84-Lancaster Farming. Saturday, May 19,2001 On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) Joyce Bupp Relentlessly it hammers away. Whistling, roaring, it sweeps down the ridge from the north west, bending the grasses, clatter ing limbs overhead, tumbling a stray, empty calf-feed bag on its way toward the lower yard. End over-end the layered paper flies, somersaulting across a barren stretch of yard, finally snagged by the ultra-thorny rose bush at the spring house. A bit later, it shifts direction. Now it blusters up from the south, scattering cats as it top ples over a sturdy plastic lawn chair on the back porch, twists towels from the wash line, knocks down the damp mop propped outside to air-dry. Occasionally, it even bears down over the hill from the east, carrying a damp chili hinting of its origin over the ocean, almost bordering on classic, old nor’eas ter behavior. But no matter which direction this spring’s ever-present wind blows from lately, it brings dust. It’s been some time since we had a May so dusty, so dry, so desert like. And that, frankly, is pretty scary. Spirals of airy beige stir daily on the field road below the house, itty-bitty twisters, “dust devils,” dancing a twirling ballet down the dirt path to disappear back stage behind the green cur tain of the woods. Each pass of a tractor, or of one of the field trucks hauling chopped forage, brings a less dainty stampede of road dust. Recurring waves of the gritty, beige cloud assault my clean laundry what hasn’t blown off the line, anyway then silently sift in through the open kitchen windows. Little wonder our house is end- Asparagus (Continued from Page B 3) and seeded 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar l'/2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil Vi teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper l'/i pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed bell pep per, basil, Parmesan cheese (garnish) Coarsely chop bell peppers. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add peppers and garlic; cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until pep pers are softened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Place in blender or food processor and puree until smooth; stir in vinegar, basil, salt and pepper. Cook asparagus spears in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes until crisp-tender; drain. Spoon red pepper sauce on a platter and arrange asparagus over sauce. Gar nish with thin slices of bell pepper, basil and Parmesan if desired. Makes 4 servings. Nutrients per serving: Calories 135; Protein sg; Fat sg; Calories from Fat 32 percent; Carbo hydrate 21g: Cholesterol Omg; Fiber 6g; Sodium 450 mg. Gladiolus Bulbs Sikkim’ BlOtllCJ 's !IK 2C? 'tflft, Tc.j t '7/ 17Cl fI iV fVt,> *■! v\ lessly dusty. One recent warm, sunny, wind-driven afternoon, I reluctantly yanked down all north-faced open windows of the house; every passing piece of equipment sent another dust devil pirouetting around the liv ing room. One of the perpetually damp places around the farm is our low-lying back yard. Often dur ing May, we’ll have tiny springs oozing up through the grass. But, crossing the lawn with water for the asparagus patch last week something rarely needed during its harvest season I was as tounded to notice cracks in the soil of that shaded, moisture prone area. The higher edge of the garden, which also squishes with mini seeps in extremely wet years, is so dry that all the soil just fell away from roots of young rasp berry plants I dug last week for re location. I crammed them into a temporary holding con tain e r , shook soil around the roots, flooded them with water and crossed my fingers that they trans plant under such dry conditions. Even the bare-ground section of lawn un dergoing renovation has re mained just that. Dusty, dry. bare ground, rearranged periodi cally with a drag behind the lawn tractor lor leveling level and to surface any large stones. Even a section hand-raked for seeding has not yet sprouted weeds, an almost unimaginable circum stance. Stirred with the wind’s fre quent blusters are thousands millions of tiny dandelion seeds, carried on their wind floating-fluff like so many tiny hot-air balloons. They float sky wards in the breezes, colliding with maple tree droppings of im mature seed pods which take ref uge on chairs and pile up in porch corners. Seems the wind is stirring up everything but what we really need, which is several days worth of good, soaking, heavily-laden rainclouds. Weeks ago, late winter proba bly, 1 penned a lament about the then-seemingly endless mud. Fol lowed by endless wind blowing endless dust. In a world of X-treme sports, and populated by the X generation, I guess it’s only natu ral to have X-cessive weather swings. And now a good, soaking stretch of rain would be X-cell ent. Let’s hope we can X-pect it soon. 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