Record rainfall in 2018 and 2019 led to flooding levels not seen since the Great Flood of 1937. Fields were covered under feet of water and crops destroyed or plantings delayed as much of a month and a half. Photo Copyright Carriage House Farm 2018 — Record rainfall in 2018 and 2019 led to flooding levels not seen since the Great Flood of 1937. Fields were covered under feet of water and crops destroyed or plantings delayed as much of a month and a half. *Photo Copyright Carriage House Farm 2018*

There are two things that have the largest impact on what we do here at Carriage House Farm: the market for the goods and services we provide and Mother Nature. In 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to change from a wholesale model supplying regional chefs to a retail and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model that sold directly to customers. Weather can reward us with a bounty or be cruel and undo years of work. There is one common trend when you go back centuries through diaries and observations and scientific data provided by farmers around the world: studying and trying to understand weather.

We attended an Ohio State University short course last year at the beginning of 2020. We were there for the normal small crop panels. One of the courses was about weather ( a PDF can be downloaded HERE). The university provided data supporting the trend towards warmer winters and wetter spring-times. The trend does not exclude cold weather, but rather an extreme back and forth. A polar vortex, while cold as heck, is more of a result of a general warming trend (air moving into the Bering Sea pushes cold air down across Canada and into the central U.S.). The estimate is that by 2050, our region in the Central Ohio River Valley will have summers more closely resembling those in Missouri and winters not-unlike those on North Carolina.

All of this means that we farmers need to be on our toes more than ever. We need to understand the need for different breeds of plants. Most of us know that a good sized front moving through the region in midsummer will bring diseases up from the south that will cause crop loss among our basil and tomato and pepper plants. We design systems like high tunnels, green houses, and mulch systems to prevent soil borne pathogens from rainfall splashing onto the plants but the real threat is the impact on the cultivars of plants already established from orchards to vineyards and the type of grains that are capable of producing under such conditions.

So, this year, we have a host of new cultivars that we plan on working with that will lead into classes and seminars at events such as the OEFFA Conference where we will share our experiences with others so that we can collectively manage, as best we can, our continually changing environment. These aren’t the first we’ve started trialing, but we are becoming more focused on changing what we do to cushion the impact the changing environment has on our farm.

Carriage House Farm is slowly changing to meet the needs necessary to continue farming in the changing weather patterns of our region and the overall climate that is impacting us. We hope that this brief mention in our farm journal opens up the discussion to a better understanding of what we are doing here on the farm.

Look for upcoming posts dealing with specific breeds and heirloom crops soon!

More reading for our fellow farmers and gardeners and those interested in doing a little research on their own:

1) OSU Extension Fact Sheet: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/cdfs-203
2) OSU, College of Food, Agriculture, and Enviromental Services: https://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/with-changing-climate-farmers-should-prepare
3) Local Channel 12 on flooding at Carriage House Farm https://local12.com/news/local/flooding-causes-major-issues-for-local-farmers

Mid-Summer flooding is very unusual but has become more commonplace.

Musings on the Environment and Weather...