Gratitude and humility

After my last post, I was going to do a garden gush. The corn was getting tall, the tomatoes loaded down and beautiful and most of the rest of the garden doing well too. I was cutting the bottom land for mulch, everything was tied and tended. A spot had been cleared near the highway for the farm stand and we decided it's size.

Last Sunday, a 20 minute hail storm hit the big garden at Crooked Creek and we thought wiped out most of the garden for sure. In the last week, some of the plants are showing signs of recovery, but it sure didn't look hopeful when the damage was discovered. Here at the house it just rained like usual. We didn't know there was hail in the area. After our garden was hit we went to town and found out many were hit. People reported foot and half piles of hail off the roof line. Snow plows were used on one stretch. On the way out of town and back to the house we saw the worst. The damage we have sustained seemed slight and trivial. Acres and acres of corn shredded like wispy grass. Just as many soy fields destroyed beyond recognition. A neighbor told us further North, the corn stalks were stripped completely. It is a good time to reflect on humility.

New Garden almost caught up!

It seems like it was another lifetime when I posted last. We took off running full speed ahead to catch up with the planting season almost the minute after I lost my job and we decided to put in a bigger garden. We had no prepared place to plant and were already weeks behind in planting or starting most things. For these last 4 weeks, every moment has been something new to do and learn. I am learning how to be unemployed, I don't know how to go about all the mind numbing processes involved with not having a job. I get a free month of COBRA insurance and also unemployment insurance, handling these take up a great deal of time.