Wow! What a Storm!

Thursday we stopped irrigation for the day because the weather models indicated a good chance of a substantial shower at some point. When I am not irrigating it frees up an extra guy for weeding. Lately we have been falling behind in that area, so it was an opportunity to catch up a little.

At 3:30, I walked into the office to look at the radar. I was stunned at what I saw. There was a huge band of yellow, red and, almost never seen here, purple about 40 miles out and clearly moving in our direction. I said to Susan, my associate, "I have never seen radar like this before!" It immediately sent waves of fear through me as I realized that this super-cell had the potential of producing substantial hail which could destroy my early strawberry harvest. I love storms and could even see myself as a storm chaser some day. But I wanted no part of this one.

As I continued to watch the radar over the next half an hour, the super-cell continued to move closer. The movement began to show me some hope that we might not get a direct hit, but it was still difficult to tell.

I went outside and there was an eerie silence. You could see the storm in the distance. It looked ominous. I began to warn u-pickers in the field. I mobilized the staff to secure things that could blow away. I pulled my crew off of weeding to cut Peonies that I thought could be ruined. The farm was buzzing with anticipation.

At 4:45 the wind suddenly began to kick up. I waved everyone in from outside and we huddled in the store with the doors closed. The wind became fierce. Huge clouds of dust blew across the farm in a scene I had never witnessed before. The roof rocked and adrenaline was flowing. Some heavy rain came but it was clear we were going to miss the brunt of it. No hail and no damage to the strawberries. What a relief!

Strawberry Update
There is the potential of a spectacular strawberry harvest this weekend. With 7 fields ripening on the farm, I think supply has the potential of keeping up with demand. Picking conditions could be ideal as we move into a more marine influence with morning clouds and cool temperatures. These are ideal conditions for slowly sealing in the strawberries' sweet flavor.

Another Perfect Storm/ Strawberry Update

Just when we were starting to think irrigation, a perfect storm on Monday dropped 1/2 inch of rain, thoroughly soaking the farm. Unlike many rain periods we get, this one was isolated. It came, it went. Behind the storm is a long stretch of dry warm weather which could last a week. The timing for this break couldn't be better, as the strawberries continue to bloom and existing berries grow and grow.

Farming continues to go well. The peas are almost ready. We are picking our first lettuce and, once we start harvesting lettuce, we will have continuous pickings of successions until the end of October. This weekend we are planting our third succession of corn, our first big cucumber field, a third planting of beans and 1 1/2 acres of tomatoes.

My early small plantings of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage look average. Some kind of root maggot is getting about a quarter of the plants and those pesky flea beetles are eating holes in the leaves. Since I don't spray, we'll see if the bugs get more of the plants than me. I always do much better in the fall when the problem bugs are gone.

Last night, before heading home, I picked a lone misshapen red strawberry about the size of my thumbnail. I ate it and symbolically began my strawberry season. But before you come out excited about picking, you need to realize that you might find 5 more ripe berries over 10 acres. With this great window of weather, I am starting to think that the first berries will be here on the last weekend of the month. Our favorite flower, Peonies, will also be here in big supply at the end of May.