Dear Farm Journal,

On this fall pack out Tuesday, Rufus and I harvested between the heavier rains and slipped around in saturated gardens. The ground cherries and tomatillos which have rolled into the rows are coated with mud, not great to look at, but still relatively clean and full of flavor under the soiled husk. My bare feet leave deep prints in the soft ground and before long, I convert to rubber boots and splash through the puddles outside the pack shed. On rainy days like this it is nice to be able to do at least part of the harvest under the plastic of the greenhouse. Rain clouds pass over the farm throughout the day, and we adjust our harvest according to Mother Nature’s will. She has more rain in the forecast, but nowhere for the water to sink into saturated soil. The river rises again and again, moving towards what is becoming what seems to be an increasingly typical Kickapoo Valley flood season.

~Joy