I have a rule for myself. I don't tell folks to do anything that I don't do myself. With that in mind, let's think about contingency planning. I talk about it a lot when I'm working with organizations. Of course I want everything to go smoothly and like clockwork. I live in the real world though and in the real world, Murphy still exists (as in Murphy's Law). The thing is that Murphy's Law works in triplicate at Illahe Lodge. Not only can and do things go wrong, when they go wrong, it may take three days or more to recover. (The first day to find and diagnose the problem. The second day to find a solution. The third day to implement the solution and pray for success.) So when Murphy strikes, what do you do?
It seems to me that you have multiple layers of contingency plans that can be invoked, if needed. You are looking at Plan B for the tomato patch at Illahe Lodge. If slugs, bugs, hail, heat, wind, or some other factor causes the tomato plants to die, I don't have time to start over with new seed for the current year. Instead, I plant enough extra seeds to replace the entire tomato patch. (If I have extra plants once the danger or time to replace the patch has passed, I have plants that I can sell.)
What happens if Plan B doesn't work? Well, there are Plan C, Plan D, and Plan E. What are those plans?
Plan C is to buy plants from other growers, understanding that I might have to compromise on the variety that I want to grow.
Plan D is to buy tomatoes, understanding that the variety and the quality might not be what I would like.
Plan E is to change up the menu so that I don't serve tomatoes at Illahe Lodge and, in the winter, spring, and summer, I generally don't serve fresh tomatoes for that very reason. (If the tomato is going to be cooked, I have a lot of frozen tomatoes from the prior year - hundreds of pounds. Some of those tomatoes are frozen whole and others are dried and the frozen.)
