Storms Brewing

Just over a week ago, we woke up knowing that meteorologists were concerned about a strong possibility for severe weather on July 14.  And, because we do have crops in our plots and we have poultry and we have high tunnels... we were concerned too.

That's just how it is when you do outdoor things.  You automatically become more concerned about the weather.  And, if you are a grower, you also become a bit of a weather watcher.  After all, if we can get even a little bit of warning as to what is coming next, we might be able to make a few adjustments that can make a difference.

Fairly early on the 14th we noticed a dark line to the west and we both felt there was going to be some rough weather associated with it.  We get things settled in for a storm and still had some time before it rolled in the rest of the way.  So, I got the camera out.  

It is tempting for me to tell you that I wanted to record the storm.  Which I did to some extent.  But, the real purpose was to catch a couple of our growing plots at their peak.

I knew that once these clouds rolled through, they would no longer have the same visual appeal that they had at that moment.

That's another thing that people who do what we do get used to.  How things look and how you feel about your crops can change as quickly as the weather.

Middle Earth is a smaller growing plot that is aptly named because it is near the center of our farm.  We started growing here for several reasons.  We ran poultry on the grass in this area for several years in a row, so the fertility is good.  It is also further from the borders we share with corn and soybean fields.

This year, Middle Earth has sunflowers on one side (the left) and three rows of sweet corn next to the sunflowers.  We planted pumpkins, buttercup squash and a few watermelons in the row next to the sweet corn.  Borage is on the right side of the plot.

At the time I took these photos is was 100 to 120 feet of goodness.  Everything was looking pretty darned good.  There was lots of pollinator activity and evidence of plenty of fruits setting.

As I took a few more pictures and moved to the other end of Middle Earth, I looked back to see how the storm was progressing.  As you can see above, it was only getting darker (and closer).  As I told Tammy, this storm actually made everything darker than it was the night before at 9:30PM.

And, to my eye it appeared to be getting stronger.  But, it was approaching slowly, so I was thinking it would likely have heavy rain and possibly hail rather than a heavy wind when it moved through.

I turned and looked at Freyr Field to the east of Middle Earth.  This plot was looking really good too.

Once again, a wall of sunflowers is at the left.  The zinnias were just starting to bloom seriously and the butternut squash were covering the ground quite well.  Borage provided us with some additional pollinator habitat on the other side.

These are both successful fields, in my opinion.  And, just as a review, I believe a successful field is a field I want to be in.  There is some diversity in plant life.  The crops are healthy specimens for the things I am trying to grow.  There aren't many weeds to be seen in the picture either. 

After the storm blew through that morning, I took another walk to the same areas.  There were some sunflowers that were leaning, as was some of the corn.  The borage no longer looked as nice as they had, with most of the plants laying down.  But, the squash and watermelons were fine.

All in all, both fields still look pretty good, but my critical eye is no longer as pleased with them as I was before the storms rolled through.

Still, there isn't much to complain about here.  The flowers are mostly still up and blooming.  The vegetable production will not be adversely affected.  And, unlike some others to our south, we did not have to deal with tornadoes and storm clean-up.

Later in the day, round two of severe weather found its way to our neck of the woods.  We saw it coming and got things prepped again.  Then we watched local news and the weather radar.  At one point, the radar showed what could be a textbook "hook echo" that often results in a tornado warning (a radar indicated storm).  

The storm tracks had that cell shown in the picture above tracking our way.  The Genuine Faux Farm was in the bull's eye as far as we could tell.  

So, we prepped ourselves for some time in the basement.

It turned out that the rotation in this storm went straight east instead of northeast, so we were spared the brunt of it all.  But, sadly, others we know took a direct hit.  

Overall, the 2021 growing season has been pretty calm, with very little severe weather threat.  After last year's derecho, that's not a bad thing.  But, July 14 was a difficult day for many.

On the flip side, we're still in a drought for our area, despite the rain that came with the storms.  Our farm did receive 1.7" of welcome rain, so it is difficult to complain about it.  But, the weeds sure did take off after that!