Recovery

Our little town and my little garden endeavor endured unbelievable amounts of water from Hurricane Florence. It bends the mind to have nature turn in such a way, more so because we, at least me,could not imagine worse than Hurricane Matthew. Florence shattered records and many more lives than Matthew. In the plus category we were as prepared as we could be for an epic storm we thought would never come.
Into the bardo we slid, oddly resigned, preparing best we could knowing the garden would drown which, it did. This time the woody herbs died within days. Gone were the sage, tarragon and rosemary, poof. The root vegetables evaporated too tender to put up a fight. Oddly, the basil and okra survived though they are known to withstand heat and dry. Our brassicas- broccoli, Brussels spouts, mustard, kale and cabbage-not happy for want of sun and too much rain looked sad but have miraculously rebounded, I think. In the past week I have planted leafy fall vegetables like lettuce and spinach slowly rebounding from the same reaction I had to Matthew's floods which was, inexplicably, to recoil from gardening altogether.
Putting one foot in front of the other in order to order oneself I participated in the Robeson County Agricultural Fair as planned, won a handful of blue ribbons, and volunteered as a Master Gardener going through the motions akin to living while grieving grave loss. I have cried many tears and many times on account of  this regional catastrophe. After Matthew I felt we had done the worst. Now, I wonder if it will get worse, when, and where. In the meantime, I carry on differently.

Chinese cabbage in raised beds post Hurricane Florence 2018.