Our garden was just destroyed.

[hippywife]

A storm just swept thru here about two hours ago with probably 90 mi. per hour winds and lots of hail. Some of it golf ball size. Everything was ripped to shreds.

We had windows in the house and our older shed broken out and glass and hail were flying into the kitchen.

It sounded just like a tornado bearing down on us. :scared:

[CC]

1. Oh no, so sorry to hear that.

Maybe when everything calms down there might be some things that can be saved. How are the chickens?

We are sitting under a tornado and hail watch here.

[hippywife]

2. The chickens are fine.

One of the ducks sustained a head injury. Has a gash over one eye and was walking wobbly. I brought it in and treated the gash and let it rest for awhile. It seems to be doing better now but they are both worn out by the whole ordeal. As are we. I just want a nap right now.

Please stay safe out there!

[CC]

3. I almost put birds cause I

wasn't sure what else you had. Poor duck. I hope he will be ok. They are a lot tougher than they look at least. Also hoping you can save something of the garden. So far we have had just rain and some lightening. Actually less wind and noise than non warning days so hoping we are far enough east and north to miss the worst.

[LiberalEsto]

4. I'm so sorry!

How awful!
I hope you can get some new plants started and salvage some of the old ones. Good luck.

[hippywife]

6. There are a few salvagable plants

but for the most part it looks like someone maliciously went through there with a weed wacker... and they didn't miss much! All that work! :cry:

Oh well, I'm just glad it wasn't more serious than it was. It could have been more devastating so I'm just going to be thankful. :hi:

[murray hill farm]

5. What a sad thing to hear!

I loved your garden pictures. I agree, though....a good many veggies may survive and it is not too late to start some new plants. The good news is that you are OK. As difficult as it may be to do, take a rest and deal with it tomorrow.

[hippywife]

7. That's pretty much what we're doing.

Got the broken windows on the house boarded up for now. The garden will wait for another day. Luckily I still have some tomato seedlings here in the house.

How's your land purchase coming along? Hope all is going smoothly. I'm so excited for you! :hi:

[murray hill farm]

14. Yeah...tomorrow is another day!

I closed on the property a few weeks ago...and yep, i am really, really excited about it. I am now trying to paint and spruce up my little house here in Georgia to put it up for sale late summer. I fully expect it to take a year or two to sell...all things considered with the housing market. My plan is to drive out to the property in late august and to spend a month camping out there and getting a pump on the well, getting a shed built...and generally beginning to really work out a plan for moving there. Very exciting. It is so beautiful there. I am really grateful to have found it.
The other good news...and extremely exciting to me is that yesterday morning at 7:30AM, the post office called to tell me my 10 little baby chicks had arrived. They are soooooo cute...and I swear they have grown some in a day and a half...ha! They girls are all New Hampshire Reds and are already a fuzzy golden brown color. Anyway...glad you are all Ok and that your chickens all made it through the storm and are OK...and I hope mr duckie is doing well by now..poor guy.
Take care.....relax...and I will bet that tomorrow it won't look as bad.

[hippywife]

19. Oh, congratulations!

I really am happy for you and hope your current home sells sooner than expected. How very exciting!

The babies are so cute, too! We got a new on the other day from our neighbor. Their oldest had to hatch an egg for school and they thought it was too lonely so they gave it to us. LOL Now we're the chicken sanctuary. They're pretty entertaining to watch, too.

[Dover]

8. So glad you're okay hippywife and weren't near any of the breaking windows!

Sounds frightening! I hope you're able to salvage some of your plants. If I lived near by I'd bring you some baby plants to replace some of the lost ones. :hug:

[hippywife]

10. Thanx, sweetie.

Yeah, we definitely knew better on the windows and backed into the middle of the house under the loft where we could watch but still be relatively safe. There was no where else to go at that point. The fraidy hole is about 50 feet or so behind the house.

I'm just not even going to think about what the garden needs until I go out there in the morning and start cleaning it up before it gets too hot.

You really are very sweet to offer plants. It's definitely the thought that counts. Luckily, we still have lots of seeds left for most of the stuff. :hug:

[Blue Gardener]

9. I'm so sorry

You must be heartbroken. Glad the family and animals are ok.

[hippywife]

11. Hi, Blue.

Thanx, dear. I'm sure you can commiserate over these storms that sweep through the plains. :hug:

[sazemisery]

12. Man, I'm sorry to hear about your damage

If there is anything we can do to help, let us know.

