Heat, humidity and a possible hurricane

August in Connecticut means heat, humidity, and possible hurricanes.  The month also brings the season’s most colorful flowers. Gone are the pastel shades of early summer.  August bouquets shout for attention with intense color: cherry red zinnias, flashy orange stems of croscosmia, huge heads of yellow sunflowers, dinner-plate sized dahlias in hot pink and fuchsia, tart plum shades of gladiolus.   

August is also the peak of the vegetable season.  The month brings the largest quantity of vegetables and the greatest assortment of tastes to our Farmers Market. There are mountains of corn, mounds of sweet-acidic tomatoes.  Baskets of shiny purple eggplants, long green zucchinis, pungent heads of garlic, sting bags of red onions ... all are ready to combine with heady basil to become a famous French late summer stew: ratatouille. 

Mid-summer (celebrated on August 1st) is the skewed middle of a bell curve that begins for me in May and ends in October.  because of uncertain coastal weather patterns, our local food and flower supply hang in a precarious balance during this time of year.

If a major storm moves up the coast, our summer season ends abruptly.  Strong winds, heavy rain, high tides --- the combination will put an end to the growing season.  I feel uneasy and fragile during August, this month of overwhelming abundance when uncertainty rules.