The real challenge in farming comes when one starts to lose the contest against the insects, the fungi, the inclement weather, the heat, the rain, the wind.
It takes all I have to want to continue on this seemingly thankless task when the challenge becomes too much.
Ironically, the challenge is the biggest part of farming. When I start with seeds, planted in trays or in the beds, I assume the result will be 'glorious", like I think of a daughter when she is but an infant. But I also know that I will be dealing with all the vectors of disease, despoliation, the chances of a 'freak" mountain storm ("un garuero" we call it) and all manner of mysterious infections etc.
It is a function of human consciousness that I would expect a good harvest, "Hope springs eternal" we say. But I already have years of experience doing this and I still set myself up emotionally for the disappointment that comes so naturally...all the while knowing that my chances of a good harvest are beyond my firm control.
As I write this, I feel all the emotions of the several disappointments that this farm has given me lately. I had lost 200 tomato plants just as winter was coming to an end. A mountain storm blew in one night with severe rains and winds that exceeded 60 miles per hour. Despite the extensive system of ties and supports that had held the plants in place for the prior month and a half, the wind smashed down vertically and then whipped horizontally and left us with 3 plants that were not affected too badly. 197 plants, all the work that had gone into them, all the expectation that we would be able to offer a good crop at market time, they were all smashed to broken stems and tattered leaves, the most pathetic plants hung from their ties, roots ripped out of the ground.
It takes all I have to want to continue on this seemingly thankless task when the challenge becomes too much.
Ironically, the challenge is the biggest part of farming. When I start with seeds, planted in trays or in the beds, I assume the result will be 'glorious", like I think of a daughter when she is but an infant. But I also know that I will be dealing with all the vectors of disease, despoliation, the chances of a 'freak" mountain storm ("un garuero" we call it) and all manner of mysterious infections etc.
It is a function of human consciousness that I would expect a good harvest, "Hope springs eternal" we say. But I already have years of experience doing this and I still set myself up emotionally for the disappointment that comes so naturally...all the while knowing that my chances of a good harvest are beyond my firm control.
As I write this, I feel all the emotions of the several disappointments that this farm has given me lately. I had lost 200 tomato plants just as winter was coming to an end. A mountain storm blew in one night with severe rains and winds that exceeded 60 miles per hour. Despite the extensive system of ties and supports that had held the plants in place for the prior month and a half, the wind smashed down vertically and then whipped horizontally and left us with 3 plants that were not affected too badly. 197 plants, all the work that had gone into them, all the expectation that we would be able to offer a good crop at market time, they were all smashed to broken stems and tattered leaves, the most pathetic plants hung from their ties, roots ripped out of the ground.
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