The Neosho River has flooded again, and this time we have about 15 inches of floodwater covering 95th St., the road to our farm. Floodwater should cover 95th St. through Memorial Day, Mon. May 27. Hopefully the floodwater will recede by Tues. May 28 or Wed. May 29.
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Parts of our pecan orchard and our neighbors' pecan groves are flooded, as is the lower part of 95th St. The stop sign where 95th St. joins Hwy. 166 is at the rear of the photo, looking north. |
Our workers had to drive around the 1/2 section to get to work here today. Seven workers and I slogged through the mud and standing water in our peach orchards, in our rubber boots, to continue thinning the excess fruit. The goal was to finish peach thinning by May 31, so the remaining fruit have time to develop good size before peach harvest begins in the last few days of June, but continued rain has hampered progress, so we'll probably still be thinning peaches until early June this year.
We've gotten 10.36 inches of rain in the past 3 days, and 18.32 inches of rain over the last 3 weeks. That's 6 times the ideal rainfall of 1 inch per week. This evening we had some brief hail; I'll check for fruit damage tomorrow, and hope there wasn't much. Several tornadoes touched down in the area this evening, and I'm thankful we didn't get one, and praying everyone else stayed safe.
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Red raspberries have just started ripening. I picked a handful to eat yesterday and today. Many will be ripe in June. |