New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

The local farmer is chopping is withered corn crop today. Off in the distance I can hear the whirring of the machine as he relentlessly advances down the rows trying to salvage what he can of this year's shrunken crop. The blistering heat and lack of rain going into five months now are killing his crops as they stand at less than half the height of most years. Usually by now I like to stop along one of his corn fields to walk among the giant stalks as they tower over my head. Not so this year. I am at a bit over six feet taller than most of his corn. He is cutting the crop a full month earlier than normal trying to salvage what he can before it all turns brown.

There are only about a hundred dairy farms left in NH. What a loss of sense of who we are in this town should he too give up dairy farming as about twenty have done in the last couple of years in NH. In fact this is the third year of a summer drought. The farmers corn crops have suffered but not as bad as this year in my eye's view. And my garden has suffered too. Thankfully my mother took to watering our garden way more aggressively this summer and our 60 or 80 quarts of dill pickles, dilly beans and other pickled treats show for it. Unlike the last two summers when my cucumbers failed due to the drought. But this farmer doesn't have the resources or money to water his corn. Now he will have less than half the feed he needs to get his 100 dairy cows through the winter. I am so worried for him.

I have seen but one monarch butterfly headed south so far. and that was a week ago Tuesday down on the coast while I was checking lobster traps with friend Jean. Normally by now we should be seeing a steady stream of butterflies headed south, especially down on the coast. But I saw none this past Tuesday. Hawks will be streaming south beginning next week. Yes the teens of September is hawk watching time. It is time to look up.

The remnants of the hurricane south off the New England coast didn't bring so much as a drop of water in my rain gauge. I sure was hoping for a couple of days of soaking rain. And here it is again today in the 90's! Seems like we can't catch a break from this drought. Turkeys galore are about though. On my trip to Concord this morning I couldn't help see fall colors at every glance. Many maples, now I'm not talking swamp maples that usually begin to show color late September, but roadside maples already in full color. I noticed other trees simply giving into the heat and drought by simply turning yellow and brow already. This sure is a different year. No doubt a slim ring on this year's tree growth some day when they cut one down. Even the forests will remember the drought of 2016.