A Cool Front Blows Through...

One of the first cool fronts of the season blew through, bringing with it cool temps, crystal clear skies, and low humidity.  It was met with approval from man, woman and beast.  Our cows who normally slowly lumber to the barn for morning milking, briskly ran, kicking up their back legs in frisky fashion.  We hadn't seen them move like that in quite a while.

When we finished milking, we poured the milk for chilling and washed up the buckets.  Then we put on a pot of Community Coffee with Chicory.  I asked Tricia if she wanted to have our morning coffee on the front porch since the weather was so nice.  She was happy to do that and when we sat on the rocking chairs, our Great Pyrenees, "Big Boy" showed up to join us.

Big Boy and Tricia

We planned out what we'd do on that Saturday while we sipped our coffee, flavored with a little bit of local honey and some fresh thick cream from our Jersey cow, Daisy.  So good!  Our view from the front porch faces north.  There is a field just across the road that hasn't been planted in rice or soybeans in quite a while.  If you look closely, in the absence of any agricultural crop, a bumper crop of tall yellow flowers fills the field.

Those pretty yellow flowers are actually goldenrod and they are giving me fits. Their pollen fills the air and my allergies are really acting up.  I'll be happy when the flowers fade and are gone.  Until then, I'll continue to cough.  And cough, and cough some more.

As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."  In this case, while goldenrod is my annual nemesis, our column full of bees absolutely love the goldenrod.  Goldenrod gives me coughing fits, but it gives the bees food to last through the winter.  You can see the busy bees in flight in the photo below, bringing back the goldenrod nectar/pollen they are busily accumulating from right across the road.

How can we tell they are getting goldenrod?  We can smell it.  Goldenrod honey has a very strong smell that reminds many of smelly gym socks.  When we walk outside of the side door, it is an unpleasant smell that greets us.  Although the honey smells bad, many people like it and will pay a premium for it.  Goldenrod honey is also darker than 'normal' honey and crystallizes quicker.

You can almost set a clock to this time of year: first cool fronts, coughing fits and the pungent aroma of goldenrod honey.  Don't get me wrong, though, we are enjoying the weather!