[HarleyRider]

Just read this article in USATODAY. Here are some of the pertinent points: "Record heat that has been baking much of the nation for weeks is likely to have lasting effects on farm crops and consumers in the Northeast.
"It's been devastating," says Carl Shaffer, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. "The lack of rain combined with close to 100-degree temperatures just takes a toll on crops."
Shaffer, who is in Washington this week for a meeting with other state farm bureau chiefs, says colleagues from Maryland, Delaware, New York and New England report similar problems.
Corn on Shaffer's 1,800-acre vegetable and crop farm in Mifflinville is showing signs of stress just as the corn is entering the pollination phase, "which is the worst possible time, (because it) shows the most impact on the yield of the crop," Shaffer says. With his snap peas a week from harvesting, "we won't have half the crop," he says.
Dairy farmers are hurting too, he says because their cows eat less and produce less milk when they're hot, and farmers may need to buy feed to replace damaged feed crops of corn and soybeans.
Consumers are likely to feel the impact because "whenever there's a shortage that translates to higher prices in the grocery store," Shaffer says.".

If anyone really needs a reason to be a prepper, this is a pretty good one. The weather patterns seem to be rapidly moving away from the norm for any given time of year, and the process only seems to be accelerating. :gaah:

 

[Emerald]

Lucky for us here in Mi we got some good soaking rains right before the heat hit and have now had more good soaking rains and the crops look stupendous so far. A friends dad said that this, so far, has been a bumper year for his hay fields, and the weather has been just right for cutting and drying the bales.
The corn is huge and tasseling and putting out ears right now, which if I remember right for us is a bit early. The wheat is all turned gold and in a few more days if the weather holds out, should be nice.
But any kind of crop failure in any part of the country now days will result in shortages in almost all of the country. And I plan on maybe starting a few more things in the garden this week in hopes of squeaking a bit more out of the garden and into the freezer or canning jars.

 

[gypsysue]

Talking about weird and devastating weather patterns...

Last year we had a deep frost in mid-June, down to 23 degrees. The overnight low had been predicted to hit 30, so I covered all the potatoes, squash, tomatoes, peppers, etc., that are frost sensitive.

But...the fruit trees and some of the berry plants were in blossom and we lost the whole crop, as did everyone else in the area. It also killed the huckleberries in the mountains that many of us pick in large amounts to can and freeze.

In the fall we had another bad, killing frost before the leaves had begun to turn on the trees. Overnight the leaves went from green to dead-brown. This spring the fruit trees and berry bushes were way behind.

I'm usually picking raspberries by the middle of July, and this year the blossoms are just now starting to open, today, July12th. At least we didn't get another late, deep frost this summer and it looks like we'll have apples and cherries this year.

With the way things look for this year's crops, it would be wise to do some stocking up.

 

[Sourdough]

"One day Chicken; The next day feathers"........(Old Sourdough Saying)

 

[Homestead Gal]

Here where I live in Virginia, we are experiencing near drought conditions. Only the farmers who can irrigate their fields will probably get a passing corn crop. The central Shenandoah Valley really got slammed with intense heat and no rain during a time when many crops are just starting to bloom or set fruit.

Our garden suffered a bit and we now have to water every evening to keep the plants producing. We have even started laying a barrier of cardboard between the rows to slow down moisture evaporation from the soil. We have the cardboard edges up close to the plants and then water with a hose so most all the water goes on the open ground at the base of the plant. So far, it is working well.

Now we just pray that when we do get rain, it is not brought from the Gulf area. I saw on YouTube where areas near the Gulf are getting acid rain on their crops due to the treatment of the BP oil spill. Pretty nasty stuff.

 

[gypsysue]

Wow, and you guys in Virginia usually have rain and humidty and wonderful gardens.

We have to mulch thickly to keep the soil cool and moist. Cardboard, newspapers, straw, whatever. Even then if the sun is too intense we have to put floating row covers or thin white cloth sheets over things like peas or broccoli so they won't bake in the sun.

