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November 14, 2006
Thoughts and feelings on the flooding
There was a time when a huge flood in November would have little to no impact on this small western Washington farm, but with our advances in extending the season and better crop protection techniques winter production has become a very big part of the season here at Willie Green's. This winter was expected to be the best yet, when the flood hit we were still doing 3 markets a week (which we expected to do until spring) and our popular CSA program. We had never had so much produce in the ground at this time in the year and after beating the first few nights of frost we were riding high. All this makes the flood particularly tough to take. I walked through water that was past my knee Monday night to check on the fields. The water was not at its high point yet, but the entire valley was a lake including our small farm and all of the crops we had worked on so hard all summer. Although I was in awe of mother nature and her power; the feeling of shock and disappointment consumed me as I had never seen the flood water even come close to our fields before. Then a calm panic set in as I struggled to see how we could go on with the rest of the season. After all was said and done, there were a few small sections of ground that remained dry and safe, only a fraction of what we had available the previous week, but it was something to be thankful for. This all brings us to now, we are harvesting what we can, but by next week we will nearly be tapped out of everything we have. It hardly seems fair, but farming hardly ever is. We have decided to continue with the CSA program, making all attempts to put anything we can grow into the boxes but a large percentage will need to be outsourced from other farmers and wholesalers. We will continue to focus all our energy on our customers and the quality of the program. There is nothing else to do but pick up the pieces and go on. All of us here at Willie Green's would like to thank you for your understanding and your continued support.
Brett Blair
Farm Manager
Posted by Christine at November 14, 2006 11:46 AM
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