I’ve received many kind notes asking if we rode out the storm OK. We not only had nothing worse than a thunderstorm here (though it lasted a couple of days,) but we are far better equipped to handle disasters than our poor urban northern friends who are stuck in a technology trap.
We have a generator that can run for months without refueling, our own water supply/well, we grow our own food, are more than capable of hunting, have food stores to last for nearly a year, and unless there are a couple of feet of rain all at once sufficient to liquify the side of a mountain, or unless we have a surplus of trees come crashing down on the house, we’re good.
My garden did very well, and I popped out to take a few picks. This one, right before the storm.
A pop-up greenhouse kept my tender veggies covered in style and suffered no storm damage at all.
Raised beds and pop up covers are available from Greenland Garden. They are much cheaper here online than I have seen them in stores. Also, as you can see, there is so much produce in here, it is more than worth the purchase cost of the cover. You will extend your growing season by weeks or months with one of these. These gourmet lettuces and greens can run over $3 per bunch. I estimate about $100 of produce in this picture, which could be wiped out in one frost. I’ve found my plants can withstand temperatures as low as about 25 degrees in here.
Inside: lettuces, turnips and leeks. All in perfect condition. I found a rat snake in here the other day, so that was a little disconcerting.
A couple more cool days, and these sunflowers are done for.
Added some dried heads that deer broke off to this cornstalk arrangement outdoors, which got whipped by the storm and is not looking so good this morning.
Just before the storm hit, I spent several hours picking flowers, and was able to provide nine arrangements for the house.
I did not bake those cookies. But they are awesome, aren’t they? Via Olivia’s Homemade Sweets.
Flowers in my studio window.
And the happy valley is peaceful.
I am very, very sorry for all the people harmed in the big storm. Thanks so much for your concern for me, but we really didn’t have any problems here, and are well prepared for emergencies.
I’m a little concerned that my sales and payments from my clients and patrons will be disrupted during this storm recovery, especially since I do not have my stuff back from New York Comic Con yet and need to get started with my Christmas sale! Gotta finance that restoration! Whew!
Hiring Allan Harvey for restoration was the best idea ever. He’s scanning pages from the books and doing an amazing job of bringing them back to life. The bad news is, to get the best results, we cannot simply scan and pop that scan in the book. All the tones need to be removed and replaced. Tedious and difficult.
Good wishes and best of luck to all our good friends who have suffered during this terrible storm, and many thanks for all the warm wishes from all of you. But as you can see, our minor cash flow inconvenience does not compare to what some people are going through right now.
If you would like to donate to relief efforts, please avoid text donations. It can take months for the donation to reach the charity. The money has to be processed through a third party company, and that company gets a fee. Donate directly at the charity’s website, if you can. Don’t give via social networks or telemarketers.
glad to hear you made it out okay!
Thanks! Just finished a fresh salad I picked right out of the garden! No worries…except for that snake…
Thanks for the pics!
My grandfather used to grow strawberries in the mountains in Montana, under something even simpler than your little pop-up cover. He bent sections of stiff fencing into arches, lined them up in a row over the strawberries, and stretched plastic over them. There are endless variations and refinements — there are many opportunities to exercise your creativity!
And snakes really aren’t so bad. I really ought to write up my snake stories for you; I think you’d get a kick out of them. Alas, tonight I’m backlogged, but soon.
Bob, I’m not afraid of snakes. I’ve even had them as pets. But there are plenty of poisonous snakes out here, and it is alarming to see one when you don’t expect it. I ran into a timber rattler in my potato patch not two feet from my drawing hand. He reared up at me and I let him have his way.
Don’t assume I am afraid of any animal. I’m not. But I’d be stupid not to be cautious.
Miss Colleen is amused you think she’s afraid of snakes.
I know plenty of ways to protect plants, and often simply use row covers. But the time it takes to construct stiff fencing into arches and then stretch plastic over them is not less expensive than simply buying the ready made pop-up cover.
We used to build our own raised beds from scratch, but after comparing the cost of buying one against the time and materials of making one, it turns out it is cheaper to buy. Not everything that is do-it-yourself is better.
I don’t find making covers for plants particularly creative. I find it pretty tedious and laborious, and am happy to buy a pop up cover!
I’d really like to exercise my creativity in the studio and not so much doing garden labor. There’s really nothing to recommend some of this stuff. It’s just…labor. The rewards are great, but God almighty, the labor can be tedious as hell.
Fortunately, I only had a few flickers and surges but was able to get through the storm without losing my power. Had two days off of work, woohoo! A lot of my friends back in NJ are without power. Some are sticking it out or relocating, if possible, to family or friends that have power. The place me and a few friends stayed at on the Jersey Shore for Memorial Day went from “near the beach” to “in the ocean”. Scary.
Aw, man, that’s rough, but thanks for checking in! Glad you are OK!
I’d like to think that when the repairs were made after the derecho hit, that maybe that helped with reduce the difficulties with power outages.