Ida

The once upon a time hurricane Ida has graced us with her presence.


It's obviously not as bad here in the Piedmont as on the coast, which is one of the reasons I felt that we could move here. Still, there has been plenty of rain. Our 3 acres has an easement that runs through it. Today is one of those days when you can see why. In what is normally a field of grass there now runs a 4' - 5' wide stream of water. We are literally at the top of the watershed. The stream seems to start at the culvert that empties into our yard. On the other side of the street, there is no stream. It means we will probably never need flood insurance because the stream cannot rise very high even in the most severe deluge.

Ida has also brought us wind, which has been a constant 20-30 miles an hour since yesterday. Evidently, the tropical low ran into a cold front from Canada and so it has sort of stalled off the coast, keeping the winds going longer than if she would have just passed through.


This all reminds me of one of my favorite fables.

There was a farmer who needed to hire help for his farm. He went to the annual fair where young workers could be hired. He asked around, but by the time he got to the fair, most of the young men had been hired out. In fact, there was only one young man who was still looking for work. He asked him, "What are your qualifications?" The young man replied, "I can sleep through a storm."

The man thought he would look around some more. Sleeping through a storm, just when help might be most needed didn't sound like a very good recommendation. But, alas, his searching brought him no other prospects. Reluctantly, he brought the young man back to the farm.

As the days went on, he was generally pleased with the young man's work. He did his chores without complaint. He wasn't the most talkative helper he had ever had, but that wasn't bad. Then the inevitable happened. A storm came up in the night. The farmer could hear the howling of the wind, the pounding of the rain, and the roar of thunder. He ran to the room where his helper slept and tried to wake him. True to his word, he could not be roused. Shaking and yelling had no effect. He could indeed sleep through a storm.

The farmer put on his coat and went outside, expecting to find the animals and crops scattered. When he got to it, the barn was secure. The latch and the hinge that had been broken were repaired. The missing shingles had been replaced. All the animals were safe and calm, unaffected by the weather. The hay was covered and tethered.

It was then that the farmer understood what his young helper meant when he said he could sleep through a storm.

When the winds blew last night I thought about this fable. I received the strips to help secure the windows in my greenhouse yesterday, but it was already raining and I wasn't able to install them. I was pleased this morning to look out at the greenhouse and see that the panes were all still in place. In preparation for the storm, because I knew it would rain and blow and that it wouldn't get near freezing, I took the covers off the cold frames. The veggies look a little blown, but for the most part they don't appear to have been damaged. The exception is the cauliflower. About half were blown hard enough to kill them. I should have kept the cover on this one bed.

There is a bigger message, of course. There are all sorts of storms we must prepare to weather: physical, financial, psychological, relationships, and spiritual. I think that is one of the constant thoughts that propels me forward in this quest for sufficiency and self-reliance.