My heart goes out to you. A number of years ago my inlaws lost their home and business to a flood and then the state condemed the land so they couldn't even rebuild or sell. It is a shame you can't go and claim the topsoil that washed away! I wish I had an easy answer for you.

dear momma goose,
you have a unique opportunity to demonstrate the power of all human knowledge to date on recreating in a short time what took the planet ages to do! how exciting!! i commiserate as my farm floods as well but not as catastrophically as yours. i know it sounds like a total pain but you are right on track with establishing grasses, getting critters on it, leasing, and adding as much of everything you can to rebuild. i have seen vegetables growing out of rock at hawthorn biodynamic farm in n.y. so you can do it too. i would let every farmer and extension agent in your county and nearby counties know what has befallen you. old timers will gladly share wisdom as well as hay and straw to help you keep what little soil you have remaining and start building new soil. extension guys are actually knowledgeable and helpful if you have a good one. is there a way of reshaping to allow for future inundations without loss of productive land? can you create a wetland or dry ponds/swales to accomodate overflow? those permaculture folks would be good to ask for creative solutions. i am eager to read what others post. think of all the farmers growing or grazing on old mine sites. best wishes, swamp farmer

Hello Swamp farmer. Yes we have cleaned all of debris out of the old stream bed. 100 feet of highway had disolved in the flood and blocked the channel forcing the creek to blow out its bank and carve up our fields. We have removed 7,000 cubicyards of debris from the fields so far. We even found a computer and monitor in the middle of dozens of downed trees. The bigger holes were filled in . We have built a swale to divert the overflow water away from the house and barn. This has completely depleted our savings and we had to take out a disaster loan to pay the balance. My budget for spring planting and leasing land is very very tight. I will contact Cornell very soon and see if we can participate in any of their programs to improve soil quality. Thanks for letting me vent It is very theraputic. It has been difficult for my husband and me to even look at the fields in the condition they are now. Once such a fertile little place and now a moonscape.

mommagoose: Hope things are starting to look up for you. I was thinking about your situation this past week.It's too bad that you didn't live close by. One of the older farmers in my area hauls, leaves, grass clippings and horse manure(already mixed) out of a nearby university. He recently hooked me up with a few trailer dump loads. Thank goodness for the tractor because I wouldn't want to be turning that much compost by hand. Maybe you could contact some of the local lawn contractors and they would haul in compost materials for you to start over with. Farmers/gardeners all seem to be so generous with knowledge and items. Hopefully you can get some materials to atleast create a compost heap, and possibly be able to reclaim some of your farm land for next year. Good Luck to you.

Hi,

I am so sorry for your loss. There are a few place to start to freely and cheaply start rebuilding your soil. If I am not mistaken you live in dairy country. What I did to improve our soil for next to nothing. Was go to different dairy farms and a horse farms and asked for manure. They were usually happy to give me all I wanted. This time of year leaves are plentiful and also a great soil builder. If you have the equipment to compost on a large scale you can usually get free coffee grounds and veggie scraps from local restaurants.

It took a lot of moving truck loads a little at time for us but in a year we had beautiful soil where only hardpan existed. Horse sheep and goat farms are more likely to be willing to give ALL of their manure to you since they do not generally put it on the fields. Also in my town they mulch the leaves in the fall and the mulch is available to the townÂs people free of charge, maybe your county or town has a similar program. I know that the volume of topsoil you need is large but this could give you a good start on a nice large field to begin rebuilding. Keep good records of what you add in case you ever want to be certified organic. I would suggest you go to the composting forum you would be surprised at the lengths some of us will go to for good stuff to add to the compost pile. If you have farming equipment you could try to get all of your materials together and create a giant lasagna bed.

Good luck to you I hope this helps a little. Believe me I have literally acquired tons of good soil builder for free they are out there.

Peace,

Sue