My son had a hail storm rip through his neck of the woods (he lives on the Payne/Noble County line) last month. Softball sized hail damaged his vehicle severely.

[hippywife]

16. Thanx, J.

We are doing okay. Just got back from running into town for material to replace screens that were totally shredded.

The funny thing about it is no one on our road has the damage we do. Bill is convinced that something pretty close to an F1 cut a path across our place. Our area is the only one where there are tree limbs all over the road and any broken windows. You could definitely hear the roar even over the hail hitting the house, doors, and windows...and it was pretty dang loud and in abundance. I've never experienced anything like this in the almost 11 years since I married Bill and moved down here. Very scary stuff!

I have yet to see softball sized hail and hope never to. That would totally freak me out! :scared:

[sazemisery]

23. The sound is quite frightening

I have been in the vicinity of tornadoes several times in my lifetime and the sound always gets me. It is very different from high wind sound. We had a funnel pass behind our house 10 or so years ago in the middle of the night. I was the only one awake in the house and ran up the stairs to wake everyone else. But by the time I got to the top landing it had passed and all was calm again.

It is hard to describe the physical feeling you have when you are that close. It is like your nerve endings all stand up at once. You can feel the static electricity through your body. Weird.

[hippywife]

24. OMG!

How frightening! I'm so glad you were all okay. :hug:

I see you're an early bird like me. Lord how I wish I could sleep a little later. Ugh!

[wildeyed]

13. Oh no!

:cry: :hug:

I am glad you are alright! Sounds like a nasty storm. It is still early in the season, so hopefully you can replace at least some of the damaged plants.

[hippywife]

17. Thanx, wildeyed.

Yeah, I think we can replant much of what was lost. There were only a few things that we don't have anymore seeds for but we'll just use the space for something else. :hi:

[uppityperson]

15. Oh dang, am glad you and the beasties are ok, shame about the garden

Cleaning up glass is no fun, hope you're back together now and didn't get cut too badly cleaning up. (I always get nicked cleaning glass). I'm glad your chickens are ok and hope the duck gets better soon.

The list of winds today looks like there have been a bunch in your state. Glad you are ok.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080531_rpts.html

[hippywife]

18. Thanx to you, too, uppity!

No cuts yet but it isn't all cleaned up yet. Just got the pieces that were in the middle of the floor. But I will be careful.

I sure hope Mo will be okay, too. Still not walking around as good as usual. Such a poor sight. :cry:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. I'm so very sorry.

I've had similar happen before and I know how it feels. You've not only got the devastation of the storm damage to your home, but you also just lost all the hours of hard work and love you poured into your garden.

I'll be alright though. Plants will grow again and windows can be replaced. What really matters is that you and yours are safe. :hug:

[hippywife]

21. That's the way I'm looking at it.

I was so scared during the whole event and there was such a rush of sweet relief when it was all over, I'll not complain too badly about the damage.

Thanx for your kind wishes. :hug:

[PeaceNikki]

22. Holy cow!! Glad you're all ok!!

Sorry about the damage!

:hug:

[hippywife]

25. Thanx, Nik.

At least the structure is still there and we can replant. I just don't know if I have the energy. :hi:

[crispini]

26. Aw! Glad you're OK! Sounds scary!

:hug:

[KatyaR]

27. Wow, I'm glad you're okay!

We had some lightning and a little thunder last night around 10, but it was sunny and clear all day Saturday in OKC. However, right now it looks like it may rain--it's gotten totally cloudy since I got up at 6. Good thing I have the laundry done.

I'm sorry about your garden, but at least it's early enough that you can replace your plants. I'm sure you have a huge mess to clean up.

Hope today's better . . . . :hug:

[hippywife]

28. Thanx, neighbor!

Have you looked at radar this morning? Got another round rolling in shortly. Hatches are all battened this morning. :hi:

http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=inx&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

[KatyaR]

30. I can tell we're on the edge of that system--

it keeps getting dark, then it lightens up a bit. The wind cranked up a few minutes ago, but it's died back down again. I took advantage of the cloudiness to get some last seeds planted in my containers. I've got the windows open, and the breeze is nice and cool. My kind of day . . . .

Batten down the hatches, indeed--I hope you get passed by this time.

