The storm came out of nowhere, and so did the flood. New Jersey is no stranger to thunderstorms, but quite honestly they happen so often around here I paid no attention to the forecast. Before I knew it, we had a power outage and torrential rain. Oh yeah, and flooding. Lots of flooding. Unfortunately, that was the end of the vegetable garden for the year as a neighboring river overflowed and caused feet of standing water covering everyones’ crops. The water has since receded, but a big muddy mess remains. Even if some of the vegetables survive they won’t be safe to eat, so I guess this is where the road ends… Until next May, of course. The picture above was taken by a fellow community gardener. When I drove by during the storm the water level was actually higher, reaching the top of the highest wooden post on the fence. Today, my husband and I stopped by and it smelled like sewage. Fences had been toppled, plants drowned, and we even found a little fish on the ground. Needless to say, I regret giving our cucumbers “another day or two” because if I’d picked them this week they would have been tossed into a salad this weekend. I guess that’s Mother Nature for you. And I guess this means I need to spend as much time and effort as I can to grow those tomatoes in our home garden. At least they’re looking good these days. They’re all we have left!