Friday, November 13, 2009

Man plans, God laughs....

That's my new motto for this farm. I borrowed it from Terri.
She mentioned it to me yesterday and I had just recently seen it on a church sign and I thought "how true, how true".
I know this isn't much to complain about but it is a glitch in the plan so here goes......
When we bought our little farm 8 years ago there was a building started that was obviously meant to be a root cellar. It was only the cinderblock foundation. In the years to come we built a building over top of it and just last year Danny decided to get inside the cellar and do some work. He worked so hard and built some really cool shelves for my canned goods. Some large shelves for my pressure canners and large pots.
He painted the inside walls and the shelves a bright white. Put gravels down on the dirt floor. It was just lovely. This year was by far our best growing season for our garden. We filled it full of canned veggies, salsa, grape juice, pickles, jams and jellies. etc etc.......lots of wonderful potatoes and apples. We were so proud of our potatoes this year because we used left over potatoes from last years crop as our seed potatoes. Now that's called living off the land!!
Danny always takes a couple apples to work with him and of course they are stored in the cellar. This morning he went out to get some apples and stepped down into the cellar as he was turning on the light. He met up with almost 2 feet of water!!!!!!! What a mess. There were cardboard boxes of potatoes sitting on the lower shelf that were falling out of the box and floating around in the water. I had a couple Rubbermaid totes full of clean canning jars waiting to be filled and the totes were also floating around. What a mess!!!
Thank goodness we have an extra water garden pump that we were able to use to pump the water out. Danny pumped about half out before he went to work this morning and I pumped the rest out today. What a mess! (sorry but it was a mess) After the water level was down to the gravel floor I dug out a hole and kept sucking the water out for ever. It was like a fresh water spring under ground. I guess it could have been one there and it had dried up over the years before the building was finished ;-) at least that's what I decided today. The ground is soaked and it will be for ever before it dries out.
See our best laid plan to enjoy those great veggies was not in God's plan for us! I was up to my knees in water today and had to have a good laugh myself!!
I pray for the people who have had flooded homes and businesses and I shouldn't be whinning about losing a few free potatoes now should I?
I am so thankful for the wonderful weather forcast that I just watched on our evening news. Sunny and in the 70's by day and 40's by night for 10 days. Unless God changes it for us we should be able to get this cellar dried up. I am not making any plans though just gonna take it one day at a time ;-)

5 comments:

Lorilee said...

Hmmm, I wonder if the flooding problem is the reason it was left unfinished? I hope it dries out for you.
Blessings,
Lorilee

Linda Stubbs said...

Oh, how sad for you. You must of been so dissapointed. I am and it isn't even mine. It sound like you are having a fantastic attitude!!!!!!. If I would of been there I would of helped.........

I get to go to Stutzmans tomorrow. Yea!!!! I am so excited. I will post about it.

I am getting my orders done and yesterday got another one. I am so excited!!!!!

Do you ever do quilting for other people then yourself with your machine? I was just wondering.

Blessings to you!
Linda

Amanda said...

I would have cried.

Mel said...

That's a shame, perhaps, if you had an automatic sump pump that kicks on when the water gets to a certain height...

Thank God, all your canned items were safe, now, enjoy all that beautiful weather that lies ahead.

Blessings,
Mel

OurCrazyFarm said...

Guess my goat jumping escapade wasn't so bad! What a sad thing to see all your hard work ruined by a flood. This would be the third time that you pondered that phrase tho this week, so it must mean it will get better:) At least you were laughing!

We have an old basement that occassionally likes to flood. It makes it an adventure to go put wood in the stove every day:)

The sump pump sounds like a good idea. You could take on some custom quilting to pay for it:))