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