LONG DAYS OF SUMMER

By Albert Makendenge

Early around 5am in a typical summer’s morning of the southern hemisphere, where Zimbabwe is located, the night’s darkness begins to clear up as the sun makes its way up and out the mountains (so to speak). Up ad out unto the sky for about a 13 hour period, one of churning out the precious heat units (needed for photosynthesis), provided there are no clouds in sight.

No amount of day time is ever enough to accomplish everything but summer comes with a much extended period to tick most of the daily tasks and activities off the to-do list. The sun appears as soon as it disappears and if plants were people, they would probably be smiling from ear to ear in the fullness of the sun’s light and heat, provided that there is adequate moisture. The likes of maize, sunflower, sorghum and millet amongst many others would be happy to have an all-day bask in the sun. Bending and twisting in the direction of it. Even in the event of one little ray of light in the middle of nowhere, plants would probably find it and that’s how much they need it.  

And even in long day periods, there are always those days when the day’s work demands so much to leave one feeling like the clock has been on fast forward and thus the day short. Such is the very nature of farm life and farmers should just be satisfied more with what they have accomplished in a given period of time rather than the sun’s coming out and going down.

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