As I hugged her, she thanked me and began to cry. I said, "It's okay, it can all be replaced. This is what the farming community is all about. When one farmer is in trouble, we all come running".
Being new to the dairy farming industry, she and her husband just gotten married 11 months earlier. Taking over the family farm after the death of her husband's father, the couple had given up their "city" life to move back to the farming community.
It was 1:30 am on Devil's night, October 30th. We had arrived about an hour earlier, after going to dinner with close friends then home to bed. The phone woke us up at about 11:45pm. Our friend on the other end, told us he had received a couple phone calls about the farm fire, it sounded pretty bad. We thanked him for letting us know, then realized we just could not sleep knowing there was a family in need. What about the parlor and the cows? Were they okay, did they need to be moved to another farm, and where? How many people could we gather together with stock trailers to move all these cattle? Questions were racing through our minds as we discussed what they might have to do to cope with this sort of loss.
My husband tried to call the farmer, no answer. "He's probably too busy". We tried another friend, who lived closer, no answer. We decided we couldn't just lay there, we had to go see if we could help. And if there was nothing we could do, we would be there for moral support. Sometimes you just need "moral support". One more phone call to the friend who had originally called us and we headed to his house to pick him up.
There were at least 6 fire departments there, lights flashing, fireman scurrying, spraying water, and assesing the damage. The electricity had been shut off to everything, but the farmstead was lit up like a Christmas tree. The farmer had lost his cell phone in the chaos, but a fireman found it and brought it to the family. It looked like a roasted fish bowl, full of water! But definitely a bright spot in all the turmoil.
We were grateful to find most of the farm intact. The shop and commodity shed were a total loss, but could be replaced. Several tractors and feed were lost also. But the cows and parlor were saved!! That to us, was the best news.
Several years ago another neighbor had lost his parlor to a fire. At that time, we had extra room and his milk cows moved to our farm. Boy was that a challenge, but at the same time a blessing for them to have somewhere to go and take care of their cows. This time we had no room, but luckily nearby there was an almost empty facility that would have held his herd had the need arose.
It's now several days later that I'm finishing this post. Neighbors and friends have loaned tractors and tools to help the family out until their insurance company comes through with some money to make those neccessary replacements.
All is good again. It really makes you appreciate the farming community and the support that comes when a farmer's in trouble...
Until next time,
Appreciate your neighbor.
No comments:
Post a Comment