0 ITEMS IN CART 
2021 WINTER STORM UPDATE
02/22/21 — Ada Broussard
Dear Valued Reader,
For the first time in 17 years, we closed the farm for an entire week. How could we not? The havoc that this storm has caused in our state, and at the farm, is overwhelming. We hope you and your family are okay. You may have noticed, but probably did not, that for the first time in our farm’s history, we also failed to send out a weekly newsletter. Power-outages will do that. We’ve finally caught our breath and wanted to update you on the state of things at JBG. Thank you from the bottom of our farmer hearts for the outpouring of support and kind words we have received. Also, a very big shoutout to all the farm employees who braved the very cold weather to harvest, wash, pack, deliver, and setup at farmers’ markets despite the impending storm.
THE FARM:
On a first pass, our fields look like a graveyard of leafy mush. There is a lot of loss. Lettuces, fennel, and all the brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower, and romanesco, are piles of stinky debris. The beets, despite being tucked into the ground, are mostly gone as well. But, there are some moments of resilience, too. The onions, which are a very labor-intensive crop to get into the ground, are laying flat on the plastic, but upon further inspection the bulb is firm, and the roots strong. We think the onions, along with the parsley, will bounce back. Oddly, the spinach looks *okay*. We’ve seen reports from other farmers in town that their spinach also looked *okay*. Who knew? Many of the carrots will be salvageable, and despite limp, dead leaves, the rutabaga themselves are surprisingly perky. Buckle up for some rutabaga, y’all. (Hint, just cook it like a potato). We are still assessing the overall damage, but we’re estimating a total loss of all greens and all Brassicas which constitutes the majority of crops in our field. It is very substantial. Before the freeze, we tried to slowly irrigate our crops as a way to protect them, but the freeze was simply too long. Even though the pumps were running, they ended up freezing and 2 of our 6 main irrigation pumps got damaged, which we are working to repair now. In addition to the pumps themselves, there were countless smaller leaks across our irrigation system, many of which are rearing their heads today. The pipes in our employee bathrooms also froze, and are also being repaired today.
Over the next 2 months, we will have to get very creative on ways to keep our employees who work on our Harvest Team (around 20 people) with work until the crops we’re busy re-planting this week can come into maturity. Speaking of planting, our farm manager Jack has spent the past 4 days hurriedly re-seeding crops, and this reseeding and replanting work will be a main focus for the next 7 days. We are very very grateful that our greenhouses stayed above freezing and the transplants all survived. We will plant on! (Stay tuned for updates about the Transplant Sale).
HERGOTZ:
Luckily, we did not lose power for an extended period at our Hergotz barn. All of the produce that we scurried to harvest before the storm remained safe and sound in our coolers, and we will be filling CSA shares and market stalls with this produce in the weeks to come. Tender vegetables like lettuce and herbs will run out first, but we’re hoping that some of our root crops that we harvested before the storm will last us for the coming month (or two). The biggest hurdle we now face at Hergotz is water. We do have some water, but it’s currently not enough to wash the produce to the standards we are used to. Our pump house wasn’t protected as well as it should have been, and our booster pumps completely ruptured. We’re working today (Monday) to rebuild this entire infrastructure, but the scarcity of parts is making it a difficult job. We are encouraging all customers to rewash their produce with potable water before consuming.
CSA:
The CSA is the most important source of cash-flow for our farm. Your partnership with our farm is what keeps our harvest demand churning and our delivery drivers going. Our CSA Program must chug along; we can’t lose the momentum. CSA Members, please see our email with information about changes to the CSA that will go into effect this week, and continue for at least the next 4 weeks.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Our vegetables are obviously the main source of cash flow here at the farm. It’s going to be a few weeks until our fields shine with the spring bounty we all expected. If you’d like to help us out, consider purchasing our Market Bucks or a CSA Gift Certificate. Ideally, you can wait until late April or early May to redeem these. By then, our fields will again be producing. You can also purchase vegetables and contribute to our Sponsored Share Program. Purchases through this page get funneled into our donation program wherein we deliver weekly vegetables to The Settlement Home and Safe Alliance. Usually, annual donations to this page equate to just enough to make these weekly donations happen (we cover the rest if there is a shortage), but should there be surplus donations, we will add on an additional weekly recipient and start making deliveries as soon as our fields are full again. Last, if you’re a current CSA Member with a 4 or 10 week subscription and have the financial capacity to signup for one of our long-term (26 or 52 week) subscriptions, making this switch now will also help us out. Just email A to make the change - farm@jbgorganic.com.
We are still assessing the individual needs of our employees. Some are still without water, at least one still without power, and at least one other recovering from a flooded apartment. There are many relief funds available to small farmers in the area (this is a good one to contribute to, if you’d like) but our employees are not eligible for many of these funds because they are not the farm owners. If we come to understand that this storm has caused any financial devastation for some of our employees, we may consider reaching out to our members for support. Also, if you wanted to buy the farm crew lunch, we would not say no. (Email Ada - ada@jbgorganic). There are long, head-scratching days ahead.
DO YOU NEED HELP?
We know many, many of our CSA Members are likely still without water. Here is a list of Travis County’s water distribution sites and here is a list of restaurants and breweries offering water.
If you or someone you know are in need of food, the popular When Where What Austin Instagram account has created a spreadsheet listing many free meal options in town, many of which are being prepared and distributed by some of our restaurant partners.
A few photos from the past week:
Kale, covered in snow, on Monday, February 15th. Photo taken by Jack, JBG's Farm Manager.
Shoveling snow to prepare a safe path to load market vans during the weekend of February 13th and 14th.
The pump house at our Hergotz Barn did not fare well, and many of the components in this photo needed to mended or totally replaced. The scarcity of parts in Austin has made this a difficult task, but Farmer Tracy isn't deterred. Photo by Krishna.
Another shot of a snow-covered farm. Photo by Jack, who was able to safely drive from his Bastrop home last weekend and survey the farm.
Throwing a few snowballs in the freezer... for posterity. Photo, and memory bank, by Jack.
Text updates from jack from Saturday, February 20th. It wasn't until this past weekend that we could begin, after things thawed, that we could begin to assess the damage to our crops. Brassicas did not fare well.
Onions, which we're hoping will surprise us and bounce back. It's still too early to tell, but the bulbs and roots seem to be vigorous. Photo by Jack.
Spinach, which actually looks *okay*. Photo by Jack.
All greens and lettuce crops are completely devastated. Photo by Jack.
Text and dinner updates from Jack. Despite limp greens, the rutabagas themselves seemed like they will be totally salvageable. Be like Jack, and make mashed rutabagas. For the meat eaters among you, might we recommend a liberal addition of bacon.
Upon first review, we thought our beet crop would survive. But beet after beet was harvested to reveal a mushy mess. Photo by Jack.
