ORGANIC FARMING JOURNEY #16: WHEN DISASTER STRIKES, IT'S REALLY A DISASTER! WHAT GOOD CAN COME OUT OF THIS?

in life •  7 years ago 

Just when you thought you made a huge success, disaster strikes!

Disaster in Cow's Clothing


This time a bigger animal, a cow! Loosened from its leash, the cow went to our tomato plants and plowed our posts.
IMG_20170906_173937.jpg

And a few tomato plants were dragged down to the ground. I tried repairing the damage; let the plants stand with a cut bamboo stick and stringed the stem. I would go back the next day to make the support stronger.

Disaster in Smaller, Stronger Number


By the weekend, another set of animals, goats this time, came by and trampled on the tomato plants while they got stuck with the strings. The poles weren't able to stand the pressure and so they broke! The whole middle plot down to the ground.

IMG_20170910_075529.jpg

The Victims


Over 50 tomato plants were down to the ground together with their fruits which I believe contributed to the weight that the poles weren't able to handle. What could be done? I was devastated as I saw the onslaught on the plants. What good can come out of this disaster? How can I remedy the situation?

Too Much Fruit Can Kill You


Stake them with a cut bamboo, I thought. This should help them stand back up. So I staked around 20 plants but it was harder than I thought. Fruits were good in number in a plant breaking the branches they grow on.

IMG_20170911_100513.jpg

I should have supported the branches as well. There are others, around 4 more like this, that their branches broke because of too much fruit. Who would have thought having too much fruit is a bad thing! ;-) No, not giving enough support to a thriving plant is a bad thing. Now I know this. And my next project will be better, and bigger, and more fruits!

IMG_20170910_073808.jpg

Follow @cjclaro to get more inside scoops on organic farming and other interests.

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

Thanks to all who supported this post, fish big and small. Your upvotes and comments made the consequence of this dilemma more bearable. Thanks to the whales and sharks who shared their valuable upvotes: @blocktrades, @newhope, and @surpassingoogle. A new and secure area will be prepared for a better harvest by December.

And to my ever-faithful followers, A BIG, BIG THANK YOU!

Dios mio. No lo puedo creer! que desastre. Es muy lamentable. Lo bueno, es que lograste recuperar algo de la cosecha, colocándole un bambú cortado. Me gusta tu entusiasmo para seguir adelante. Mi voto para tu empeño amigo.

RIP Tomatoes. :'(

They're not dead yet, though. I'm still trying to revive them, if I can.

I have a little organic Garden. This is great on first place for our health..Zou make my day to be better, thanks from all my heart.

Im happy to inspire you and good to know you have organic garden. Keep at it coz its really rewarding. :-)

Tu constancia y dedicación son impresionantes. Sigues adelante sin importar la adversidad. :)

I have seen how tomato plants bounced back from adversidad and I take great lesson from them. If they can fight back, there's no reason I can't. Thanks for the boost ;-)

Wow, those animals caused a disaster, pour tomatoes. Well, remember: What doesn't kill you, make you stronger!

Nice post and amazing farm, btw!

I will try to help them recover. They have so.much fruit I cant.let them just die away.

Amazing farm @cjclaro. I used to have my own big garden and I loved it, I had everything growing. I and my husband want to get a farm to one of these days. We also had chickens, but we want to get other farm animals too eventually (hopefully soon). But I remember all these setbacks that we had to deal with too, especially with the animals. Right now we only have a backyard and beach land in El Salvador with all the fruit trees, like coconuts, bananas, plantains, limes, mangoes, avocados, but we can't even enjoy this right now because we are back in Canada, working hard so we can go back and enjoy and buy more land and animals in El Salvador. As for you, it will get better and you will be able to sit back and enjoy all this hard work you are putting in right now. We cannot understand sometimes what is the reason for these setbacks that happen in our lives, but I believe there is always a purpose for everything, and every setback is just a setup for a stronger, better comeback. God doesn't give us setbacks in life to keep us down and give up, but to get us stronger and wiser and be better off than where we were before. "No pain, no gain" I hate that saying, but it is so true. For some reason, we stop growing when everything goes smoothly in our lives, the only way we tend to grow and learn is by going through hardship and getting out of our comfort zone. So stay strong my friend, it will get better.

Such kind words and encouragements, @joalvarez. And every bit of your words is so true. I am thankful actually that something like this happened because I have the oppprtunity to make things better. True, God does not give you troubles for no reason.

And Im happy to know you are planning for your future with your farm in mind. Because when the dust settles, we all go back to nature that feeds us and keep us closer to our Maker.

Thanks for those beautiful words. It means a lot that someone cares about us and ready to lift us up.

God bless!

Wow...what a disaster 😵 @cjclaro just take heart u make it up in 💯 folds soon..keep up the good work

God bless your words, my friend ;-)

sure and be assured of my continual support and encouragement... do also find time to check out my blog posts on natural remedies...

Thanks. And your posts are good reads, too! Now that's what we call adding value to Steemit ;-)

thanks dear.. only if it can read many steemians.. i think some posts are good to reach many because of the benefits... but seems many post are with value es not get attention it deserves... but its ok..which is why we are here to support ourselves... lovely day;)

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

Great post like it!!

@cjclaro Thanks for sharing :-)I am following
|
Best of Luck !.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Thanks for the follow and the support
;-) followed you back and hoping to see your posts

Nice post. I upvote to your post. Plz you too vote to my posts
Thanx.

Sad to hear the disasters and the loss. But you should have a fence to protect against the animals. But happy to see overloaded plants with fruits.

We do have fences but they can protect only that much. Animals are relentless but we will try to make stronger fences this time. And yes, the fruits are an overload!

Lo peor es que no hay forma de reclamarle a una vaca o a cualquier animal. Hay que construir algo para que no entren a tu plantación.
Suerte a la próxima

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

What's worse than worst is that the cow is owned by my friend that helps me in the farm :-(

Ohh sad to hear. I am not a farmer but I wanted to suggest something

1: Stake them with a cut bamboo, why not use two-three bamboos and try to make a triangle and tie it.
2: How about doing a fencing, not a solid one but normal wire and tie nails in it.

As I said I am not a farmer, but just wanted to give my suggestion. Hope I can again see tomotoes in your post soon.

I am a new farmer myself and this is my first time to plant tomatoes this plenty. Any suggestion is very welcome and you have good points. I have actually considered 4 stakes around the plant just to make sure. But Im always on the lookout for better alternatives. Thanks for the suggestions ;-)

Please share your journey about how you have solved it, might be it is great learning for all of us.

Will definitely do that ;-) and hope it will help others, too.

have faith! and continue farming!

I lost tomatoes but did not lose faith ;-) and I will continue farming. Let those disasters come, I'll be ready :-D. Thanks for dropping by @smafey.

Se aprende de las experiencias también. Creo que a artir de ahora, asegurarás mejor tu plantación para evitar que regresen de nuevo :)
Éxitos, hermano

Right, lesson learned. Making things better now...

Aaawww sayang naman mga kamatis @cjclaro. Tanim na lang po ulit at italing mabuti ang mga baka,.

Subukan ko itayo ulit ang mga kamatis. And yes I am replanting my new seedlings and this time I know what to do.

i like plant great info

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

great post, there is many lessons here

hey man how you doin.
im sorry i started not too long ago and i been writhing good articles but i have not too mush fallowers i want to ask you if you can take a look at my post i think thy have a great information on it please help me and pump me up reesteeming one of my posts

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Just upvoted one of your posts. Looking forward to more valuable posts ;-)

interesting post