Community/Hurricane Irene

[helwen]

Posting this here because I can't get it to post in response on someone else's blog. Some kind of software issue to resolve... Anyway, the post had to do with trying to see positive amidst all the negatives happening these days.

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Damage for us personally wasn't too bad, although we did have to deal with some minor flooding and water damage, including the effect of that on one of our neighbors -- his bridge got washed through our fencing and down around the corner of the pasture. We figure it's only fair, since we've had a bridge or two end up on his land!

We also lost half our buckwheat because we didn't have time to harvest beforehand, and likely will lose a bit more because it's lodged, which makes it a pain to deal with. Ah well. What we don't harvest will re-seed and be cover crop.

One of the reasons we ran out of time was that friends of ours in a neighboring town put out a call to help harvest their pear tree, which was very heavily laden; they were worried the branches would break in the high winds. It was a little early to harvest, but many people benefited, as well as the tree -- mine are wrapped in paper to ripen safely, and I should be making pear sauce this weekend. So one positive out of the storm. Buckwheat grows quickly, pear trees don't, so it was a good trade, in my book.

It's true there's been quite a bit of loss -- homes, businesses, covered bridges and roads, farm crops, whole towns isolated. One town has to have supplies flown in because all roads are gone and they couldn't get the emergency equipment out because of damage to the building and it's surrounding area. Repairs and restoration, will take months, and in some cases may not happen at all. Fortunately state, Fed, and local are working well together so far. A lot of folks were impressed by how much storm prep was done by the power company, state, and town (dam control, shelter setup, calls with info) -- it could've been much, much worse.

We lucked out that Irene sucked in some dry air just before making landfall, transforming her from hurricane into tropical storm. Something we could all hope for, but best to plan for the worst while hoping for the best.

On a more personal level, lots of neighbors helping neighbors, because that's what neighbors do. That's another positive. One of the best resources a person can have (and be!)

I was happy to see that so many of my friends were making preparations to one degree or another. So there's a third.

After the storm blew out and as the hay field drained, the local wildlife had a field day getting their own harvest from the field. So it seems that while the storm was probably hard on some lifeforms, it was beneficial to others.

And for some reason, even though we don't have milkweed near the house, I was treated to a beautiful dance by monarch butterflies while going about setting some things to rights.

Life is pretty crazy these days, and there's a lot of hard work ahead, and likely some dark times too. But there is also beauty, and light, and friends.

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