Many of us enjoy the fresh, local produce that is sold at the downtown Harrisonburg Farmers Market.  There is even a romantic quality of being able to buy straight from the producer, who from the sweat of his/her brow grew the produce we will eat.  But all romance is thrown out the window when you hear of the high risk that is entailed with being a produce farmer.

You may have noticed that we have had a lot of rain and thunderstorms over the past couple of weeks.  One of those storms brought a lot of destruction in the form of hail to Philip Hege’s farm.  Extensive destruction was wreaked on his farm wiping out most of what was in the ground; the greenhouse had some damage as well.

There are efforts in the works to help Philip and his newly married wife to recover.  We would like to encourage you to consider how you might be able to help Philip.  A good start might be to simply channel some business to him.  Customer Kris Shank-Zehr asked if we would host a “donation box” at our stand at market tomorrow.  If you would like to chip in toward a money donation to help out Philip and Sarah stop by.  If you have further questions, we can forward e-mail to Kris.  In addition, I am sure Philip and Sarah would welcome your prayers and encouragement.