Farm Realities, Trusting the Lord.

We have a tomato harvest due today.  I love harvest day!!  Our little tomatoes are so pretty!  I love to look through the greenhouse right before harvest and see all the pretty red jewels just waiting for me to put them in my basket.  TWS had bought me some incredible baskets:  they are a strong bent metal lined with burlap and have sturdy handles.   They are a little bit of extra delight in my chores :)

Oh, but our poor tomato plants!  They are rife with septoria and such and look pitifully sick and weak.  I am honestly not sure how long they will last.  It is an eye opener--this was supposed to be part of our income, and they are just so sick.  The Lord is taking care of us, and I am not worried.  I just am a little sorrowed.  We have been so excited to be tomato farmers, but we are also learning the realities of such:  farming can be heartbreaking at times.

The problem has been the weather.  It is either too wet, giving rise to disease, or too hot in the greenhouse, which makes the plants spindly and stop producing fruit.  The heat we might be able to manage if we can get another shade cloth, but the disease has taken over the greenhouse.

I do have to say, though, that I am glad it is septoria and not another disease.  Septoria leaves the tomatoes alone for the most part, just attacking the leaves.  So our tomatoes are still pretty enough to sell as long as the plant can hold out.  Other diseases are so incredibly devastating that the soil has to be extensively treated.  So while we are sorrowed over our poor plants, we know that it could be much worse.  We might lose this crop, but we at least will not lose the ability to grow tomatoes, God willing.

Organic growing is easy on one hand:  there is not a lot you can do.  On the other hand, when a disease takes over, there is NOT a lot you can do.  The harvest is so precarious that we have decided that for our own food, for our own garden, we are not going organic.  We will as much as we can, but we also will not hesitate to hit our garden hard and strong if there is something about to destroy it.  With the greenhouse, this is not an option, as those tomatoes are for sale as organic.  I am thankful for the consultant that the main farm has hired.  He has already given us many ideas.  Though it might be too late for this bunch of plants, if we have to start over, I will be glad for his guidance for changing the soil and such.