HOMETOWN, Pa. — The hot, dry weather can have its pluses for farmers, but so, too, can some rainfall and there hasn't been a lot of that this summer.
"We've been swamped. We've been swamped. There's so many people. I don't know where they all come from," said William Webber from Schuylkill Haven.
That's what Webber had to say about the large crowds every Wednesday at the Hometown Farmers Market near Tamaqua. But farmers add there's one thing they could use more of.
"As long as we get rain, all will be great."
On one side, the hot, dry weather has allowed thousands of customers to come through the market on a weekly basis, which is great for sales, but without rain, it's hard to produce produce.
"In the beginning of May, we lost all of our fruit with the frost and now we haven't had rain for about six weeks, which isn't very good, but we're trying to look at the positives right now. We're getting very good vegetables. Our veggie crop is a plus this year. We're irrigating a lot to keep it going," Summer Stehr said. "It's pushing everything all at once. All of our canteloupes, all at once. For a while we couldn't get corn, couldn't get it, couldn't get it, now everyone has it."
But still, farmers are maintaining a mindset that many others are during a year that'll probably be written about in textbooks and highlighted in documentaries
"We're trying our best here to stay as positive as possible during this crazy year."