Protecting the crops~Nature Notes~120911

The Coachella Valley, California's second largest agricultural valley, has had hard freezes all this week.  My school is out by some of the largest fields near Coachella and this morning, I took my camera with me to photograph the smudge pots.  Only they weren't smudge pots.  I remember a couple of years ago, when we had a few days of hard frosts.  The growers were burning bales of hay.  I'm not sure what they were burning this morning.  It looked like piles of hay or straw.  All I do know is that the lower end of the valley was full of smoke and after driving by, my car, my hair, and my clothes were full of smoke, too!  According to the local news, their entire crop of bell peppers has been lost because they froze on the inside and turned to mush.  There were fields and fields of table grapes and artichokes, which have both survived, at least, for now.  Fields of onions appear to be okay, but the peppers are gone.  Nature Notes for December 9, 2011. To visit Nature Notes, please go to:  http://ramblingwoods.com/