On the afternoon of July 5th, we headed into town for an afternoon of holiday fun. One vehicle split off to make purchases for that evening's birthday party while a second larger vehicle, loaded with 5 cousins under the age of 13, headed staight for the icecream shop. We met up a short while later at the park and then travelled togehter to the local movie theatre. When we exited the building a few hours later, the skies were dark, winds were blowing strong and it was starting to rain. We knew right away that getting back to farm was an urgent matter.
Shain made it home first and he immediately went to work taking care of our animals and closing greenhouses. Within just a few minutes, the winds were extreme and the heavy rains had turned to hail.
My group needed to make a quick stop in town and within those few minutes the storm had really picked up. As I drove the 10 miles from Afton to Smoot, there were several times I had to slow down considerably just to see the roads
clearly and keep the vehicle safely on the road.
When I arrived home, I noticed mounds of hail in the yard where it had piled off the roof. Tree branches were scattered on the ground and there were large water puddles everywhere. Shain and I quickly checked on animals once more and closed up the remaining greenhouses. I didn't realize it at the time, but the worst of the storm had already passed. The damage was done. We both knew from experience that this strom had caused some significant damage to our crops. Sadly, there wasn't anything else we could do at that point but go back in the house and continue with the birthday celebrations.
The next morning Shain took a walk around the farm and took a few pictures. (I sulked inside the house.)
This is what salad greens look like after a severe storm. Completely flattened and shredded. Still, we always hold out hope that with a little time and sunshine the greens could pop back up and be salvageable.
This is what the salad greens looked like a few days later. No improvement. Hundreds of row feet of salad greens gone. A complete loss.
Shain thinks the most recently planted
salad greens (currently about 1 inch tall) will probably grow up fine. He is planting more salad today or tomorrow.
The garlic also took a beating. It's hard to tell from this small picture, but many of the leaves are broken and ripped. I was surprised to see so many of the scapes broken off and laying on the ground. That could only happen with some very strong winds. The garlic plants experienced some stress last week, but they are strong and will pull through.
We have seveal other crops planted "outside" in the fields. Here's the scoop:
- The potato plants are okay.
- The cilantro and parsley are probably okay too. So far, it looks like only minor damage.
- The snap peas, which were just about ready to pick, are flattened. The outside peas are heavily damaged. The underside appears to be good, but it's hard to tell if anything will grow after all that stress. And there aren't any blossoms left on the vines to form new pods.
- Our spinach looks pretty bad. The medium to larger leaves are full of holes. I'm hopeful the plants will have some new growth we can harvest again.
It's storms like these that make me very grateful for our 7 greenhouses. We were very relieved that there wasn't any significant damage to any of our outside structures. Just one hole in one greenhouse and some stripped screws in a few door latches and hinges.
There were only a few "inside" crops that were damaged by the heavy rain/hail/wind. Some of the onions growing at the end of greenhouse 4 were toppled and ripped up before Shain could get the ends closed.
Also, one outside row of crops in greenhouse 4 received significant damage from elements that were blowing in at an angle. This isn't of great concern to us because this was and "extra" row where we planted our "left over" Swiss chard, kale and cabbage starts. We have more of all these crops growing just a few feet away inside this same greenhouse.
Toppeled leaves (above) the morning after the storm. A few days later (below) the leaves are upright again but you can now see how they are full of holes from the hail and rain.
Well, that's my report. I've spent a few somber days thinking about it all but we are ready to move on. Shain has ordered more seeds and will replant favorite crops that still have time to grown and harvest before it freezes. There is still a lot of great food growing here on the farm and much work to do. Best to turn that frown upside down and get back to it.
Tara
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