“..the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and [that] thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
It feels so true consistently dealing both with glorious bounty and unceasing challenges of food production. Our farm has faced its fair share of challenges this season, but I wonder if a year from now I will remember them at all.
I sit here having just returned from the farm to watch a thunderstorm scream in from the west and pummel our field crops. I never saw hail, but after the wind had stopped our first and second rounds of head lettuce were shredded. These fully formed heads were perfect during this morning’s field walk and would have been harvested the next morning for CSA and our Wednesday market. Now, they are either animal or soil food.
The only thing we could have done differently was cover these crops. An installation of low hoops, sandbags, and row cover would have kept them protected throughout their entire lives. A sizable investment in both materials and labor but considering past years a plunge we probably need to take.
Luckily, most of our crops are young enough to grow out of the damaging spring storm. Luckily, we have our CSA members to help prop up these losses. Luckily, in the grand scheme of things losing a lettuce crop isn’t too big a deal.
Gutting losses still hurts every time. I am consoled by the fact this has happened before and brought us to today. In total we are having an incredible year. Most of our crops are growing, people are showing up to work hard, and I can see how the investments of the previous 3 years are paying off.
A friend of mine recently said, “You can’t give up. You have to move forward from problems and not dwell in the negatives”. She is 100% right. We have changed the way we grow dramatically this season and are continuing to develop systems to free up labor and time while increasing production.
So we keep going. Nose to the grindstone getting crops planted, weeded, watered, and harvested. Until next week, cheers Folks!
Wins and Losses
Sorry to read about the hail damage to your lettuce. Stay strong.