The Glory Season

I've been fortunate enough to have lived in almost every major region of our country--the Midwest, New England, the South, the Northwest, and, of course, the West Coast. And each region has its Glory Season. It's the time of the year when nature's beauty springs forth and it's hard not to notice the extraordinary beauty of God's handiwork.

In New England, that season is Autumn, when the hardwood forests light up in florescent shades of red, orange, and brilliant yellow. You can smell the musty leaves on the forest floor and the wisp of a smoke from someone's fireplace. And when you breathe, you can feel the crisp, cool air all the way to the bottom of your lungs.

In the South, it's the height of Spring, when the azaleas and the dogwoods and the redbuds burst into a panoply of color.  It's the season of The Masters--one of the great events on the annual sports calendar and the official heralding of Spring.

And here in the San Joaquin Valley of California, it's happening right now. From mid-February to the first week of March, the almond and peach orchards are bursting with color. Unlike the occasional dogwood or redbud tree in the South, here you can take a Saturday drive and see hundreds--even thousands--of acres of trees, in row upon row upon row.

Almond blossoms look much like peach blossoms, except that they're white or slightly pink and are more fragrant. It's a singular experience to walk among those rows of almond trees when the bloom is at its peak. You can hear the bees buzzing and each breath is filled with the delicate scent of beauty.

It's an important time for the growers. Those blossoms must be pollinated, because--unlike walnuts and some other tree crops--almonds are not self-pollinators. They rely on bees to pollinate. The bees need a minimum of four good weather days to do their work. That might seem like an easy proposition since we're here in California. But the almond bloom comes during the peak of our rainy season, and if it rains too much, or if it's too cloudy, or if it is too cold, the bees won't work. And without decent pollination weather, the coming crop could be a bust.

California is the world leader in almond production, garnering more than 40% of the total. It's become one of the most important crops in the state. But the industry has its challenges, not the least of which is the water supply. More on that fiasco in a future post. For now, I'm reveling in this most lovely time of the year--our Glory Season.