Weekly Update: September 14
It’s crazy to think Labor Day was only a week ago. It was the biggest day we’ve had at the farm so far. We had visiting goats from Quail Hollow Farms, goat yoga classes, our corn maze design unveiling, Oak Island Farms brought their mini-donkeys, we had a farm-to-plate picnic (and not just any picnic, but a full on pig roast for 160 people), hayrides and our grill was so busy we ran out of food by 3pm. It was busy and fun and felt like the excitement we had to look forward to with pumpkin season starting.
Christine, from Oak Island Farms, and one of her mini-donkeys
But less than an hour after we closed we had no power. The wind was already so strong that it tore the pig shelter to shreds. We had already taken down the tent over the grill in preparation and then Luis and Jim secured the big tent near the maze and anchored it to a tractor. Then, Jim and I raced to move all the frozen meats, and milk, cheese, eggs . . . into a freezer and fridge and connected them to our generator.
By the time we finally got to bed, everything smelled like a camp fire. The next morning we still had no power, but my daughter and I had an appointment in Portland and had to drive in. We could see damage all over the island; roofing blown off on the Cracker Barrel, a giant tree branch down and blocking the road to go under the bridge. The lights were out on highway 30, but by the time we got to Portland, everything was going on as usual (as usual as things are these days). It’s always a little odd when you are somewhere without power and drive a few miles away and everything is going on like normal.
Luckily, power returned to the market while we were gone. But we had sent all employees home, closed the store and stayed closed not knowing if the power would stay on. The power went back off at our house but fortunately stayed on at market, so we opened Wednesday morning and decided to stay open in case anyone needed food.
The first customer who had been evacuated was from Eugene. When she mentioned Eugene, that’s when it hit me just how close and how fast all this happened. She didn’t know if her house was standing, her neighbor’s house had already gone down and had lost two horses to the fire. We only had a handful of people come in all day.
We put the word out that anyone who had been evacuated to come get free produce. And that we would do our best to take on animals. There are so many people on Sauvie Island who are hosting animals from evacuation zones. And each day we hear of more who are hosting friends and family.
Don’t worry, her mask was only down for the photo.
Each day the smoke has gotten worse. Sometimes it looks like night during the day, and smells of campfire. Each day we’ve met more and more people who have been evacuated.
Before all this happened, it always warmed my heart to see people visiting our animals. Even more so when they knew our animals names. Yesterday morning, I was at the animal pens checking to see how the animals were doing that we are hosting from Estacada. It was like I was reading a child’s book. The scene in front of me was all these different chickens and ducks and geese. Each were different colors and sizes. Some were swimming in the little pool. Some had worms in their beaks. I tried to take a photo, but couldn’t quite capture how peaceful it was. I quickly called a friend on the island and asked her to bring her granddaughter over to see them.
Neighbors testing out the new Fort George on tap.
We are going to stay open for a few hours each day. Today we’ll be open 10am-3pm. We will keep posting the hours online and on the road. If anyone needs food for themselves or their animals, please come. Or if like a few of our neighbors, you are just stir crazy and need to get out of your house, please come stop by and say hi and we’ll pour you a beer.
Stay safe everyone.
P.S. I saw someone post the following on FB and thought it sounded really smart: Let’s all get our cars ready with full tanks of gas, water, snacks, flashlight, and sleeping bags. Just in case. If you don’t have a car, make a plan with a neighbor, just in case. Don’t wait. AND let’s change our voicemails to say where we are heading and then where we land. This way even if cell towers go we can find one another.
And now for some animals:
Rolo’s bloody head after head butting with much smaller Maybe Bob. (about to upload that video now, our reception is really weak this morning)