Rain

After a spring and summer of anxiety about how very dry the soil is, striving to keep alive the youngest saplings through months of drought, at last we are having some rain.  It isn’t yet seeping down, though heavy parched earth, far enough into the ground to last very long, but it is a start.  The difference is already showing, the trees beginning now to perk up, leaves looking a little fresher.

Rain-wet Apples

Rain-wet Apples

This rain will help the production of fruit in the older trees too – apples, blackberries, rose hips, haws and sloes, all needing some moisture to plump up and sweeten.  After so much dry, it is a delight to feel the rain on one’s skin, and walking through the woodland areas I can almost feel the same relief in the trees around me.

Of course, while more rain is still needed, we would like it to pause, allowing us time to cut the wildflower meadows, and feel the sun on our faces, warm and bright, before the autumn comes in.  Oh, how complicated it is, longing for balance between wet and dry …