When it gets hot

Last week, our house hit 97°F. Not far from here, other parts of Northern Virginia were past 100°F.

We had planned a family hike and despite weather warnings decided to drive to the Shenandoah mountains very early in the morning anyway, with lots of water packed. We did a loop trail about 4 miles and were delighted to find that just when we were at our sweatiest, a freshwater pool appeared, beckoning us to go for a mid-hike swim! This gave us just the refreshment we needed to keep on hiking uphill.

What surprised us was that while the rest of Northern VA was over 100°F, it was around 75°F in the mountains where we hiked, the whole time.

William's Wise Words

Our friend William Horvath, who runs Permaculture Apprentice, wrote about this same thing in his own email this week.
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​Elevation, tree cover, and a body of water don't just make a place feel cooler. They change the actual temperature, sometimes dramatically, which is exactly why a shaded creek bed and a sunbaked driveway can be twenty degrees apart on the same afternoon.
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He's in Europe, where they just got a short break from their own heatwave, and he's witnessing this pattern around him right now, while enjoying his watermelon on his shady, cool property!
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There's something worth sitting with in that. We build gardens and we build lives assuming shelter has to be artificial, a wall, a roof, an air conditioner. But shade from a real tree, water moving over rock, and the coolness of covered mountaintops were built into creation long before anyone needed a thermostat.
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"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help," the Psalmist wrote.

Learning About Changing Climates

This is precisely why we are excited to tell you about the upcoming webinar onchanging climates and learning how to cope with them,
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Dave and I are blessed to have Master Gardener and Master Naturalist, Dr. Steve Lanoux present "Warriors of the Rainbow (a Hopi term): Coping with Climate Change."
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Dr. Steve has spent years thinking about what it means to keep faith, keep growing, and keep serving your community as the climate around you keeps shifting. We are in awe of how he and his wife Deli serve their local community in South Texas where it is very, very hot and dry.

Wherever you are today, find some shade if you can. Keep hydrated and enjoy a juicy watermelon on our behalf if there's one nearby.
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Grow abundantly!
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Nicky & Dave