Two weeks ago I wrote about a horrific hail storm that came through our part of the little valley we live in, damaging our crops and sending me into a bit of a tizzy.
Little did I know when I hit publish on that post that later that day an even more damaging storm would come through and nearly decimate everything.
We weren’t home for the storm but we came home that night to utter destruction.
The berries were nearly stripped to sticks…
The corn was completely shredded and mostly laying down…
Every garlic scape had been hit 20+ times…
All my tomato and pepper babies were gone…
And so much more.
My wife and I cried and cried.
When I tell you that I was this close to throwing my hands up on this whole thing and surrender the season…
But there was nothing to do but clean up what we could, fertilize/boost the berries, stand up the fallen corn, harvest and dry the scapes, and wait… trusting in the absolutely goodness of the Earth and Her ability to help the plants recover.
And most of them, thankfully, have.
No, we probably won’t get many tomatoes off the handful of starts I purchased last week…
And our pepper diversity is greatly lessened…
But I did find a few late germinators who were bolstered by all the moisture and just peeking their heads out from the soil!
And there will be berries and corn and garlic…
And the calendula is bouncing back like a boss!
The shorter season crops will surely thrive with the higher heat we’re seeing (the bush beans and peas are happy and there will always be squash, won’t there?)…
And the wild things, obviously, just keep on doing their thing, reminding us to breathe and to have absolute trust in the goodness of the earth.
And, finally, after many attempts, one of our Muscovey hatched out her first successful brood. Which, if you remember our other catastrophe in April, has held great meaning for our little farm.
Life has a way of finding a way if we can just help it along where we can, and then step back, surrender our need for control and semi-instant gratification, and trust it’ll happen.
xoxo,
M
