On Monday Big Grove experienced a steady, soaking rain early in the day that transitioned into a mix of heavy downpours and thunderstorms. I was optimistic I could do some outdoors work in between scattered showers. It was a challenge.

The first thing I did was inspect the previous day’s eggplant and tomato plantings. These crops are late getting in the ground and the precipitation left them standing. So far, so good. It began to rain while I was in the garden.

I was determined to do two things: make vegetable broth during downpours, and donate to the food pantry. Both required a trip to the greens patch to harvest collards, chard, kale and Asian greens. It was drizzling yet I took my crate and went out. First, I needed a few gallons each of collards and chard for the broth. There was a knocked over Asian greens plant which I also scooped up. Drizzle turned into a shower.

Undeterred, I took another crate and harvested about two bushels of red and green kale for the local food pantry. The greens looked good, some of the best I have grown. I took them immediately to the back seat of our automobile where I added the small amount of Asian greens. I went indoors and separated the best of last year’s crop of garlic and put that in a paper bag then on the front seat. That was enough of a donation. They were appreciative.

As I started the broth, I needed some outer leek leaves as a finisher so out to the garden again as precipitation continued. I accidentally knocked over an onion and a leek plant so I harvested them both for the broth. By the time I finished picking leaves from the second row, I had a good handful of greens. (I will write about the broth in another post.)

It was like this all morning, defining the term “scattered showers.” I tried to avoid downpours, then between scatterings, I decided to go for a walk on the state park trail.

It began well with only a couple of sprinkles on the way toward the turn around. About a hundred yards from the turn, there was a cloudburst. I persevered and made the turn, thinking maybe that was it. It wasn’t. I experienced a gentle rain most of the way home, that is, except when it became a torrent, bordering on a deluge. I was soaked to the skin. Miraculously, I was able to keep my mobile device and the garage door opener dry.

What does a person do? I decided to take the walk and it was fine until I got too far out to return home without getting wet. All I could do was experience the rain and then strip off my clothing in the garage and let the water drain out of the jeans and t-shirt as they hung on the clothes line.

Seldom have I experienced rain like this, resolved there was no escaping it, and then let go of concerns to observe what happened. After a while, I experienced the variation in a rainstorm, that each step I took found another type of precipitation.

The sky cleared by mid afternoon, and by then I was committed to finishing the vegetable broth project. It produced a dozen quart jars of the best broth I have yet made. Despite the rain, or maybe because of it, Monday was a good day.