A good monsoon, and a harvest to look forward to

The monsoon is well and truly here. For weeks now the clouds have come up the valley in the afternoon and sat on the ridge, and the hill has that particular green it only turns in August — deep, wet, almost too much to look at. The streams are full, the tanks are full, and the sound of rain on the canopy has become the background to every day.

Not every year is kind, and rainfall in the Ghats is never a given — too little and the cherries struggle; too much, too fast, and the slopes pay for it. This year Marian Estate has been fortunate. The rain has come steadily rather than all at once, soaking in where it falls, and the hillside has taken it well. The shade trees are holding, the soil is holding, and the estate is drinking it in.

You can already see what it means in the rows. The coffee has set heavily and evenly, the pepper vines are running up the shade trees, and everything green is putting on growth. It is early yet — the cherries have months still to ripen, and a great deal can happen between now and picking — but a good monsoon is the best start a season can have.

So we are letting ourselves be quietly hopeful. If the weather holds through the ripening, this could be a fine harvest — and we will write again here when the first cherries come down. If you would like to hear how the season turns out, join the estate list below.