We are used to seeing well posted signs on our roads and highways. Speed limit signs inform us when it is safe to drive faster or slower. Stop and yield signs warn us of areas where we must stop and look or just be aware that other traffic has the right of way when entering a roadway. We also take warning that a policeman might be watching and if you disobey, you might be issued a hefty fine to remind you for next time.

This morning as I looked out the bathroom window when I was shaving, I noticed too many dandelions poking up in our lawn. This was one of the signs that is not as well marked. However, when dandelions show up in a lawn, it is a sign that there is not enough calcium in the soil, that June bugs will lay their eggs there and the eggs will hatch into white grubs. Then the white grubs will eat the roots of the grass in your lawn. Without roots the grass will die and turn brown and skunks and raccoons will dig up the lawn in search of the tasty white grubs and that the owner of that lawn will be upset. (It may take several years for the calcitic lime to work on the soil, the June bugs to lay their eggs on the neighbour’s lawn instead of yours and for the June bugs (egg — larva — June bug) three year cycle to play out.

When we dumped the rain gauge Sunday morning, after a couple days of not dumping it, we were grateful that there was four inches of rain that had ended a month long dry spell. That was a great sign that there would be a crop of corn this fall and a couple more cuts of hay. It also reminded me of several climate change documentaries that I had watched since the fall of 2020. In all these documentaries, the scientists warned of more extreme weather changes with longer dry spells and heavier rains to come in the next few years.

We have already noticed more forest and brush fires, more dry weather and some very heavy rains causing flooding and soil erosion. In this recent month’s long dry spell, we noticed that some fields survived the dry weather better than others. In the recent documentaries, scientists mentioned that soil with more organic matter and more life in the soil could hold more water and survive these dry times better.

Man made shortages can also create huge price changes in everything from oil, to butter, to lumber and even toilet paper

Oil production, milk production, logs shipped to the saw mills and paper mills that make toilet paper production continue smoothly day after day. Sometimes companies try to hold back production enough to create a temporary shortage and raise the price. Even though there was never a shortage of the product a temporary shortage and some TV news coverage can frighten people into panic buying which drives up the price.

Our grandparents always kept enough food basics in storage that price fluctuations didn’t bother them and hence there were very few price fluctuations.

Watch the signs, no matter how subtle they seem to be and be prepared!

Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.

gladcrest@gmail.com

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