April Showers Bring May Veggies

The clouds grew dark and heavy this morning. Maybe the promised rain was coming after all. The weather folks said it would be here Thursday, moved it to Friday, and then assured us it was coming Saturday or maybe Sunday mid-morning – but hey, this is Texas. I’d about given up hope when I heard the distant roll of thunder. Maybe?

The short version is I didn’t get but a two-minute light sprinkle on the westside, but the farm was soaked by a fifteen-minute downpour. I won’t have another day of hand-watering ahead of me. Let me explain…

The drainplug on our pump shot out of my hand on Friday and rolled into the river rendering the pump useless until I can get the part Monday. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but we just planted three hundred new additional tomato and pepper plants; all of which need to be watered in. Saturday afternoon found me hauling water from the Trinity River up the levee (two five-gallon buckets at a time) and watering the plants one at a time. I’ll do what needs to be done but I’m especially grateful for the shower today…

Opal’s Farm was at the Cowtown Farmers Market for the first time this year. The forecasted rain stayed away and the sun made our first Saturday back even more spectacular. We had sugar snap carrots, and radishes available and were sold out by 1030 AM. We saw several old friends and met many more new ones. We’re always grateful for our regular customers. We missed you guys over the last three months. We’re also grateful to all the new folks we met Saturday and hope to see each of one of you every week. Better yet, come by the farm and give us a hand or take a tour.

I need to give as shout out to our volunteers this week. We couldn’t have gone to market without your help. Our volunteers are amazing! The number of volunteer hours has skyrocketed in the last three weeks. I hope you can come out and join us!

Tomatoes, Jalapenos, and Anaheim Chili Peppers are in. We were able to get Spaghetti Squash and Cucumbers in as well. Everything else is going great guns and it looks to be an excellent Spring for Opal’s Farm.

Just a word to our friends and customers at Cowtown Farmers Market:

We want you to know how much you are appreciated. So many of you have wanted to support Opal’s vision. Every purchase you make and the donations you give bring fresh produce to the people who need it the most – neighborhoods that have been forgotten by the big grocery store chains, neighborhoods that suffer disproportionate health problems because their only food choices are highly processed canned and junk food full of empty calories. Your dollars not only provide you with the best in locally grown, nutritious fruits and vegetables, but your neighbors as well.

Thank you for being a part of Opal’s Farm! We love you all and hope to see you next week!