One of the primary differences between shopping at a supermarket and joining a CSA is that, in the latter model, customers benefit along with their partner farmer when the weather is good, and share the burden when the weather is excessively hot, wet, or dry, and the crops fail. The farmer does not suffer alone, and the customers are more deeply connected to the seasonal shifts that impact their food source.

The following guest post, by farmer Vicki Westerhoff who farms at Genesis Growers with her family in St. Anne Illinois, is a pair of letters she wrote to Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA members about the recent flooding across the Midwest. In response to the flood damage, Tuv Ha’Aretz members will head out to Genesis Farms this month to help them replant their fields.

Friday, June 7

We are flooded. On Wednesday night last week we had a furious storm roll through the farm. It pummeled us with five and 1/4 inches of driving rain. The wind gusts exceeded 60 mph. The devastation I suppose could be worse, but what happened is bad.

Our field was so flooded that we could not see the ditch. All the crops were in standing water. By today, most of the standing water had begun to recede so we could check the crops. That is where the really bad news lies. First, we saw the erosion. The beating rains and winds drove the waters across the field, digging trenches and leaving behind rippled waterways. The main irrigation pipe was moved 50-75 feet across the field over the crops that were planted. The drip tape in part of the field was blown and gather together in a tangled heap. Because of the fury, the lettuce heads (5,000 of them) were torn quite badly. The chard and mesclun are shredded. The strawberries were pulped.

It was so profound I had a hard time processing it all.

I wanted to feel sorry for myself. Then I thought of how it rains on the just and the unjust. I am but one little speck in the whole scheme of things. The truth is that a farmer is a partner with Nature – and Nature is the senior partner who often makes decisions the junior partner does not like. But, the reality is that nature knows it must bring destruction in order to have renewal. A forest fire clears the earth for a new set of vegatation that could not survive in the thick of the forest. A flood eliminates one species, only to allow another to prosper. Earth is for prolific that Nature has to cleanse or all vegetation would eventually be choked out. For us who farm, it is not so easy a fact to deal with when it is our livelihood – but it is a fact we must deal with.

As members of our farm, this devastation will impact our boxes until we can regrow some crops. I will harvest at least some of the lettuces and give you more than one so you can eat the non-injured parts. This week I had harvested mesclun prior to the storm so it is not damaged. A new crop is already growing so we will only have to wait a couple of weeks for a replacement. I will do my utmost to provide nice boxes for you and I appreciate your understanding during this time.

Monday, June 9

By today the waters have receded, although we are pretty muddy. We managed to get our plastic mulch reburried and all the irrigation untangled and back in place. There is much yet to do, but some of it has to wait until we can replant. Many crops are totally dead, others are struggling, and some look like they may come out of it. My oldest son asked what we were going to do. My reply was that we would work our fannies off to replant so we could bring a crop to harvest. We never take these circumstances laying down. We rise up and move forward. Such is life on the farm.

We will have boxes this week as planned. We are fortunate in that we have two farm properties in production and only the main farm was hit hard. Four miles down the road we only received two inches of rain.

We are doing our best to fix the situation, but it will take us a few weeks to catch up again. Some crops have a bit of damage, but we had to harvest what we could. The lettuce heads were the best we had, but may have some torn leaves. The baby lettuce needs to be opened and sorted through to check for any bad leaves. I did go through it as best I could, but I know it is not the quality we normally produce. I have to focus on field repair and replanting so we have a good future harvest, so please bear with me for a couple of weeks.