4 scoops is my usual serving of ice cream. On this particular evening I opted for 5. The porch was my theatre, and I was preparing myself for the impending show with a sweet treat.
I watch with intent eyes as the impending storm approaches. Thoughts begin to race in my head. “Will the hoop house sustain 60 mile an hour winds? I hope our freshly seeded beds aren’t washed out. This is A LOT of lighting!”
The storm slowly envelopes the city, and sweeps through with disregard. Hail, torrential rains and lightning flood the area, and the senses. Thunder claps and booms creating a perpetual background rumble. The energy of this storm is palpable and the end was unforeseen.
At this point, my ice cream was long gone and I was driven indoors by the weather. The second floor windows of my house make due as the observation point for the sweeping sheets of rain cascading over the landscape. It was never ending.
The following morning Terra and I convened to take note of the damage incurred. We were expecting holes in the plastic cover of the hoop house, holes in the freshly installed insect netting that covers the brassicas (kale, collards, mustards, and the like), areas that may have become over saturated and flooded and crop damage.
Initially, we seemed to have been lucky. The insect netting that we thought was in danger had, in fact, protected the young plants as intended. The entirety of the roof of the hoop house was in intact. Nothing had “washed out” as a result of the downpours. We were all smiles, prematurely.
Upon further inspection, we saw the full extent of the damage as a result of the storm. We never would have thought the hail from the storm would make dime-size holes in the polycarbonate front of our hoop house. It did. We never thought it would blow over our chicken coop. It did. And, we never thought that it would stunt our onions, scar our strawberries and shred our lettuce. It did.
This time of year, we look forward to passing out onions; a crop that starts early, spends a good amount of time growing and is very hardy. Onions can survive late spring frosts and thrive under early summer sun. They cannot, however, survive being pulverized by hail.
After consulting with our local Cornell Cooperative Extension connections, we found there was little to be done in regards to saving our onion crop this year.
We have onions. The onions that we have may be small. But they are onions!
Anyway, the ice cream I had was amazing. Excuse our onion crop as we try to get you all we have!
Eat well and enjoy.
J&T
