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I’ve always been a bit of a weather nerd, as longtime readers already know, but recently our wild weather ride ventured into the ridiculous category.
On Saturday, May 29, we had temperatures dip into the upper-20s, leaving a blanket of white frost on our lawn. We were forced to scramble the night before, covering tender garden plants that had just gone into the ground a few days earlier.
But all we needed to do was wait a few days because exactly a week later the roller coaster shot upward as we baked with record temperatures in the middle 90s. Further proof of the Wisconsin weather adage that one never needs to wait long if a person doesn’t like the weather.
The late frost was the final blow for this year’s paltry lilac blooms, which also were hit earlier in the month of May with some cold temperatures. It was cold enough to wilt grapevines and time will tell how our apple trees will bear this year.
La Crosse had a high of 99 degrees on June 5, which shattered the previous high for the day of 93 degrees set in 1934. High-temperature records were set across the area, including a reading of 100 degrees in Theilman, Minn., just southwest of Wabasha, Wis.
The record heat will only aggravate a growing drought situation across southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa and western Wisconsin. The National Weather Service said since October the region has had a precipitation deficit ranging from 1 to 8 inches, which has continued through this spring.
Most of the area is classified as being either in a moderate drought or abnormally dry. We did receive a wonderful 2 inches of rain at the end of May, but with our sandy soils, we need more. I’m already worried about the pasture conditions.
Did I mention that summer is only just starting?
Robins update
A few weeks ago, I wrote about discovering a nest with four robin eggs in the engine compartment of my old skid steer. The eggs have since hatched and the fledglings have now left the nest. I guess I don’t have any more excuses to not clean the barnyard.
The column was appreciated by reader Becky Brockman of Holmen, who sent me a nice note about her 5-acre parcel — a smallholding, as the Brits would say — and the efforts by herself and husband, Patrick, to do beekeeping.
“I can often relate to your topics, as I spent summers of my (much) younger years in Austin, Minnesota, under the tutelage of a wonderful grandmother who ‘urban farmed’ there, and an uncle who was a full farmer. I only arrived at this ‘dream home’ three years ago but am making the most of it. And although my husband, Patrick, immediately put his foot down about raising chickens, I am now a proud ‘apiculturist.”
That’s a fancy name for someone who keeps the beehives protected and cared for.
A recent column about dandelions also drew reader response.
Paul Nonn of Deerfield wrote, “It was good to read your article on dandelions. As early as I can remember I was delighted to see these bright little celebrants of early spring and was dismayed at how many urban lawns were meticulously kept free of them as though their yellow presence were a sign that mowing the grass to regulation 1.75-inch height was being neglected, though some managed to bloom very close to the ground anyway.
“I just tasted their leaf after your comment and found it tasty, unlike the milky sap in the stems which I had found not so tasty at an early age.”
Ardell Tuxen of La Crosse said she picked many dandelions as a child growing up on a farm near Waumandee in Buffalo County.
“When I was a child, we had straw piles unsheltered. In the spring, my mother would send us out to rake back around the edges to look for the dandelion leaves that were pale for lack of sunshine. We ate dandelion salad often. We never made anything else with dandelions.
“I still like dandelions in a salad but the tender pale leaves were so much more mild and tasty, not so sharp in flavor as dandelions exposed to more sunshine and being more mature.”
Another reader in Minnesota — who didn’t leave her name — says she makes dandelion jelly. Here is her recipe.
“In the morning, pick a quart of dandelions without any of the stems. Boil blossoms with 1 quart of water for three minutes. Drain off 3 cups of liquid, add one package of pectin, one teaspoon of lemon or orange extract, and 4½ cups sugar. Follow the directions on the pectin box for cooking.”
Thanks for the comments and the recipe. Keep them coming.
Chris Hardie spent more than 30 years as a reporter, editor
