That pretty well describes this morning's experience if you add in the smell of wood smoke. With about 30 people showing up at the farm at which I was working the amount of clean up accomplished was really something to behold. Everyone was working as a team, each with their own abilities. I saw several familiar Candlewick faces so we were well represented as usual. It was very cold but the camaraderie kept us in good humor.
The sign-up area was at the Countryside strip center but the actual staging area was at Louie Rowe Jr's farm on route 76. That farm had substantial damage but they had a full crew on hand. I was sent to another farm on Collinsville road, almost within sight of the Rowe farm. Just as a side note, Louie Rowe Sr. used to be my next door neighbor here in Candlewick and now lives across the street from the grain bins in Caledonia of all places. His home is fine but his son's was also in the line of fire and was not as lucky.
We were working on cleaning up debris as well as cutting up the many trees that had fallen and lugging them to a spot to be picked up to burn. One huge oak tree had fallen next to the driveway and it was the last to be handled. One pine limb I picked up had been obviously twisted off rather than broken, you could tell from the circular pattern of the break. The yard as well as the fields were strewn with shingles, pieces of tin siding, roofing metal, and of course limbs........everywhere limbs.
Edward's Orchard owners brought us some hot cider donuts and kept saying how sorry they were. They know the feeling from experience. Coffee, hot chocolate, and snacks were offered as well but the real reward was watching the area transform into a much cleaner sight. Not the same, but a lot better. It will take some time for the farm to return to normal, but it will.
Ken Dillenburg