Sounds like people in the east will be doing some of the "dry climate" things to save their gardens and crops.

How are Wells doing back east? Any drying up yet? What about water supplies for towns?

 

[goose]

One of the things that scientists who have argued that the earth is warming have said is that weather patterns would become more extreme.

Certainly the experiences of those in this thread would support that conclusion.

The upshot, should this continue, is that food supplies will become more variable and less certain.

More reason to prep.

 

[allen_idaho]

The only crop failure I've had is that somebody cleaned out two of my cherry trees last week while I was in Hawaii. Otherwise, everything is growing just fine around my neck of the woods.

Apples and Pears are coming in just fine. Raspberries and blackberries are done and ready for picking. Plums are almost there.

However, there has been one odd thing. Usually by this time there are wasps pretty much everywhere. Not so this year. I've seen maybe a dozen or so. And probably just as many honey bees. Very strange.

 

[NaeKid]

One of the things that scientists who have argued that the earth is warming have said is that weather patterns would become more extreme.

Certainly the experiences of those in this thread would support that conclusion.

The upshot, should this continue, is that food supplies will become more variable and less certain.

More reason to prep.

The only weird thing is - the average temperatures seem to be dropping since the "highs" of 1998 and this year so far, the average temperatures in Canada have been cooler than last year, and last year's average temperatures were cooler than the year before.

The only crop failure I've had is that somebody cleaned out two of my cherry trees last week while I was in Hawaii. Otherwise, everything is growing just fine around my neck of the woods.

Apples and Pears are coming in just fine. Raspberries and blackberries are done and ready for picking. Plums are almost there.

However, there has been one odd thing. Usually by this time there are wasps pretty much everywhere. Not so this year. I've seen maybe a dozen or so. And probably just as many honey bees. Very strange.

I also have noticed fewer wasps (thank-god!) but the honey-bees have been fairly plentiful and so big that they have troubles flying!

 

[kyfarmer]

We are covered up with those dang wasp's but where are the yellowjacket's, i haven't seen any this year i think that means a bitter cold winter and early to. Get ready folk's this winter is long over due and it's time to pay the piper. Higher energy price's a screwed economy and a record winter, what would that do to the nation or all of us for that matter. I think bad times are a coming our way. Well rather to those unprepared, that's about 80% of the country, dang i hope i,am wrong but the old time sings are there. Really how can anyone not see what's going on right in front of us. It's like some people are sleep walking through life. No direction or purpose. This year i have never seen this many rabbit's in year's i think they over populate to make up for a hard winter die off. Every hard winter we have had this has shown up. I live in coal country and the word is that they expect a huge carbon future tax and that would kill it here. People that's over 50% of the nation's electricity. Think nation wide Enron prices, a bill that's $200 will go to $500 in a heart beat. Dam i hope i,am just full of it. But :dunno:

 

[Jason]

It's been really dry here too. We just in the last couple days got a few nice showers, but some areas near me got nailed with rainstorms. Our oats seems to be ok-it's almost ripe, the hay is doing well, and the corn is as well as can be expected. We got it in kind of late. I hope the summer levels off-I really don't like those long dry spells.

 

[OldFashionedMama]

Things in my area of northeast Ohio have been accelerated a few weeks ahead of normal harvest time. We did black raspberry jam before July 4th, and blackberries are here now and many are just drying up in the hot sun. The raspberries did the same thing-go back to the picking spot three days later and they were fried. We're in the middle of doing pickles, and the garden is overflowing with them.

The weatherman said on the news tonight that we are almost 2 inches below normal rainfall-not a good thing. I got an uneasy feeling when I saw "early" goldenrod blooming on the 4th-that's too dang early! Other varieties that are trademark flowers of August are nearing bloom and maturity-its almost spooky to see ironweed in bloom around these parts right now. I can remember a summer from my childhood when there was a bad drought-1993 perhaps? All the leaves on the trees dried up and fell off in August...I feel like that will happen again. Farmer's almanac did predict a hot, dry summer-so I guess they were right!