On 16/08/2012 5:51 PM, merryb wrote:
> On Aug 15, 7:36 pm, "Julie Bove" > wrote:
>> I could just see it coming! Personally I disagree with some of the things
>> on the list. I know that some people like frozen bread. I do not, although
>> I do freeze the extra slices that are about to go bad and I will use them
>> later for stuffing. It's fine for that. And any time that I buy extra
>> chips or pretzel, they go bad before we can eat them. But for sure I am
>> getting some of that whole wheat pasta from Costco and some extra beans,
>> popcorn and canned stuff.
>>
>> http://frugalliving.about.com/od/sto...Stockpile-Due-...
>
> This is not making a impact here like it is in the rest of the US,
> Julie- it's just a bit warm today. I'm sure we will see some costs
> rise in the near future because of the rest of the country, but we are
> pretty fortunate here in the Pacific NW. You should be prepared for an
> earthquake, tho.
>

I live in the Niagara Peninsula where extreme weather systems and other
natural disasters are all but unheard of. We have had a very dry
summer. We had a freakish warm spell that caused fruit trees to blossom
prematurely and then when the temperatures ducked back down to normal
the blossoms froze. The worst hit were the cherries, especially sour
cherries. There was basically no cherry crop this year.

The forecast for the hay crop was pretty dismal. The first cutting was
fine, but there were concerns for the second cutting, since it just
wasn't growing back. However, we had a decent amount of rain over the
last two weeks and if the hay fields down the road from my house are any
indication, the hay bounced right back. Farmer John who runs the
nursery behind my house planted sorghum as a cover crop. He wasn't sure
it was even going to sprout, having been planted mid July, but it did,
and over the past week it has been growing about 6 inches per day.

While the peach trees lost some of their blossoms, there were still lots
of peaches. The first batch out were small but very tasty. When I went
to the local orchard that sells sour cherry juice I was amazed at the
size of the peaches they were growing. They were huge, and they were not
even close to ripe enough to pick.