The spring the creek took the onion bed.

Federal Creek crested twice the week of April 18. The first crest, on a Tuesday, took the lower row of strawberries — about twenty plants, none yet bearing. We knew this would happen because it has happened every April since we moved here. We did not plant anything in that row this year that we could not afford to lose.

The second crest came on a Thursday and took the onion bed. This we had not planned for. About a thousand starts — Newburg, Patterson, Red Wing, and the Walla Wallas Lucia wanted to grow because she liked the name. The water sat in the bed for nineteen hours and by Sunday it was clear the onions were not coming back.

We replanted on Tuesday with starts borrowed from a neighbor — the same Newburgs, mostly, plus a flat of Cabernet shallots she pressed on us because she said we looked tired. The shallots will be a small addition to your share in August. Consider them a gift from a woman named Doreen who lives two miles south of us.

The onion bed is moved this year. Higher ground. The strawberries we will plant again next spring in the same row, because the strawberries cost us nothing and the row gets the morning sun.