Gong Garden

A storm went through the gardens last night. We had a strong wind and hail as large as marbles and then the size of peas.
This morning we saw the damage .... a half dozen green pepper plants blown over, some tomato plants also. The leaves on most plants look like old shredded prayer plags. The new crop of Swiss Chard is destroyed, the squash leaves shredded and sad looking.

More rain also. So wet this season. Yesterday, Saturday, we spent the day pulling up most of the onions because they were getting soggy in the fields. Hope this saved them. We have stored them in our neighbors barn on an old flat bed. We also pulled all of the garlic, bundled them and hung them on the beams of the distribution stand to dry and cure.

We've been trying to sow more carrot seeds for three weeks now and they keep getting washed away. When we grew carrots for ourselves we'd put planks on them until they germinate but now with the CSA we have to grow a lot more carrots and we don't have six hundred feet of plank.

The yellow squash and zucchini plants have been putting out some good squash but the plants are dying off from too much water and from the stem bore beetle. The cucumbers put out a very good first harvest but they too are being over-watered right now.

What a difference last season and this season have been. The water pump and six hundred feet of soaker hoses we purchased after last seasons drought conditions haven't even been used this season.
Vegetables that grew well last season in the dry conditions, grow poorly this season in the very wet conditions we are experiencing.

So this is what it is all about .... our dependency on NATURE. How we can best cooperate with nature to grow our food instead of manipulating the gene pool, or poisoning the insects, the water, the plants and finally ourselves. We cooperate by sharing the experience .... by supporting our farmers instead of having them go bankrupt at times like these. After all, as you all know already and that is why you are shareholders in a CSA, where our food comes from and how it's grown is ultimately going to effect our well-being, our health, and therefore the lives of those around us.

The good news is that it looks like the weather is going to dry out for a few days this week.

There will be a good distribution again this coming Thursday ... just perhaps no Chard.

Thank you for your support!!!