none at all, a little , way too much

Okay I cant help but talk about rain. 2 months ago I was wondering if we would ever see the fruits of our labor due to the severe drought, frequent frosts and highwind. But then it finally rained . Everything started growing and as you can see by the picture of one of our March harvests , I was very grateful and all the CSA members were happy.

We all felt happy and hopeful when the rain came. So then we planted corn and potatoes on valentines day. It rained that night and up came the corn and the potatoes. Then no rain for 10 days then HIgh winds and just as the corn came to 12 inches high it frosted. Now if it had rained the day before the frost the corn would have been fine but without moisture we lost most of the corn, squash and tomatoes. So we planted again ,it rained and up came the new corn ,some of the sqwuash recovered and the tomatoes are coming along. The beans are up too and all is well....
i hope
Last weeks share was good as usual. I am hoping there will be a good share this week but.... now its rained alot.

As most of you know the main farm is on Harbert road in Kurten about 18 miles from town. My father and mother in law keep thier cows out there so they keep on eye on things for me when I can not get out there daily. My father in law said the garden was still there just a little wet. So today I decided to go out to have a look and pick some veggies for todays shares. Well the creek has done rose!!!! things were wet enough yesterday but last night and this morning we got a total of 5 inches of rain on top of the 6 or so we have had in the last week. We never could make it to the farm because most every pond , tank and creek was over its banks and several bridges were closed between Bryan and Normangee. Maybe I need to get a boat.... Hmm I wonder if the IRs will count that as a farm expense.....

Well luckily my backyard garden has faired well with all this rain(but not as much as Kurten) and we were able to make shares for everyone.

The cost of Frost

I am sure that those of you who read my blog are wondering whats up...no blogs from vicki
Ive been busy replanting.. At the beginning of april all looked really great . We had a little rain , the corn was 6 inches high and the potatoes were 12 inches high.. Then came the wind sucking the mositure out of the plants and MR Frost came sailing in for 2 hours. The corn took a huge hit and the potatoes got nipped , 73 tomato plants gone along with the squash. I was devastated. Luckily it was early enough that I have had time to replant but we wont be eating corn and squash until 3 weeks later than planned.

The weather is what makes farming such a challange. The drought in Texas has been devastating for most farmers. For me on a small scale the losses equate to thousands ( no crop for the farmers market or HEB. ) But luckily with watering ( thank you Wixon Valley water) I was able to meet my commitment to the CSA members with a little left over . I got off easy. FArmers north of Bryan though got hurt bad. Most every farmer who planted from Temple to NOrth Bryan lost thier entire corn crop. A client of my husbands called for Sorghum seed to replace the 90,0000 of corn he lost on his 300acres. To make things worse as I learned on my income taxes he cannot write this loss off as an expense. Its not easy to be a farmer..

So why do we do it.. I do for the joy of when things do grow, for being in the sunshine and seeing the look on the faces of the people who get the produce. It makes the struggle worth it and makes me appreciate life.

The good news is .. the new crop of corn is up and the potatoes are recovering. See you later