The Plan.....
1. Have all of the holes burned in the landscape fabric done by the end of April.
2. Have all of the fabric in the field and ready for planting by the first of May.
3. Have the irrigation up and running at 100%
4. Get the seeds in the ground as soon as 1-3 are complete.
How often do thing go as planned?
We were able to burn the holes and have the fabric field ready on time, but after that, well, the plan pretty much falls apart. Let's talk about the wind for a moment.....I don't like it...that's pretty much it, I don't like it. This year the wind has been horrible and when you toss in close to 3000 feet of 6 foot wide landscape fabric, well it makes for a bad combination. They don't play well together! The first day things went pretty well, it was windy, but we were able to get about half way done. I was completely exhausted and wondering if I was going to make it to the house. The next day we headed back out bright and early, I was moving slower and saying things out loud that really should have stayed in my head. I swear as soon as we walked out to the field the wind started blowing....again. Did I mention, I don't like wind? Things were going pretty well and we were on the downhill stretch. We had just started pulling out a new roll and the fabric became a 150 foot long, 6 foot wide kite that I was hanging on to! The next thing I know it is wrapped around a power line and I am being lifted off the ground. As my hubby was running over to help, I was trying to decide if I should let go, or go along for the ride! Well the wind was not going to win and we started working on getting control of our massive kite. Wait, it gets better.....How was I going to hold down the fabric with the wind still blowing, lay on it of course! It was quite a sight!!
After two very long days, 1000's of staples, and 486 bricks, (yes I counted) sore knees and serious back pain, and a sunburn, we had all the fabric down. I can tell you there was a celebration, although it was short lived.
That night we had a storm come through that lasted a total of 15 minutes and pulled up over half of the fabric and attached it to a barb wire fence. I was heartbroken. We worked so hard to get the field ready for planting and now this. The next morning I decided that I was going to hang up the flower farming hat and call it quits. I am too old, and too tired to do this, I'm done, I was prepared to give up on this dream. I do need to say that my hubby has always supported my ideas and visions, but he was also ready to throw in the towel. The wind had already destroyed our greenhouse, taking out several trays of plants with it and now this. We decided to take the day off and figure out what to do next. I was ready to sell everything, buy a motorhome and travel and I don't even like to travel.
After a day of tears, talking, and tons of encouragement from family and friends we decided we had come too far to turn back now. We replaced the fabric, although we did scale back a bit, made a new layout with more room for sunflowers, and we are now back on track.
I know the world is crazy right now and I know there are people out there going through much worse than a little wind, but we need to stay strong. We need to still dream and follow those dreams. We need to stand strong against the wind!