[DrDan]

29. what a shame . . . so sorry

[Lisa0825]

31. I am so sorry about your garden!!!

But I am glad you are OK! :hug:

[hippywife]

33. Thanx, Lisa!

:hug:

[japple]

32. So sorry for your loss. I know it's heartbreaking after all of

your hard work. Hope your duck is doing better. From reading your postings here and in other forums, though, I know you've gotten up, dusted yourself off, and are probably halfway through planting another garden. You and your husband seem to be very industrious and I've always admired your "can-do" spirit. Keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers!

[hippywife]

34. How very sweet of you, japple.

Well, we haven't gotten back out there yet. Late this morning we had straight line winds at 70 mi/hr. with more hail and lots of sideways rain. We won't get to it this weekend but we will get it replanted. I ordered some more strawberry plants from the co-op today.

Thanx for the nice sentiment. :hug:

[knitter4democracy]

35. Oh no! And it was such a pretty garden already, too!

I was worried about ours, but the hail missed us up in Michigan. Dang!

[hippywife]

37. Glad you missed out

on all the fun! LOL Really, I'm just grateful there wasn't more damage than there was and we ended up safe and sound. :hi:

[Horse with no Name]

36. I am so sorry

:hug:

[hippywife]

38. Thanx, dear Horse!

:hug:

[bvar22]

39. Hi, hippywife.

Glad you are OK.
We are so sorry about the loss of your garden.

Bob & Kirsty

[hippywife]

41. Thanx, Bob.

I almost immediately thought of your beautiful garden and how really tragic it would be if it got hit. I know many of the storms coming through here these days hit AR full bore, too.

Very surprisingly, Rosie stood up against the wind, hail, and rain both days. She's a little worse for wear, tho.



I took pics of the boxes with the shredded plants but they don't even begin to show the real nature of the carnage.

[bvar22]

43. She is a brave soldier!

We worry about wind and hail here when the storm clouds gather.
We are pretty exposed on our hilltop, but we do have some higher ridges to the west and north that offer some protection.
We strung windbreaks to the south & east which is the direction of most of the strong storm gusts, but they would only offer marginal protection in a storm like you had.
AND, nobody can do anything about hail.
One day, it will be our turn, and we will grieve.


It just doesn't seem fair that your turn came THIS year.
We are truly powerless.

We are sending you love.

Bob & Kirsty

[hippywife]

44. Aw, thank you so much.

Bill said yesterday that maybe we just weren't meant to garden. Two years ago was drought, last year was too much rain late into the season, and now this. I think we've put too much work and money into it this year to give up this time. Plus we are so dead set at beating big agribusiness and doing the local and homegrown thing. We really want to have most of our own food preserved for year round. Barbara Kingsolver and Michael Pollan got us all inspired to give it our best shot and we're not giving up.

Plus, the results of eating fresh, whole foods have begun to show themselves in very real ways:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x45241

Love back to you and Kirsty. I know you two would tough it out, too. I hope you never have to!

Bill and Monica (I know, I know...don't laugh!) :rofl:

[Inchworm]

40. That's horrible

I'm glad you are ok.

Now you have to get some more in the dirt.

:hug:

[hippywife]

42. Hi, Inchie.

It's going to have to wait until all the windows that blew out are replaced. We are very grateful to have sustained no more damage than we did. :hi:

[Shoelace]

45. ohhh, what a bummer, but glad y'all are safe

I have loved all your pictures and am glad Rosie made it through. We are in Oregon and several weeks ago, the threat of hail was in the forecast so I went out, spread sheets all over just in case. We don't normally get big hail here but these days ya never know. It wasn't a biggy thankfully.
Do you have u-pick farms nearby? If so, at least you could pick enough to can, preserve too. That is if they survived that storm too.
Well I'm going to send gardening angels to you there Hippywife in hopes that you'll be able to replant and have a happy garden afterall. Blessings to you and hope that little duck recovers.:loveya:

[hippywife]

46. Glad your threat

didn't pan out. And you're right...you never know these days. We have farm markets near by (not organic ones) but we also belong to our local co-op, too. We'll definitely have plenty of access to what we need and replant, too.

Our duck seems to be recovering very well. Thanx for sending the angels. :hi: :hug:

[Gormy Cuss]

47. Oh no!

Do you have the seeds and time to replant?

[hippywife]

48. We do have seeds

and I'm thinking that living in OK we will have time to plant more. As soon as we get done replaceing the windows that were broken out by the storm. That's the plan for this weekend. :hi: