Wow

What a couple of days we've had!

Darin and I have been struggling the past few days to mitigate the damage from the several inches of rain we got starting last Wednesday, and last night, the night before our first farmer's market of the season, we only were a little dismayed that we would have to wait until morning to pack up the truck. We put most of our stuff by the door, made a list, and set the alarm clock for 5 a.m.

What a shocker to wake up to thunder, lightning, and worse, the TV's weather radar, showing storms coming for hours and hours. We still got up and got ready, had some breakfast, and waited for a break in the storms so we could load the truck. We were going to market.

But the rain didn't stop. The thunder and lightning didn't stop. By 6:30, we had received word from our friends in Terre Haute that the market had been canceled. At 6:40, we called our intern and told her not to come to work today -- she lives in Martinsville, and we would learn later that all of Martinsville was shut off anyway.

As the morning wore on, and the rain continued to fall, we had to make the painful decision to cancel our CSA delivery for this week. Everyone has been very understanding, and for that, we thank you!

Our fields have been sitting in anaerobic (oxygen depleted), waterlogged soil for the past two days, and then, overnight -- well, if you live anywhere in Indiana you know what happened. Our rain gauge was overflowing by 8:30 this morning.

As we shook our heads at the biblical proportions of this thing, we kept trying to think of ways to lessen the losses: we are freezing all the beautiful strawberries we picked yesterday (at least the ones that hadn't rotted due to having sat in so much water before they were picked).

We kept on with our work, and as soon as the lighting stopped this morning, Darin got the shovel and began trenching the flooded back field. Here are a few pictures:

We didn't leave our property all day, but just worked and watched the TV news reports coming in from Indy, Martinsville, and my hometown, Terre Haute. It wasn't until later this afternoon, the Indy Channel broadcast a helicopter flying over Eminence (where we live). All around us, we saw oceans of muddy water, across the roads, filling the fields. I've never seen it like this, ever.

We will lose thousands of dollars worth of potential sales. We'll try to replant much of what we've lost, but we'll never make up the early tomatoes, which we seeded in early March, and have been babying ever since. In a few nights, they all were gone.

As painful as this all has been for us, I couldn't help but think about all the people who are dealing with the loss of their homes and personal belongings to all this water -- and how many people actually bother with flood insurance?

Here's a video I took of our creek and of Darin trenching this afternoon:




The pup in the video is our new squatter. She has been named "Ivy" because she tends to lounge in the ivy up by our house. She showed up a few weeks ago with another pup her age and a mother dog. They hung around for a few hours late one night, but we ignored them and they went away. Then, just a few days ago, the same day we started to flood, Ivy showed up in our back barn, all by herself. We're not really dog people, but she kind of got to me -- so helpless and lonely. I have no idea what happened to her brother and mom. She followed Darin and me around the field that afternoon, but acted like she was afraid to get too close. That night, I felt sorry for her, and I gave her a little brown gravy we had. I didn't have any dog food. She ate it up, then followed me up to the house, where she slept all night in the ivy.

By the next day, Caitlin (our 12-year-old) had named her, held her, and fallen in love with her. We got some puppy chow, some treats, we got her some flea and tick treatment, and now I think she has become a member of our family.

Darin's still not all that crazy about having a dog around. Hopefully, she'll grow into a good little farm dog.

For all our CSA members, thank you for your patience during this setback. As we said, we are going to do all we can to mitigate the losses, for us and for you. We sure didn't expect to endure a 100-year flood during our first year of running a CSA. What an adventure. :)

Til next time,
Deb

Farm photos!

One little hint from a greenhouse...



















Our muddy friends....














Our little creek (much nicer in person)...




















A view of the barns (you can't see him, but Darin is in the farthest one, in the shadows, with the tractor)....

Teaching and farming

Well, this doesn't have much to do with the farm, mostly because I (Deb) have to stay inside and study most of today and finish my portfolio for student teaching. Darin and our nephew Quinn have been working out there all day, and I must say that I am jealous. As much as I enjoy reading and writing, on a day like today, I'd rather have on my muck boots and be getting my muscles sore turning the compost or working in the fields.

If you are still getting to know Darin and I, you probably are not aware that I am working on my teaching license part time, while I work as a newspaper reporter full-time. It is all a short-term sacrifice, so that I can have more time on the farm -- and, of course, I want to teach.

Darin and I both come from academic backgrounds. I have an English degree from Butler University, as well as a law degree from Indiana University. Darin has a degree in Geography from Indiana University and has completed his coursework for his master's degree in dendroclimatology at Indiana State University. He and I both -- long before we knew each other -- spent a lot of time dabbling in our various interests. Both of us took courses in education and both of us have a definite interest in teaching. The problem is, we both like many, many other things, too -- which is probably why we both are ridiculously over-educated and yet have determined we are most happy on the farm.

I write for the Terre Haute newspaper, the Tribune-Star. Writing is fun! News is not. But, for now, we must keep paying the bills.

I can't wait for some of you to come out and visit the farm! It is so beautiful to stand out in the field, listen to the horses, and look across the quiet landscape. We have a little bubbling creek, and this time of year, the birds are so busy.

The next time I write, I think I will write about some of mine and Darin's philosophies on how we grow things -- without using chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, and how we are working more and more to apply organic fertilizer where we can.

We would love to have comments from those of you reading!

Til next time,
~ Deb

First warm day

Darin and I have been taking daily walks out in the fields, and today, we have been enjoying one of the first truly springlike days! We fertilized the strawberries day before yesterday. Darin has been busily tying up the blackberry canes, and we noticed today that the cherry trees are full of buds. The seeds in the field still aren't quite showing, although Darin can hardly stand to wait; he has to poke his finger in and check to see if the peas are starting to put down roots. And of course, they are.

The greenhouses are sizzling, humid, and full of life, stacked from one side to the other with baby lettuce plants, spinach, leeks, tomatoes, beets, broccoli, and other baby plants beginning to emerge. It smells divine inside the greenhouses -- one of my favorite smells!

Speaking of greenhouses, we had to put a new cover on one of them the other day, and as we loosened the mulch that holds the edges down, we ran into hundreds, maybe thousands of earthworms! That's another of my favorite springtime things -- seeing all the worms getting active again. It means our soil is healthy and our place is a place they want to be.

We'll post more soon! Hope you're having a happy spring!

~~ Deb

Welcome to the Good Life Farms blog!

It is early spring, 2008, and the farm is showing earliest signs of life. In addition to what sounds like thousands of birds constantly chattering in the barns and high in the fir trees that surround our home, tender green shoots are starting to poke through the thawing soil all around.

And of course, one of the first signs of spring for us are the hundreds of seed trays we've filled and seeded. In our small greenhouses, already the young tomatoes and spinach and lettuce plants are popping up.

We recently picked up 10 baby chicks to add to our four grown chickens. Within the next six to nine months we should start being able to gather eggs from the new ones. Right now, the six-day-old chicks are still figuring out their environment (separate from their big sisters, of course!), waddling around, tumbling into each other, spreading their tiny wings.

The two horses, Duke and Little Bit, are anxiously pawing the mud in their corral, shedding their winter coats, and smelling the early spring air. The grass is greening. The cover is coming off the tractor.

Time to start growing again.

- By Deb