My goodness gracious. It has been so hot and DRY lately, things are dying all around us. Lawns are brown, trees are loosing their leaves, the people are wilting themselves. Team WWOOF is so bored, I can tell. They spend a lot of time, all day usually, watering. You see with the CSA, we can’t let things die on us. Our customers are depending on a crop. Let me rephrase that. We could totally let it ALL die and the customer would have to understand, because they signed a piece of paper, and something like drought is part of the liability. But we’re too nice, and since we have a lot of help and it’s too hot to do much else, we put a hose in their hand. It’s funny, because as I type this out, it is currently raining. The rain, which has only been going on for about 20 minutes or so has prompted me to write about the dryness, because I’ve been needing to. One of our CSA members asked me the other day how things were growing. I let him know how tough it’s been and how some things are just wilting away. He totally understood if the bags were empty for the next few weeks. He shared the story of his garden with me. He said he and his wife had been gone for three weeks. Even though they had someone watering it for them, they returned and their garden was dust. This “heat wave” that the weather man has talked about has lasted for two months now. It’s more like a heat tsunami! This wave won’t leave. I guess my message to you dear reader is respect the fact that there is produce at your grocery store, and there are many, MANY factors that go into its survival. Uh oh, the rain knew I was talking about it, it just stopped : (
Category Archives: Rain Catch
An exciting day of harvest
On this day, the team harvested potatoes. Shiori invited two of her friends from Fayetteville to come over and help, their names were L.J. and Hirona. We also received McKenna, she came to us from Louisville Kentucky on her way west. I can’t forget our newest recruits, David and Marine, coming all the way from Toulouse, France.
Car Accident
Today we were supposed to welcome two WWOOF’ers coming from Little Rock area, originally from Japan, Shiori and her friend Kyohei. Unfortunately someone hit her car as they were preparing to leave town. So, we will welcome them on monday instead. In other news, Farmer’s Market take two tomorrow. Paul, the kids and I will b e standing out in GORGEOUS weather hustling. I’m so glad the weather will be nice. Last week, if you read, rained and only a few people showed up. Hopefully the crowds manifest themselves tomorrow. Also, to all of the Mother’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day! I can’t forget to call mine tomorrow, I’ve been so busy, I didn’t even mail a card…I feel bad Mom. I LOVE YOU. It’s because of her that I have a green thumb. What a true inspiration she has been in my life. Shiori, Kyohei, we will see you Monday afternoon. To all of my other WWOOF’ers past, I hope your journeys are going well. Thanks for the post cards ; )
SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!
Tomorrow we start the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks Farmer’s Market, weather permitting. There is a high chance of rain, but not until 1pm or so…so “they” say. All day today we have been doing chores getting ready for market. I haven’t gone to this farmer’s market before, even as a patron, so I’m not sure what to expect. I’m full of all sorts of apprehension, trying to drown it with a doughnut and blogging.
Just Country Boys and Girls Getting Down on the Farm…on a Friday!
Here is Rose, volunteer extrordinaire, milking “Girly” Friday. I wasn’t out there while she did it, but looking at these pictures, I enjoy seeing her confidence. I’ve milked that goat once, and let me tell you, you get hand cramps…it’s not easy, atleast not for me.
Let’s also pay a visit to the American Red Cross website, and see how you can help those affected by the storms this week.
Flood, Flooding, Floodish
Last week a series of thunderstorms rolled through these parts of Arkansas and beyond. Tornadoes touched down further south across several states, the hardest hit being Mississippi and Alabama. Up here, it rained 10″ in 24 hours. The next day more rain fell, causing flash floods in NWA. On the farm, the rain washed down our footpath to our house, which is its natural draining pattern, and washed over my bed which was planted with carrots. It washed over it so much, that eventually cut channels through the bed, washing the soil into the onion bed. We tried to alleviate some of the damage by putting straw bales into the path of the water, but when thousands of gallons are running off of a large roof over a matter of hours, you just can’t compete. We tried, but it did no good. It was interesting talking to some of the farmer’s at the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market today, listening to their stories of what the rain washed away. One farmer said it washed his topsoil away. Another mentioned, how his topsoil didn’t leave his property, but that it had washed to the bottom of the hill. That’s something to think about, right. Your dirt. And how important it is. Treat it well.

Lightning just struck and lit up the sky. You can kind of see how hard it's raining, or maybe it's just blurry
Here is a link to the American Red Cross, to see ways you can help those who were affected by the tornadoes in the south this week.
Floods
NWA has had an unbelievable amount of rain over the past few days which has caused severe damage to infrastructure as well as personal property. Here is a link to KNWA which has a few albums of photos showing flooding all across the region.
Happy Earth Day!!!

Do something with it! For all of you local Fayettvillians, here is a link to the Eco Passport with scheduled events around town.
Have a good one peeps. Hopefully in this neck of the woods it doesn’t rain!