Market Farming

["Jeffery Blake" <echoecho AT bedford.heartland.net>]

I am sorry to hear about Marie's bad year.

On another level it helps to hear other peoples tales of woe.  Sometimes I
wonder if it's just me.

Our year was about like yours.  I lost 13 acres of sweet corn to first the
cool wet spring, then the hot dry summer.  Like you I couldn't get in the
field the entire month of May--not for one single day.  I had several acres
planted early on and it stalled out and tassled at about a foot tall.

Planted 1500 tomatos in the middle of june, because i couldn't get them in
earlier.  I had to skip the plastic and mudded them in when I did plant
them.   In less than a week I lost around 1200 of them to rabbits.  Finally
got some pepper wax from california and the other three hundred burnt up-- I
watered too but we didn't get any rain in the last half of june and in july.
Finally got around 2 acres of pumpkins and squash planted in late june.  All
the blossoms burnt up.  Dry weather stalled them out--now after 4 inches of
rain last week they are starting to bloom--but were only a couple of weeks
from frost.

One of my 4 cows got into the wheat bin, bloated and died.

The injector pump went out of my big tractor during planting season.  I did
all the labor myself and it still cost around $500.

Cultivating time a twenty dollar seal went out of the transmission.  I have
to split the tractor.  Going to cost $1500 if I have someone else do it.
Its still setting,  I don't have the time or the money to fix it yet.

Hydraulic pump went out of one of the little tractors--down for two weeks.

My primary meat and vegetable buyer/broker had a fire in his restaraunt/meat
market/broker house.  I lost around $1500 of meat-my main buyer-and my part
time job.

Only got two cuttings of alfalfa off the hay fields because of the drought.
Only have about half the hay we should have.

Both cars broke down at the same time this summer.  Took them to the shop.
One is still there a month later--they don't even know whats wrong with it.

The hogs got out in the neighbors corn field a couple of weeks ago and
destroyed about an acre of his corn--which he's not very happy at all about.

I'm not going to sell over $100 worth of vegetables off of around 18 acres.
Feild corn yeilds are going to be reduced about 30% and who knows about the
beans--I can't even find them for the weeds--since I never got to cultivate.

I just want to get this year over with while I still have my sanity.
Absolutly nothing has "hit".   An almost total loss on every vegetable crop.
And I'm going in the whole on everything else.

I think sharing these things helps--helps me anyway.

Here's to 2002.