It’s funny how we look at our climate in appreciation – or annoyance.  One day we want warm weather, then the next we are too hot.  We want rain, but not THAT much.  Although out of our control, we sure would like to have a thermostat/humidity control to adjust to our desires.

Most annoying to me is the Kansas wind, especially on days like we’re having this week with gusts up to 45 mph.  Working in the garden is equivalent to being in a sand blaster and days of this dries the soil.  I tend to just be irritable in dealing with doors slamming in my face, garden pots flying across the yard and hair that looks like a 1950’s slick-back styling.

I should have much more tolerance for wind.  After all, as the mechanism to move and distribute earth’s heat, it determines the very climate I live in.  It is a tool man has learned to use in sailing ships and hot air balloons.  It provides the ride for pollen, birds and insects.  We can play in it via hang-gliders and with kites.  It assists in maintaining air quality in our cities and we are beginning to take a serious look at using wind in producing power.  And let’s not forget that it takes away the bad odors of feed lots and brings to us the sweet aroma of the blooming lilac bush.   Often I am working in the garden in what seems unbearable heat, yet just a breath of air cools me and reminds me that wind is a blessing.

Other than the severe weather conditions that produce Kansas tornados or dust bowls, I hope to appreciate more the blessings of wind.  The wind chimes provide a soft percussive resonance on the patio as they rock in a breeze this morning.  Just a few evenings ago, I rocked in the porch swing at the farm as I watched the wheat turn, the breeze rustling the adjacent wheat field.

When I left the farm last night, golden wheat swayed in the wind as it ripened and dried in preparation for harvest.   Kelly Hunt’s “Heartland,” a beautiful musical tribute to some of our area’s qualities, expressed her memory of the swaying wheat as “whispering wheat fields dancing their own wild rhythms.”   I think that comes about as close to describing this beauty that is such a part of my love for the land.

This morning as the sun rose, I saw the beautiful clouds the winds have brought to us with a promise of rain.  God has indeed shed his Grace on this land – on my land.  The wind, as it rustles the wind chimes, is just a reminder.

The asparagus is waning and there will be only one more cutting.  In the background, the wheat is headed and beginning to “turn” to a golden hue that shifts in the wind as if a great golden sea.  I believe Kansans learn their colors against these fields.

Mama says, “Look at those fields, Niña.  That is GREEN.”

“See that lettuce coming up, Niña?  That is GREEN.”

And there must be some culminating mastery test for babies that is “See that big John Deere combine coming up the road?  What color is that?”  Her bright child can only answer, “GREEN!”

My own son seemed to be in high gear through those early stages.  Although there were no words, he had eyes that took in the world with such happiness.  He was just super-bright from the beginning.  He spoke his first word when he saw his grandfather drive around the barn on the great self-propelled John Deere combine.  He jumped up and down and chanted, “Bombine!  Bombine! Bombine!.”  Since he was only about 9 months old, I groaned and said, “Katie, bar the door.  The child has taught himself language!”

Many years into adulthood, I saw fields in desert country and friends remarked about their green beauty.  I could only chuckle at their judgment and offer, “Green?  Shoot, you want to see GREEN, come up to Kansas where we shoot a little nitrogen on the ground.  Now THAT’s green!”

These are the weeks of such color and I am in deep appreciation of the earth.  It just makes swinging in the porch swing such a pleasure.  It is a sweet evening as I push slightly with my foot and read a good book.  Kansas evening just closes in about me, the slight breeze whispers.

Last week I ordered a book written by the famous gardener, Ruth Stout, the “mulch queen.”  Although the original was written in 1961, it has now been reprinted and newly released in 2012.   I am enjoying it immensely – sort of a fifty year celebration of the ideas.

Perhaps it is the title that attracts me – Gardening Without Work for the Aging, the Busy & the Indolent.  I use Stout’s ideas extensively in my garden for a number of reasons.  First, my arthritis forces me to find new ways to garden that remove at least a part of the work intensity from the process.  Second, I have very limited well water on my farm, especially if we are in drought.  Third, her recommendations about mulching seem to produce a better garden than gardening without it.  I suppose I really should add that good mulching also produces an attractive and well-tended appearance.

This particular book is a hoot to read if you like to mix good ideas with dry humor.  She loves to offer the odd and obvious questions asked to her as the preface to the point she is trying to make.  Since some of us ask the same questions ourselves, it doesn’t hurt to laugh at ourselves while learning.  As gardeners, it probably isn’t a good idea to take life too seriously.  Of course, I continue to read her later work as well, and it is in my city and farm libraries – The No-Work Garden Book.   Now THAT is my kind of book.

My garden is looking great right now.  I planted most of it on a warm April day that suckered me into the season.  I’ve had some rain to help it along, and yes, it is mulched.  I had forgotten that I can mulch the asparagus though, so I think I’ll do that this weekend.

If you are so inclined, one of her books would make great afternoon reading – right after the afternoon nap, which is a good thing to do with the extra leisure time.