Market Farming

["Errol Castens" <castens AT peoplepc.com>]

Neighbor Nan,

 

I used to know a plumber whose pet theory was that drinking coffee helped him stay cooler. It did; he spent much of his afternoon in the air-conditioned coffee shop.

 

Seriously, when you're already sweating so much that you have to wring out your hat, what you DON'T need is more heat and a diuretic. What you need is shade, breeze and rehydration. Being descended from fair-skinned people, though, I heartily endorse long sleeves. They do make you hotter at first, but as soon as you soak through them, the evaporative cooling rate is just as high as with bare skin -- maybe more, since there's more surface area.

 

Re: your "dumb Yankee" reference: Jack Kean from Starkville wrote a book of essays a few years ago with the title "Being from the South Doesn't Make Me Stupid." I've always wanted to tell people just that, but I was afraid they'd respond, "Then what did?"

 

Errol Castens

Green Eggers Farm

Oxford, Mississippi

 

 

Nan wrote:

When humidity is 77% and higher (as in today), does the drinking warm fluids and wearing long sleeves, etc. practice still make sense?  Heat index (the opposite of wind chill factor) is routinely in 90's and 100's all summer, and humidity is so high that I wonder how much we can evaporate our internal heat.  The farmers I spoke with about the warm food & drink practice thought I was a dumb yankee......oh well, i am just procrastinating going back outside!!!  

 

dancing goats farm

n. mississippi