weeding and keeping squash picked off the vine just because it has been so hot and the air has been so “close” most days.

So, this morning when I walked out to see the morning glories awake and smiling in the morning dew I felt maybe a bit more of a sense of relief than I ever did as a child. I know there will still be heat and humidity but the season is shifting. That’s the song the morning glories sing and they’ve never been wrong before.

Of course it’s getting harder and harder to know what the seasons will bring. Nobody expected the heat and humidity to linger as long and they have this year and nobody expected the long month of June with no rain in sight or the heavy downpours and ongoing flooding that July and the first part of August have deluged us with. I’m afraid its all going to get harder and harder to predict which means we’re all going to have to become more adaptable than we’ve been used to being for awhile now.

Mankind has spent a long, long time trying to make the environment adapt to him and those attempts have largely led to what we face now, a climate with weather patterns we can no longer predict. Even the farmer’s almanac can’t keep up with all the changes that are coming. We can’t know if we’ll have 70 degree temperatures in December or ice storms coating everything. What we can know is it’s going to be harder and harder to plan for thing short term and long term as well.

This year I have noticed more and more small gardens and corn patches in people’s yards as we go along the road. That’s going to be an even more important thing going forward. Droughts and floods and storms can disrupt large scale farming to the point that food can become scarce so having some growing close to hand and maybe a little put back for later is going to be more important than ever. Well, maybe not than ever. I know it was very important to us growing up because we mostly relied on what we could grow ourselves. I’m just afraid that more people are going to find that a necessity going forward.

In some ways that’s not a bad thing. Perhaps we have all become a little too reliant on the convenience of everything we need being available without much effort on our own part. I’ve always been an advocate of growing your own food. I haven’t always needed to but there are so many rewards attached to it that I’ve always had a garden when possible, whether I needed one or not.

It’s just my philosophy, of course, but we may all find in the near future that self-reliance is far more reliable than weather patterns and supply chains.