What I learnt from the recent flood

 

It seems the blistering summer has come to a close for the year, after the recent light typhoon which brought us a horrible amount of rain but only a little wind. In recent years, typhoons in Taiwan have no longer been like the typhoon that we know since childhood. We like them more and more, because they don't blow that much, while they always bring us the precipitation we need for the rest of the year.

However, that recent typhoon did cause quite a few small floods here in Taiwan, and it really made me worry about those crops and trees I grew in my little farm. Driving for almost an hour from where I live in the city, I, along with my wife, arrived at our farm, located in the foot of Mount North Da Wu. After soaked in the heavy rain for three consecutive days, everything there had turned pleasantly green, fresh and clean. When contrasted with the snow-white clouds around the waist of the mountain, the green scene and fresh air paid off all the efforts we made on keeping this plot of farmland in the foregone year.

I found, the sponge gourds I grew seemed quite resistent to the rain. They didn't show any signs of languishing, and, on the contrary, they grew few more female flowers and baby gourds. I then bagged those baby gourds to protect from the attack from those nuisance fruit flies -- as a matter of fact, they have already imposed a big loss to me on my gourd harvest. However, the bitter gourds I grew seemed not so lucky. They suffered quite a bunch of yellow and withered leaves. And they also lost most of their baby gourds, which either deformed or yellowed right on their tendrils. 

The recent flood in my farm cause limited damage, while still teach me a good lesson -- bitter gourd is vulnerable to heavy water, and they don't grow or fruit once there is no abundant sunshine. So, to be a farmer, you always have to learn to stand or live with a high sun.