Ok… I’m certainly glad the drought is over and I am dealing with the fact that we just got 2 years of rain in the last month; however, our peppers, eggplant and winter squash are ready to be transplanted to the field but our ground is too wet to make beds. We had 9.73 inches of rain just in May and 19 inches so far this year. What is a farmer to do? We simply wait for the ground to dry up enough so the soil can be worked. I am thankful that we have peppers and eggplant growing in the greenhouse because these crops might provide us with enough food for the CSA since our field crops are going out later than usual.

Our neighbor Alvin who has been farming their entire life has a famous saying,

“A dry year will scare you to death but a wet year will kill you.”

Right now I am feeling like that saying is ever so true. I am just praying for a reprieve so that we can transplant our peppers, eggplant, summer squash and winter squash out to the field.

On the bright side…. The frogs love this weather and we watched a few tadpoles turn into frogs this past weekend hopping happily away from their mud puddle to hopefully eat some mosquito larva and other bugs! Our spring crops that were transplanted over a month ago are beginning to grow; however our most recently transplanted crops are just waiting for some sunshine

 

Alvin in his dozer wile grading for our 4
 new greenhouses

 

Alvin with Carl and Donna checking the level
after a pass with his  Dozer

“Wouldn’t pull a greasy string out of a cat’s ass!”   

Alvin Kirpatrick is one great farmer in Spring Creek and has one of the prettiest tobacco crops each year. He taught us the principles and ethics of farming. He has been farming most of his life growing beans, tomatoes, hay, tobacco, potatoes, plus many things I probably don’t know about. One season we helped him pull down tobacco after it cured so that it could be graded and sold. He picked up each and every leaf that fell off the plant as we were pulling the tobacco down from the tier poles  – he cherished his crop – that is what we strive for with all of our crops.  

 Thank goodness Alvin is grading for our greenhouses because he is taking the time to be sure that we have good drainage between each of the four houses we hope to put up over the next year. One thing we have learned about growing in the greenhouse, one must drain the rain away from the house, otherwise you will loose crops from the ground being too wet. In previous growing seasons, we lost our greenhouse basil crop just from not draining the rainfall away from the house.