Summer was long enough to outlast a cold winter

We dug the last of the carrots out of the raised beds as the first drops of freezing rain began to fall. The day had been misty and silent; the branches of the trees in the windbreak, and the tips of the tall grass were already painted silver and the temperature was dropping fast. A winter storm was set to sweep through in the night, and the whole prairie carried the weight of anticipation. We’d…