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  • From: "William H Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] I'm a TN farmer also...flooded
  • Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 07:09:06 -0500

I’m really sorry to hear about your losses Sue. There seems to be so much personal tragedy associated with this event. I can’t imagine seeing my farm swept away by a flood. I hope you’ll look into every opportunity to find relief. Someone else suggested Farm Aid. I’m sure there will be other programs as well. Please don’t be ashamed to take advantage of each of those opportunities. They really are just others trying to help. I wonder if this list could be a resource for helping you and others impacted find those resources. Anyone know about such programs?

 

Bill

William H. Shoemaker

Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops

University of Illinois - Crop Sciences

St Charles Horticulture Research Center

535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174

630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610

wshoemak AT illinois.edu


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Sue Dickhaus
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 1:13 PM
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] I'm a TN farmer also...flooded

 

I've been on this list for awhile and just reading and learning as I'm new to this farming..this is our 2nd CSA year.

 

On Saturday as the waters were rising we knew it was time to move the goats and sheep up to high ground and we did.  By the time we were through with that move of 21 animals the water was waist deep on me.  My husband, sis and I tried to get to the rabbit area but were too late as the waters were swirling around back there.  We lost them all, and most of the cages are damaged, waterers, feeders etc gone. We've lost all but 6 hens and 5 roosters(had over 30) We had two buildings move from one pasture to anther and our barn is a goner.  We've probably lost about 3 ft of top soils off of the crop areas and all our fencing is down or just gone.  We'd bought 400.00 worth of new pasture gates and they've all benn washed away.  Our hoopshouse...I have no idea where that has gone to.  The water rose in about 1 hour from when we started with the goats and sheep to when we knew we had to leave our home.They have since been evacuated to another farm.   My sister had just moved some storage up here from FL so she had a 27' Penske moving truck..that's what saved us.  Our cars wouldn't have made it through.  We got back Saturday morning and went through it all again on Sunday.  More damage and higher waters.  So far we've heard from the county mayor and sherrif that theyre's red cross shelters set up but no one knows what if anything can be done to help with our farm loss...but we are hoping that works out.  We found out we do have flood insurance on the house and they are coming out tomorrow to access the damage.  I like Carla, have so many tired and aching bones, but can't sit down as there is so much to do.  We contacted our CSA members as soon as we could..and now we are just hoping someone with some wisdom in this will come up along side of us and guide in the next steps.  We are grateful for our lives when there are so many who lost theirs.  And for the most part our home is livable.  Underneath took the damage...insulation, vapor barrier, duct work and A/C...so we have been spared.  My husband has his job and has gone back to that..this was my job...and I don't know what to do with myself most days.  The crop areas are mushy and when I try to get back there I sink to my knees...just have to wait I guess.  Seems like the land has been wiped clean.  There's not a hint of where my hoophouse was or the stuff in it.  Just gone.  But God is still faithful and we will get through this.

 

Just wanted to share a little about another farmer in TN.  I'm in Smith County and the Cumberland River feeds our creek....boy did it!! 

 

Sue

Bountiful Acres Farm <--- with bountiful MUD and Muck!

Our farm website:

 



--- On Thu, 5/6/10, market-farming-request AT lists.ibiblio.org <market-farming-request AT lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:

 

Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Flood report from Tennessee (Carla Shafer)
   2. Re: Flood report from Tennessee (Road's End Farm)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 10:41:09 -0500
From: Carla Shafer <cs13 AT cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Flood report from Tennessee
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID:
    <h2m67db3de21005060841med496e6dv15ba8c8b0e663ecd AT mail.gmail.com" ymailto="mailto:h2m67db3de21005060841med496e6dv15ba8c8b0e663ecd AT mail.gmail.com">h2m67db3de21005060841med496e6dv15ba8c8b0e663ecd AT mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Thank you everyone for your supportive messages! It's very comforting to
hear from folks who know the real impact of a natural disaster on farmers.
I like all of your helpful ideas, and will put them into action, I'm sure.

Yesterday, someone from Nashville (not even a member) set up a SmartyPig
account in our name, and is raising some funds to help us repair some of our
equipment, replace plastic mulch, hoses, etc., and buy more seed. A fellow
farmer in our region slipped a generous donation into my pocket, and offered
to bring a crew out to help on planting day. So, yes, it sounds like we'll
do some kind of "crop mob" event. I'm hoping we can get back into the field
in a couple of days to start remaking beds.

The potting process is very tedious. There is about 1/2" of clayey silt on
top of each and every potted seedling. Water doesn't penetrate it, so it has
to come off, and the pots have to be refilled with soil. But afterwards, the
plants look quite perky, actually. I think I'll be finished with that by
early afternoon, if I don't sit here commiserating too long. ;-)

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


On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 5:18 PM, Carla Shafer <cs13 AT cornell.edu> 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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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 12:09:14 -0400
From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Flood report from Tennessee
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <6950516E-04BC-4A16-AB14-33E80BEBFAD1 AT frontiernet.net" ymailto="mailto:6950516E-04BC-4A16-AB14-33E80BEBFAD1 AT frontiernet.net">6950516E-04BC-4A16-AB14-33E80BEBFAD1 AT frontiernet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>
>
> On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 5:18 PM, Carla Shafer  wrote:
>
>
> 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.

Yow! Carla, and all in that area: very sorry for the mess you're 
dealing with. I gather that quite a lot of people got flooded who 
didn't even know they were in a flood plain.

I wonder whether they'll revise the hundred-year / 500 year / etc. 
definitions, and whether other areas will look at this and consider 
whether this whole system needs revising?

>
> We're still discussing how to handle our CSA memberships:

There are others on the list with a lot more CSA knowledge than I 
have, so take this with as much salt as necessary: but how about 
holding an emergency CSA meeting (scheduled after members, as well as 
you, have had a chance to deal with the worst of the mess; but 
notifying members as soon as possible that you'll need to do this) and 
discussing the issue? You may find more support than you think for the 
original CSA idea of having the members share the risk. (Or, of 
course, you may find less; but at least you'd know what your members 
are thinking, and they'd know that you're thinking of them.)

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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