[CSA Update] Welcome to week 7

Storm Isaias blew through the farm with a lot of drama and left behind considerable damage this past week. The forecasts were all over the board for when the storm would start and how powerful it would be. The farm stand started feeling winds pick up in the late afternoon. We are in a bit of a wind tunnel and are always expecting microbursts. The farm team was making plans for power outages, talking generator hookups, and freeze times. They watched from inside the stand as the winds ripped around, knowing it was safer to stay put than to head home into unknown weather on the roads. Other than a modestly dramatic cooler rescue to prevent it from rolling into the street, the stand was just beaten up a little bit, nothing a few hours of work, and a few new pieces couldn't fix.
Around the home farm, I was hoping for rain. I was hoping for a lot of rain spread out over the whole day. We didn't get a drop. The winds picked up and blew out all the moisture we did have from the plants and the ground. We lost some roof panels on the hay barn. One of the big greenhouses that is anchored in the ground lifted and moved several feet over the mums (shown on the upper right photo from inside). I anchored it with ropes and used heavy equipment like a paperweight to hold it down for the duration. A few of the outbuildings and a few of our family homes were switched over to tractor power when the lines went down. Power goes out a couple of times every year around the farm, so we have a bit of a routine for switching things over and still keeping things like bathrooms, freezers, and lights on.
That night my wife and I hopped on the quad and drove the fields. Folks, there is a lot of damage to the crops. When a tree falls, you can see the leaves start drying out and crisping up a few days later. That is similar to how I look through fields for damage, it takes a few days to show up. That night I saw my squash and cuke fields torn up and tossed around. In last week's printed newsletter, there is a picture of me in front of a grape tomato trellis section - that entire section is on the ground now. That is the picture on the lower right. My initial estimates are that I lost about a third of the growing fields to wind damage. Without any moisture, the plants don't have the strength to bounce out of this normally. It could have been a whole lot worse. I can still pick as long as the plants are alive. I am going to be watching very closely to maintain plant health. There isn't a lot of first aid for plants other than extra feed and water. I'm thankful we can get the water into just about every field.
On a lighter note, the chickens, goats, and piggie are doing fine. The chickens stayed out in their pens, eating and pecking like it was a normal day. One hen caught a wind gust and got a swift flight across the yard, and it looked like she was having the time of her life as she strutted back to my son for treats. The goats and piggie watched the storm from their perches and were happy to be together. Ozzy slept through most of it as he had been running laps all morning and didn't feel the need to skip his naptime.