It takes a sharp shovel ...

I heard, or read, a great quote from an old Italian farmer early this season: "It takes a hard heart and a sharp shovel to be a farmer."

When my flock of laying hens was slaughtered down to less then two dozen and I dug their graves, I thought of that quote. When the much-needed rain came down all at once, instead of in a slow drizzle, and washed away rows of freshly planted greens, I thought of it again. When I passed out from the heat earlier this week and had no choice but to get up and keep going, I couldn't help but repeat what had become my new mantra.

The well was drilled this week and, with a little luck, regular irrigation will be functioning by Tuesday or Wednesday at latest. Celebrating that major victory and the much-needed rain, I was making dinner with my daughter Saturday night when I got a call from Eli Green. Eli has a greenhouse business in the Farmville area and started the majority of the tomato plants for the farm this year. Almost two months ago, I gave Eli seeds for our sweet peppers and eggplants.

With irrigation ready and rows open, I was looking forward to planting about 1,200 Peppers and as many eggplants this coming week. I was expecting harvest to begin in late July or early August. Sadly, Eli informed me that on this past Wednesday when the temperature reached 105 degrees, his greenhouse overheated and all of the eggplant and pepper plants died. The death of these plants insures there will be no sweet peppers or eggplants this year. This interruption in our crop rotation is irreparable. The new well will greatly increase production, but nothing will totally fill the window this most recent loss will cause.

Tomato production looks good and there are more than 300 pounds of tomatoes on vine at the moment. A massive restructuring of the 2010 Farm Plan is happening on Sunday morning. This will most likely include numerous extra plantings of beans and winter squash. It is still too early to start planting Fall greens in earnest. We'll push up additional root-crop plantings and, hopefully with the new irrigation system, we will see good results.

As discouraging as this most recent news is, I am happy and thankful to still be producing at all. I have heard about more than one local farmer who has been totally wiped out by the heat and drought.

Special thanks to all of the CSA members and their patience as we recover from this major setback. That said, I'm grabbing my sharp shovel, and heading back out into the fields.


- Farmer Russell