Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Belated Flood Update

Here is the start of what was meant to be an update that went out in March.

I am a little embarresed but we started getting busy on the house etc.

Anyway it has some of the flavor of that mid recovery introspection; the "can we do this?" internal dialogue. I also remember clearly coming to terms with the fact that YES, we really did weathea shitstorm.

My earlier journal entry described the flood experience for myself and my family. I closed it sitting in front of a daunting pile of paperwork.

Shortly after the first of the year my sister came out, my hero. She took three weeks off work and dragged me kicking and screaming through the mountain of paperwork. We paid the bills, made payroll, applied for grants and loans and filed an extensive and very detailed claim with the insurance company. The experience of dealing with the insurance adjuster was one of the worst in my life. The adjuster almost broke me, the exercise of fighting to get what is due with a savage and heartless individual who is not above playing on your fears and nightmares when emotions are already so close to the surface was horrifying.

We visited family and took a much needed rest.

What is becoming clear is that we fit neatly between the cracks of the typical disaster relief organizations: FEMA turned us down for all but a minimal amount of money to grade our driveway because we were insured. SBA turned us down because our income from farming does not meet their criteria for reasonable income to repay a loan. The small business end of the SBA does not handle anything agricultural. We have yet to hear from the USDA, but are hopeful we can take advantage of their low interest loan program. Keep in mind, the last thing we need right now is debt. As farmers we went long on equipment and property. Overnight these assets turned into liabilities, our stock tanked.

Contractors have started to rebuild the house. The electrical and plumbing have been addressed. Insulation and sheetrock are next. We are working on getting our greenhouses back up and running. We have planted our first seeds in the greenhouses, and are planning for a successful growing season.

Talking about the future is difficult. I am trying hard to focus on the opportunities that this has provided. I am constantly struggling to use the potential of the future as a point of reference, rather than focusing on the past. I am determined to move forward from here to realize new goals rather than get bogged down in the woe is me of what has been lost.

We are taking it one day at a time. It is difficult to look further out than a few weeks, our lives and the business changed so drastically so quickly that it is still difficult to quantify our losses. Until we know more from the insurance company it just isn’t prudent to plan too far in advance, but I do know this:

We owe to our customers and our community. You have all been so unbelievably generous and supportive. We have been deeply moved by your actions and the actions of other organizations that rallied without hesitation or judgment.

Boistfort Valley Farm will be back, we will be back this year. We will be at the Olympia Farmers Market, the Chehalis Farmers Market and the Ballard Farmers Market. We will offer a CSA this year. I hope that many of our customers will not be able to tell that anything happened. I am hoping for business as usual with a bit more elbow grease, and a lot of careful planning.

The things that will have changed about Boistfort Valley Farm will be a bit less tangible. The flood; its devastation on our community, has done something. They say that everything happens for a reason, that every cloud has a silver lining, that what does not kill us makes us stronger. Every culture, every religion, every group and individual striving for something higher recognizes the value of struggle and adversity in strengthening character and creating opportunity for growth. A wise man once told me that in a healthy community adversity brings people closer together, it does not rip them apart.

Herein lies the advantage of experiencing such a remarkable loss of property. We have been brought closer as a family and closer to the family of people around us; I have been graced with an experience that has provided tangible evidence that human nature is kind and generous. These experiences will be the cornerstone of the Boistfort Valley Farm that rises from the ashes so to speak. We will be a farm blessed with a more objective view of our role in the community in which we live and of our impact on the lives of those people for whom we grow food. We will rebuild with a clearer sense of purpose and duty than we ever had before.

Nobody wants to be the guy on the news; nobody wants to be the guy on stage in between bands with a hard luck story. But here I am. I know I speak for the other farms affected by the flooding when I say that we have a hard time asking for help, and probably a harder time recognizing the fact that we need help. My farm and others affected will continue to need help especially as we assess what insurance will and will not cover. As we move into the growing season there will be increased need for moving mud and silt, replanting perennials and ongoing equipment repair. We are really going to find out what is going to go wrong next soon. So please keep us in mind. Get us your info and we can contact you as we schedule work parties.


So yeah. In the end we have been able to recover without taking on additional debt; thanks to the generosity and loyalty of our friends, customers, and community. Many of our vendors even pitched in with ridiculous discounts, contributions and support. I am so proud to be a part of this immediate community and part of the larger community of organic farmers and market vendors and the even larger agricultural community. I have missed a great opportunity to write about many of the experiences of the recovery process, but I have to tell you we were busy busy busy.

We did recover and attend markets, we also delivered our CSA and increased our commercial sales to stores and restaurants. Many people commented that they could not believe we were back but really could not believe that we offered the greatest diversity and quality at many of the markets we attended. Hard work, fortitude and a lot more humility than I ever thought possible went into our success this year. More later.

I also endeavored to put my money where my mouth is regarding our contribution to the community and to the farming community. I am crazy proud of everything we have accomplished this year and deeply indebted to the people that made it possible. Read on.

Mike

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