Summer Smells

There is something in my head that makes me decide when a season has officially started. The spring is over and summer is here. The hills are one of the main factors that dictate the seasons. In the spring the hills are green with lush grass the oak trees have the neon green of new growth. Now the hills have turned golden with little to no hints of green grass. The oak trees have matured their leaves to the dark green color that will carry them through the hot summer days until fall falls upon the leaves – grounding them for the winter.

It also feels like summer because of the way soil completely dries out unless it is irrigated. And the smell that the fields omit when water mixes with dry soil is something that smells as good as freshly baked bread – but only in the summer does this phenomenon occur.

The peaches are ripe too, and if ripe peaches are not a sure sign of summer then you are all to accustomed to thinking that peaches come from the grocery store where they are shipped in from all of the other places in the world that are experiencing summer when you are not. Local peaches are the definition of early summer.

Our tomato plants are beginning to flower also. Walking through the field I notice the pieces of the field that are suffering because of a resident gopher. I carry my shovel to dig random holes to check the moisture level of the soil. When my walk is done I have the smell of tomato plants on my hands and pants - another unmistakable trait of summer.

While the mornings are still cool the days have grown long and the evenings warm. The clacking of irrigation sprinklers can be heard every day of the week and most hours of the day. The pomegranate tree is just passing is full bloom and the beginning of the fall fruit can be seen. The citrus have no more flowers, only little green marbles that will grow through the year. In the green house my first planting of fennel has just popped up. Everything and everyone is busy.