I don’t know much about hemp, which has been getting a lot of press lately, but fields filled with blossoming potatoes look much more appealing to me than inedible, straw-colored hemp.

From what I’ve read, a downer for potatoes is that they require more water and then alfalfa requires considerably more, but I don’t know of anyone who survives by eating hemp. We do have many people in this nation, though, who eat potatoes which grow on our local farms and drink milk that comes from dairy herds that eat fodder grown in alfalfa fields, some here and some in southern New Mexico. 

Farmers have to be pretty smart to survive in the ag business. We consumers all want them to succeed because, speaking here of just the most obvious reason, they grow food for the ever-increasing population of consumers. Then along comes the current administration in Washington that starts a trade war that would make it harder for America’s farmers to survive economically.

The results will be higher costs to you and me at the grocery store and will affect what products are available, as you and I already are seeing, But not to worry, said the White House, recently. We’ll give $12 billion in aid to bolster the agriculture that might be adversely affected by the tariffs. (It sounds to me as if someone is worried about the potential loss of votes in farm country without such an influx.)

So much for smelling the roses. Meanwhile…

We all know how wild roses, other pretty wildflowers, and the rest of the vegetation and wildlife are faring east of Fort Garland. They’re gone, due to an illegal scofflaw who started the fire, to the immense sorrow and loss of everyone, especially of those who lost homes. (I’ve been wondering what kind of meat he had been cooking in his fire pit, besides.)

Now, at last, we have been receiving much-needed rain in the Valley, foothills, and mountains where, except for those thousands of acres of fire-blackened meadows and forests, we will enjoy some wildflowers. Snowbirds who winter in Arizona have seen how flowers suddenly transform desiccated deserts into glorious carpets of flowers if it rains in March, and at last we are getting our much-needed summer rains here.

We’ll be looking for rewarding displays at last. Here in the Valley’s low land we’ll be enjoying golden sunflowers along roadsides, while visitors to higher country like Summitville will find colorful cerise fireweed. Maybe despite the recent dry summers, we’ll spot some shrubs with rose hips turning from orange to red, as I saw some the other day near the river.

With the rain, Creede will have its mushroom foray for fungi fans, and the USFS has a handy guide so that enthusiasts will gather the safe kinds and not the poisonous ones. The narrow-gauge across Cumbres Pass has scheduled a wildflower train, and others will just want to put on their walking shoes and get out to take some photos of the blossoms.

My favorite wildflower guide, by the way, is “Wildflowers of the Mountain West,” by Gunnell, Goodspeed, and Anderson. For one thing, the beautiful illustrations of flowers are grouped in the book by color, which makes it easier to get started with identifications, and the information is then clearly presented without wasting words.

For another thing, this book is spiral bound, as any field guide should be for any kind of nature buffs.  This one’s the right size for carrying in your car or a roomy backpack, but a bit too large for a pocket.

Just get outdoors and enjoy!