Friday, July 17, 2009

Hail Humbles

In just a half hour yesterday evening, our field crops went from beautiful to decapitated and shredded. Hail. Powerful hail. Not only were the pieces big, ranging from dime size to 1/2 dollar size, but it was pelting down. I think we and the pigs have some bruises from getting hit by the hail. And you can start to imagine what happens to lettuce, chard, tomatillos, onions, etc when they are pelted with ice balls. It isn't pretty. Our beautiful lettuce heads, Optima green bib went from gorgeous to flattened. Chard..a bit shredded. It looks like some crops will be a loss and others will survive, but maybe be set back a bit and certainly they won't look near as pretty. But our neighbors Mark, Donna & Magen came and cleared the ice balls away from the tomatillo stalks, and we will assess more today.

We are thankful for the hoop house - the majority of our tomatoes were nicely protected; for our friends and neighbors for helping out; and for having a diversified farm.
Ok, time to see what can be salvaged from the garden and to plant some more seeds!

Want to see more photos of the Hail? Check them out.
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2 comments:

  1. Hi ladies,

    Just wanted to send a quick note to thank you again for hosting Jen and I Sunday night. It was great to see your home and work (other than the hail's part in it). You're an inspiration!

    We'll be back to ski with you soon!

    Rob

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  2. OOOOOHhhhh, so sorry to hear about the hail. Nature bats last indeed. We look forward to visiting next month and helping with ALL the farm chores!

    XOXO, susan

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