Now, with hurricane John having dissipated up int…

Now, with hurricane John having dissipated up into the southwest U.S., the residents of my little town of La Ribera are digging their way out. Electricity returned to the town yesterday so I now have somewhat of a link to them and can respond to their needs. There was no water, electricity, gasoline, propane to cook with and very little food since last Friday. These people are so very strong though and just kind of laugh it off and go on. I think at this point the biggest need down there will be insect repellant and nets. The massive amounts of standing water will be the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos and with mosquitos come dengue fever and west nile virus, both of which have already shown up. So scary….Now…On the American front. Here at the farm, we’re getting ready to do some fall planting of several varieties. There has been for the past few years an increased demand for culinary varieties so we will be putting in more Melissa and Royal Velvet in the south field in the next few weeks. This has been such a dry summer that we are now having to irrigate to loosen the soil for tilling. Jose and his crew continue to weed the existing plants and I am starting to winterize the water system. Still no rain in sight.