Waiting For Henry
Waiting for Henry
The air is heavy. More of a sludge than air. It is unbreathable outside, in the calm before the coming hurricane. The air smells of grey and life about to be smoked by heavy winds tearing through laying waste to the beautiful trees of the forest. The air is electric with the coming force… And the clouds hang, carrying the mood of corpses hanging from a noose all about. A grey pallor, piling up gradually darkening the sky. I can feel the trees bracing for impact. They know it is coming. A hurricane named Henry, looms in the distance growing ever closer. Soon it will make the calm we are sitting in now nothing more than a legend of times past, when it rushes through tearing things apart.
The clouds gather all around the farm house.
All around the farmhouse and the farm the clouds gather… Chances are high that we will lose power. We just purchased a generator. We went all the way to Rhode Island to get one because around here they were all sold out as everyone prepares for this major storm. Tonight we will have a wonderful dinner in the calm. And tomorrow, we will hunker down as the sky opens, the rain falls and the wind rages all around us.
Gathering clouds
Henry is coming… We are ready, and hopefully we will be ok. This is the first hurricane in this area in almost exactly 30 years to the date. And hurricane season is only just starting, and we find ourselves right in the line of hurricane fire. Here it comes! This is gonna be a doozy. And I know it will be. I know, because there is no such thing as a respectable New England woman, who can’t read a sky at least as well as an Irish fisherman. The sky has been telling me all I need to know now for the last few days.
All of nature around here tells the weather, it isn’t even just the sky. I saw seagulls yesterday. Several days before this predicted hurricane. I am something like an hour and fifteen minutes inland from the ocean. They came in that far. They are telling me they don’t want to be on the coast. I also saw birds from further to the west. They told me they don’t want to be west. Which means…. Though they are now predicting it will hit the west it will very likely pass clear through here, and that it may be quite a serious weather event. Birds, will tell you everything. They will get quiet when someone comes, they will shout when they sense danger, they will even tell you which neighbors are jerks if you let them. They avoid certain yards. they will leave their usual habitat when weather arises and will seek more inland territory, or alternative territory to avoid being ripped apart along with everything else by the high winds. This is likely going to get somewhat ugly. But here we should be safe, I have stocked water, we will fill the bath tubs tomorrow, we now have a generator, and we will be able to ride out the coming storm.
We will have to wait and see what things are like when the wind dies down and water from the sky stops falling… We can assess and photograph some of the damage then, perhaps. For now we will just continue doing the small things to prepare. Like filling the old kerosene lamps, gathering the flash lights, and the little florescent light sticks and battery activated lamps, and gassing up and setting up the new generator. Perhaps we get lucky and all this is of no purpose in the end. But it is always best to be ready when you live this way rather than being caught unprepared with your pants down, because it can take time to get them pulled properly again. Best to be prepared. And so now we are.
Thanx for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: ag, agriculture, agro, coming storm, farm, farm wife, farm wife blog, farmer, farming, farmstead, homestead, homestead blog, homestead farm, homestead wife, homestead wife blog, homesteader, homesteading, homesteading New England, hurricane, inn keeper, inn keeper's blog, inn keeping, new england homesteading, New England shurricane Henry, self sufficiency, self sufficient homesteading, self sufficient life style, simple lifestyle, simple living, simpler way of life, storm preparation, storm preparedness, Storms, travel, weather, weather event, wildflower farm
Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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