The cusp

 Much like a Yankee field of hay, you do not cut the growth between trees often.  The understory plays an integral role in fruit fruition.  Every year we play the game.  Can we wait until after July 4th?  Traditional Yankee lore is that any hay put up before the fourth is gonga hay.  The premise being, it has yet to go to seed.  Once over the moon, a grass loses nutritional content, and is not as sustaining for livestock during the winter.

As the mow in the orchard goes to composting in the orchard, we relish in the seed head.  More ground cover means more to digest in the understory, which makes more food for fruit.  More seed means more progeny.  Data be driven, last year was our first where the mowing came after the fourth.  It also, was the only mowing.  Data be driven we optimally saw down the under growth twice a year.  There has been a three pass year.  Last was the first one pass year.

If the rain keeps a fallin' the levee is not going to break.  It has a ways to catch up.  But, we will be brush hoggin' in the end of August.  All things considered, it will be a welcome chore.  That will mean that we have spent that much less of a time irrigating, because the rain is not keeping up....