Those of us who are lucky enough to live on the land, out in the hills and open places, far from towns, we live in tune with the seasons. Not just the usual four, but many more. The rainy season, the dry season, calving season, fire season, harvest-time, and on and on. Many things that we do from day to day and from month to month are determined by these periods.
Calving season is one of my favorite times. I watch my cows for signs of imminent calving, and then I feel relief when the shiny, velvety babies appear. Over the years, we have lost some newborns to mountain lions. My little place has a steep ridge, on the other side of which are hundreds of acres of wild country. Baby calves are pretty silly and unaware of their surroundings, so I keep them close to the house on the flats for a few days after they are born. Heifers that are expecting their first calves need more watching, as they sometimes have difficulty with the birth.
During harvest season, I observe with interest as my neighbors cut and wind-row their lima beans. After they dry in the sun, the beans are harvested with huge, prehistoric-looking machines. Dust clouds arise as the harvester passes through, and the sun lights them up like billowing smoke. There are many tricks to growing a successful lima-bean crop, and the local farmers dry-farm, as did their parents before them. This means that they do not irrigate their fields at all. With special attention, and using special tools, they conserve moisture from the winter rains beneath the soil until the springtime. Then they open up the ground and plant once more.