Back to work! (above, Juan & José removing fencing from the corn)The fields are drying out a bit! The sun is shining! We are staying optimistic - we've brought back much of the crew, we're doing soil/water/veggie testing and the inspector certified the pepper fields as not flooded. Glen planted some radish & we'll get spinach in (for spring harvest) soon. There is a lot of work to be done in the fields - check out the erosion & debris:
The years of organic compost and addition of minerals, washed away or covered with sand. Like I said, we're trying to be optimistic. It helps that just today we received almost $5,000 in the mail! From our CSA members! We are hoping to raise $160,000 to help cover some of our losses. We asked our 1600 CSA families to give $100 each to make that goal. We had some help from a member, Kellee, in the Twin Cities who came up with some other clever donation levels: $252 is $1 for every day between September 1 and May 8, the projected first CSA delivery date in 2008. $500 is a symbolic donation of $10 for each of the 50 crops we lost, and $960 will buy one load of compost for 2.5 acres. Our members are really stepping up and we know we couldn't do it without them.
While the inspector was able to certify that our pepper fields weren't flooded, it is obvious that many of the fields were. On the left is a picture, taken yesterday, of a rather sad & slimy eggplant field. It used to be so beautiful! Those lovely purple eggplants against the lush green background. The purple still sort of stands out against the drowned brown stalks of the plant & the drying mud. But really, it doesn't have the same charm.
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