Tuesday, June 18, just before lunch, I stood at the gate to the veggie garden and thought that I wanted to photograph it because it was the best garden we have ever had.
At 1:00 PM a dark cloud with wind and lightning came over and we had mothball size hail for a long time. I can't say how long because Herb and I spent the whole time putting seedling flats of basil and other herbs into the cold frame. The ground is an inch deep in mothballs of hail. I walked in the garden. There are no leaves on the lettuce bed, but shreds of green in the path. Only plants with heavy leafage escaped being completely destroyed. We still have elecampagne and valerian, Brussels sprouts, all irises and poppies that were still in bud. The beautiful red nasturtiums are gone. The squash leaves are shredded. What a mayhem! Somehow, I'm smiling. I just had a wonderful green salad for lunch--lamb's quarter, red orach, Freckles and salad bowl lettuce, spinach, sweet cicely, chickweed, green onion, arugula, red mustard with extra virgin olive oil and red currant vinegar. It's going to be awhile before we can have that abundance again. God let us know that material things are ephemeral. That's life. All the market gardeners are going to be short of marketable produce if it wasn't under cover. I'll call around now and see how much people were affected. Wow! Merla
