We’ve lived in multiple states around the country: from coastal states on the Atlantic and Pacific to the great lakes and the great plains, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains to tornado alley! And we have visited or at least traveled through almost every state. Most places have four seasons even though they feel a little different from place to place.
Sabbatical Ranch has more like five seasons. When we were new here various locals told us about the seasons you can usually count on: Mild winters, extremely hot and dry May and June, and extremely wet July and August because of monsoon thunderstorms that come up from the coasts of Mexico (the clouds help cool it off). We had visited the area in October, truly the most pleasant time of year, before we had ever considered starting Sabbatical Ranch.
We’ve only been here two full years – currently nearing the end of our third spring, summer and monsoon season – and what we have found is that the seasons are pretty irregular from year to year. The winters have been mild (highs in the 50°s and 60°s – 40°s during the coldest two weeks, but some years are reportedly worse), but the first was mostly dry and the second was quite wet. We’re in a low spot in the valley (a “cold sink”) so the lows are normally 10+° colder than Sierra Vista. It’s not uncommon for us to get down into the teens and even single digit temperatures at night. But we’ve still been able to grow some produce, and more each winter as we gain experience.
Spring seems a lot like an extension of winter because we continue getting hard freezes at night in April. A regular feature of spring has been frequent days with severe wind gusts 40-50+ mph. We did plant fast-growing trees to help provide a windbreak. As it’s warming up, there can be 60° temperature swings between night and day (eg. 15°/75° or 30°/90°). These extremes can be a bit stressful for plants.
Then in May winds die down just in time for the heat. But dust devils are very common around this time with mini-tornado-like wind speeds. They say average highs are in the 90°s in May and June, but those are averages. It’s not uncommon for us to see 100°+ temperatures. The “cold sink” that we’re in has an opposite affect in the summer and the highs are normally 10+° hotter than Sierra Vista. We use shade cloth and interspersed companion planting to create microclimates.
Many locals eagerly welcome monsoons for the cooler temperatures and other effects. Everything suddenly grows like crazy whether you want it to or not. Our first summer the monsoons started the second week in June and went through the end of September – over three months with a severe thunderstorm almost every single day! It was intense. The second year was extremely hot and dry with only a few thunderstorms. This year was somewhere in between, but some of the storms were more severe with one producing serious flash flooding.
One problem during monsoons is that vegetation grows everywhere, including on trails. This year we were prepared for it. We turned a problem into a solution and made tons of compost with the trail trimmings. This is a real blessing because the rest of the year you can’t make much compost on the desert. Compost and compost tea are the only fertilizers we use on the gardens because living soil provides plants with everything they need to be healthy (rather than being on chemical life support). It takes time to build good living soil unless you can just add tons of compost.
Our best crop this year has been 2-foot cucumbers and they are delicious – way better than most of the cucumbers I’ve ever had before! They’re almost taking over the orchard and even growing up trees. The one in the picture below is over my head. Some recent weeding revealed so many hiding out that we shared a couple of bag fulls with neighbors. Cantaloupe are coming on strong as well and there’s a little one dangling from a tree in the picture below. They are super-delicious as well!
We thought monsoons were over at the end of August and enjoyed sunny weather until September 15th. I chose that day to do the finish plaster on one of the domes because the forecast said it would be cooler and cloudy with a chance of rain. It wasn’t bad and I was almost done late in the afternoon when it started sprinkling. I looked at the sky and the radar and it looked like some pretty big thunderstorms were moving by and that the worst would miss us. So I kept working trying to finish up. But the drops kept getting larger and more intense. I had shade cloth suspended over the top of the dome and huge tarps on the east and west to shade and protect the plaster.
Before I knew it the upper attachment point of the tarp we were trying to shelter under failed under the wind and rain, we were getting an involuntary shower, and I watched as the beautiful plaster job I had just spent the day working on was ruined. When the pounding rain let up some we stepped out from underneath the tarp we had been trying to hold over our heads to see flash flooding running through the shade house and orchard the way it had during the flash flooding. Fortunately nothing else was damaged.
What are the seasons like at Sabbatical Ranch? Everything comes in extremes! But fall is right around the corner and we’re looking forward to the most pleasant time of the year.
“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
