Hopefully everyone survived the "Derecho" yesterday without much damage! What a crazy storm that popped up so quickly. I gave the Farm Crew the day off because it looked like we were going to get a thunderstorm. I was at the Farm as the sky was starting to get dark and a light rain. Then all of a sudden the wind started to pick up and the tornado sirens started going off. Some of you may not know that I don't live at the Farm but on the NE side of Des Moines. Only thing I could think of to do was drive into Granger and ride it out at the Casey's Gas Station under the gas pump awning in my car.
The Farm got hit pretty hard by the winds! As you can see from the photo the winds were so strong it blew the Walk-In Cooler, which easily ways a half ton or more, 2 feet off it's wooden base!!! We also lost the plastic on the other high tunnel. It's still hard to tell right now how the field plantings will bounce back. All the ripe cherry tomatoes got blown off the plants but there are still plenty of green ones that stayed attached to the vines. The Cucumber, Watermelon, Summer and Winter Squash plants got severely wind whipped and the leaves are really tattered but we'll see how they regrow. All the recently germinated direct seeded crops are destroyed but we will replant!
Have a great week,
Farmer Ben and the Crew
