Taking a retrospective view of all the highs and lows that happened on the farm this year, planting the tomatoes certainly brought a sense of hope, a feeling that held onto the sentiment that the farm was going to be alright. I watched the plants grow every day, stronger and taller, it was beautiful. All the hours of sweat and a fair share of bleeding, the financial investment involved in the infrastructure labor and plants, it looked like it was all starting to come together, and it was a delightful feeling.
But as it goes, all good things come to an end.
Shortly after we started harvesting, our well water ran dry, and we could not irrigate the plants anymore. The rainy season was still a while away, and we were running through our backup water at a fast rate.
This meant that all the forming fruit after the initial harvest started ripening while the fruit was still very small. The tomatoes started developing end rot from the draught and the stress on the plants.
The photos below were the last sellable fruit taken off the land.
At this point, even the brinjals were starting to go into flower.
I tried everything we could, even carted in water in trucks as the finances allowed it. But the point came where I simply had to cut my losses.
I can not tell you how this broke my spirit, plan as we may, nature remains a cruel mistress.
I am trying to ripen bags of tomatoes as we speak as frost was about to kill them before they vine ripened. I expect an almost total loss, but it's just my garden, not my business. My heart goes out to you. No one works harder than farmers.
Crops may fail, but you're a peach. You have proven through every trial you are the best humanity can offer. I hope despite this setback you and yours remain well and hale and the coming holidays will see you enjoy the good company of beloved friends and family.
Thanks!
So lovely to see you again.
And still the ever-complimenting wordsmith I see :D
Thank you for the kind words, and I hope your tomatoes ripen. If they have any coloration it shouldn't be a problem, just expose them to as much light as possible
My understanding is that tomatoes are a climacteric fruit and ripening is highly controlled by ethylene gas, which is why I am using paper bags to ripen the fruit.
It makes sense, but seeing that they are reasonably fast-ripening fruit, I personally find that tomatoes sun-ripen better, especially if you put ripe bananas next to them. While avos and mangoes, for example, that take very long to ripen and stand at risk of not ripening at all, ripen better when in a bag or when exposed to other ripe fruit.
If the tomatoes were still a solid green, id put them in a bag for a bit, with another fruit that is in the prime of its Etheline secretion. But if they have any coloration on them already, even in the slightest, I'd let nature take its course.
But I mean, if you are talking about frost on its way, the cold might retard the ripening process as well, so maybe the bags are a better option for you.
There's no sun here anymore. It's rain and worse until May, so a paper bag on the sofa is the best option I have, although it's only ~45 - 55 F in the living room nowadays. At least it's not frozen!
That's rough, I can't imagine living in those temps. Ice falling from the sky, although an acknowledged occurrence, still seems apocalyptic to me ...
As a farmer, just as I, as a hunter, has familiarity with violent death, it must have come to your attention that even in tragic events there is beauty, and particularly in death come the most noble and admirable character traits individuals can express.
There is something unimaginably beautiful about snow. The still, pristine expanse. The lambent glow of the white purity of the lifeless fields in twilight. When that stillness is disturbed by bounding martens seeking field mice, or red foxes pouncing on unheard murmurs in the tunnels under the pillowed mounds, I feel immense admiration for the irrepressible vitality of life that can persist when the world is concealed and obscured so.
However, rain eventually soaks the fluff and creates a sodden slush that brings a peculiar misery I will never appreciate, except in the breech. Be glad, though you may not enjoy the beauty of snow, you neither suffer the banal torment of slush.
Some areas still drought stricken even with much flooding and disaster in other places.
Sorry to hear about the crops, lack of water absolutely devastating to farmers.
For a minute before reading I thought it may have been hail damage that is sweeping through much of inland of late.
@tipu curate
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It's very sad Joan, over the past few years I have tried to rebuild so many times, but a person's plans and Gods plans are not always the same.
Mother nature has her way, not much has gone according to what we normally anticipate.
Hope the community assist each other in the region, from drought to extreme wet is not helping, fruit and veg, or livestock it must be a nightmare.
Oh, absolutely, both draught and floods are a demolishing force when it comes to keeping a farm alive.
We got a sudden burst of a few days of rain, and because it was so dry, all the fruit swelled out and burst instead of growing gradually.
Mango and Avocado are the two fruits you had if I remember correctly, extreme weather would yield negative results, when everyone relies on farmers who battle the elements.
Also reading somewhere they expecting more than average rainfall to continue throughout summer months into early next year.