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  • From: Richard Robinson <rrobinson AT nasw.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Flood report from Tennessee
  • Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 22:10:37 -0400

Carla: I think we're all sorry we're not down there to be able to lend you
and your neighbors a hand cleaning out. Your optimism amidst the wreckage is
pretty impressive.

--
Richard Robinson
http://www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/


On Wed, 5 May 2010 17:18:41 -0500, Carla Shafer wrote:
> I shouldn't be sitting down, but aching bones say it's time to take a break
> from washing mud off the eggplant transplants that got dumped in the
> greenhouse under 4 feet of water. Plus, today we have internet ... and
> electricity, and water, and telephones!
>
> Our farm is located in the midst of an Amish/Mennonite community in Middle
> Tennessee, and our area was hit hard by last weekend's flood - which was
> classified as a 500-year event. Our largest 5-acre field was covered with
> moving water. I haven't been able to walk down there yet, but I can  see a
> couple of green spots where beds used to be. Could those be rows of spinach,
> chard and basil? It looks like maybe half of the brassica block is still
> standing, as well. I lost all of our cucerbits which were in flats waiting
> for us to finish laying plastic so we could set them out. Luckily, our two
> tractors were several miles away in the shop for repairs, though all our
> implements are now festooned with flotsam. It appears that rather than
> loosing our topsoil we actually gained about four of inches of silt on the
> garden. That'll be good in the long run, but at the moment it's rather
> discouraging. Our smaller field had similar damage. The strawberries were
> hard hit. and all the onions look like someone went down the row and pulled
> each one and laid it neatly on top of the ground. They are actually still
> anchored in the ground even with 1.5 inches of roots exposed. I think I'll
> mulch them, and see what happens.
>
> The hoophouse had waist high water flowing through it. We managed to haul
> about 70% of the transplants up to higher ground before it got too dangerous
> to continue. Everything is covered with silt and debris. Many of the newly
> planted soil blocks, of course, disintegrated. But well rooted blocks seem
>to
> have fared fine. The aluminum cranks on the rollup sides are bent up like
> pretzels, but there is not a single hole in the plastic anywhere. It may be
> well that we were running behind schedule in getting transplants out to the
> field, as things definitely did better inside the hoophouse than they would
> have outside. As a result of our lateness, I still have my entire solanum
> crop in tact. Our next challenge will be to hold the transplants until we
>can
> get the field repaired and ready to plant into again.
>
> There's no doubt that we've suffered a major setback (we also completely
>lost
> our woodworking shop which is another major income source for our family),
> but the season is still young enough that we'll be able to reseed many
>things.
>
> We're still discussing how to handle our CSA memberships: return money?
> extend the season? give credit towards next year? broker produce from other
> farms until our late summer crops come in (would probably not be able to
> provide organic)? Because our area is just beginning to wake up to CSA, and
> many of our members are in for the first time, I hate to have anyone have a
> negative experience. Maybe you all have some suggestions. We decided to wait
> a few days for our own pulses to come down to normal before making a final
> decision on the future of the summer CSA program.
>
> Other farmers in our area lost crops and suffered building damage as well.
> We're trying to raise money for one especially hard hit organic market farm
> family who lost their house and belongings entirely, as well as their two
> draft horses, all their chickens, and other livestock. They saved one cart
> horse whose nose was just above the water when they got to him and cut his
> tether. His legs were already badly gashed from debris that had hit them,
>but
> we think he will recover. We've found a 25-acre farm that we hope to help
> them acquire. If anyone would like to help, please let me know and I can
> provide more details.
>
> Please keep us all in your thoughts for the next few weeks. This was our
> first year with this farm project, and it's a tough beginning, to say the
> least. But I becoming more and more hopeful as I see how much we can
>salvage.
> We've had so much amazing support from the community with cleaning up the
>mud
> from the houses, shop and barns. It really reinforces ones faith in the
> goodness of humanity.
>
> All the best,
>
> Carla Shafer, Farmer
> Earthly Goods Farm
> 3344 Hwy 438
> Pleasantville, TN 37033
>
> ph 931 230-7567                    Visit us on the web at
> http://www.EarthlyGoodsFarm.com






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