Come again another day

When I tell people I'm a farmer, they say, "You must be glad for all this rain!" I can see the delight in their face, and the Californian in me shares this gladness. I hold onto that feeling as I tell them, "No."It's been shitty. Fall planted crops got flooded and the ground is still too wet to work for spring and soon to be unheard of summer plantings. What little spring planting has been done was so far delayed that we might not have much to harvest in the summer."But the fruit growers must be glad," they say to get some optimistic news. Strawberry roots rotted, and the fruit trees carry little fruit. Rain interferes with the pollinators, pollinated, and trees. Bees can't fly with wet wings, and if they made it to a flower the rain might have washed away the pollen. The residual moisture on the petals lead to rot that penetrates into the branches. My friend's plum trees bare a few green orbs amidst softened, rotting branches.The rain has been a relief for our ground water systems, which we'll need when the heat returns. But we need the regularity and moderation that plants adapted to such that we might have grain, blossoms, and food. It should be dry by now and fields ready for harvest. Rain, rain, go away, please. Come again another day.