Jinx

I don't think I would consider myself an overly superstitious person.  I've always thought black cats were pretty and Friday the 13th has never been a particular bad one.  When I was little I bought into them more because they were fun.  I didn't step on cracks, go under ladders, and I lifted my feet on bridges.  But I guess some things just get drilled into you because there are a few I still uphold even though logically I know they're crazy.  I never make snow cream with the first snow (I was told it was a cleansing snow and you'd get sick), I don't kill any crickets I find in the house (even though I HATE crickets.  They're see through, they look like roaches, and they do this half-crawl half-jump creep across the floor...I just can't!  I have the heebies just writing about it), and I try and knock on wood whenever I made a 'I never have' statement (though I know it doesn't work.  When I was pregnant with The Boy I said I'd never have a 10 pound baby and he came into the world at 10.6 so clearly fate or God or someone was trying to show me how insignificant my nevers are).  We're at the time of year where people lend themselves to the superstition and magic, and the way this season's going I can't help but wonder if I've jinxed myself.

When I was a kid, I lived through two major hurricanes, Hurricane Fran and Hurricane Floyd.  The last hurricane to bring a lot of damage to the area was Hurricane Floyd and I was in high school.  It was horrible.  We got so much rain my road washed out (I grew up the only house on a mile long dirt road) and for ages I had to get on the bus at Uncle Pat's.  My Uncle Lewis's pond overflowed across Herring Road and I saw my very first crawfish.  One of our giant pecan trees fell over because the ground was so wet.  We didn't have electricity for 2 weeks (only house on a dirt road, remember).  Now that I have kids I can't imagine what my mama went through.  However this has been 16 years ago.  So every time a storm starts brewing we say to each other 'you know, we're due for another hurricane'.  Well, I've been knocking on wood hoping I haven't jinxed myself.  

Every season there's always something, and it seems like this season it's the rain (after the dry August and most of September I can't believe I'm writing that.  My sunflowers are stunted and pumpkins stalled for lack of rain, course now they have no excuse but to grow).  I've never had to delay a season for rain, and we're going on two weekends now.  Everyone I know tells me 'don't worry about the weather, there's nothing you can do about it', and I swear if I hear it one more time... As a rational logical creature, I know I can't do anything about it, but that statement in itself is the problem.  When I see a problem I want to fix it and the feeling of helplessness I get when I look at a forecast socked with rain its almost as bad as it gets.  What's worse?  Trying to make a decision about being open.  If I close, and it turns out nice, then I've missed revenue and I have to tell people I'm not open when they call.  If I don't close and it's ugly and no one comes (because let's face it, who's coming to a pumpkin patch if it's cloudy/rainy/drizzly?  No one) then I'm paying my help to sit around and keep me company.  I HATE agonizing over a decision.  That's my Husband's job.  I want to make it and move on.  It doesn't help when I know I have people depending on it, like my help.  I stare at any weather report I can find and turn into a amateur meteorologist.  I spy on other farms to see what they're doing.  And finally, I face the inevitable and decide.  I'm calling on all my good luck omens and superstitions while at the same time feeling like I've jinxed myself, or at least that's how I felt last night when I saw Hurricane Joaquin aiming for us.  My heart sank.  Rain will dry, but corn as old as ours will not stand back up.  

Luckily, the forecast now has Joaquin staying well offshore, so really the NHC got us all worried for nothing.  I'll just cross my fingers, hope, and pray it stays that way, and no more talk about how we're due for a storm!

Right now The Farm seems more suited for these visitors rather than human ones!

Gotta keep that hay dry, why not use the high tunnel?

Pumpkins!  They are so beautiful, we can't wait for you to see them.