the storm

This is how Friday started out. New cute fuzzy chicks.

Oh, to be on a farm in July. It is, without a doubt, one of the most stressful times of the year. I've been finding out that being pregnant can make certain aspects of farming a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Even at just 21 weeks. We've got a long way to go.

This extreme heat has not helped either. On Friday we were all busy sweating and harvesting produce for the CSA and for market. Out of nowhere, a storm appeared bringing some much-needed relief and we felt we could finally breathe again. But then the storm kept picking up in intensity and it got darker and rained harder. Thunder boomed, the wind howled and hail fell.

We worried about the greenhouses, the high tunnels, the eggmobiles and other animal shelters. We worried about the crops being damaged.

After the storm we ventured out to check on things.

This is how Friday ended.

The newly-purchased awning over our processing equipment was destroyed but really, it's minimal damage considering what might have been. What was more concerning was that our new batch of baby chicks who had just arrived that morning had gotten wet. They were already a day late arriving and had miraculously survived and extra day of shipping in extreme temperatures. We had set them up in a different space than usual because we thought it would be cooler for them. We had the windows open for ventilation as it was 94 degrees that day. Unfortunately this allowed rain to come in the windows and in addition, there were a few roof leaks we were unaware of. The poor little ones were wet and scared so we quickly replaced the bedding and got them warm, dry and settled.

They're all happy and well now, even after a stressful first few days of life. I think they bounced back faster than we did. Luckily, we don't have to process any birds anytime soon. We're gonna need some time to work on this.