Good Evening everyone one. Lori here with the next instalment from McDowell County, WV. This has been the most hectic and nerve wracking months so far this year.

Remember last month we said we had two more participants places to get plowed, well we still have two more to do. The constant rain is messing up our flow. We got a start on one part in Mercer County, but it was so wet it was like plowing a swamp. We tried a regular tractor after we didn’t have much luck with the Grillo. Wasn’t happening, so we will be going back. It’s not supposed to rain for a couple days so we should get them done this week.

We won’t be able to use the property at the entrance to the park once again. Last year we had a helicopter using it as a parking spot, this year it’s a road. On Wednesday the only day it didn’t rain and we were going to plant some things, fate kicked us in the nether regions. I got a call before I left the house to go to the office telling me 911 was closing our bridge because there was only the top layer of asphalt holding it together. Oh Happy Day. I got to spend a hot day watching a bridge finally cave instead of getting tomato plants in the ground. We had so many local politicians there that it looked like a political rally. They dug us a temporary road right through what was to be our other garden spot. At least we won’t have 200 residents trapped with no way in or out until they figure out who is going to fix the bridge. We will just plant in more tires and plow up other spots closer to the center.
This also pushed back our Garden Maintenance class, but we will get it done before the end of the month.

Our participants got all their plants, seeds and fertilizer now, and have been trying to plant in between the hail and rain storms. One of the ladies that came to pick up her plants said that doing her garden was very hard work because her back is messed up, but she is really enjoying it. She also stated that if anyone messes with her garden, she will NOT fire a warning shot. She is very protective of her food. Another lady has been digging a moat around her garden to keep it from flooding out.

By some miracle we got the fertilizer delivered to High Rocks with out our truck falling apart. The guy that was going to help us originally ended up in the hospital with a stroke. One of our participant families bailed us out at the last minute by hauling 2 tons of it on their trailer. That is a beautiful area up there. We took Linwood’s fertilizer with us to the regional meeting in Alderson. We were late because GPS put us in the middle of nowhere. Seriously I think I heard banjos. It was good to see everyone and listen to their stories, hopefully we don’t get lost going to the one in the fall.

With all the rain we have had, we are surprised that every thing that has been planted by us and our participants hasn’t been drowned or washed out. Our lettuce is actually beautiful and the few strawberries we picked were so sweet and juicy.

If it continues to rain like it has been, we are going to plant anyway. What’s a little weather related pneumonia when you can have fresh veggies?

I will just leave you with this following picture stolen from Facebook. Let’s hope this doesn’t really turn out to be a real thing.

Happy Growing

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