Storm wreaked havoc at Codman Community Farms

The unexpected derecho that swept through the area on October 7 damaged hundreds of trees, closed many roads and caused widespread power outages (about half the town at one point). A similar but stronger event in August destroyed millions of acres of crops and buildings in Iowa and northern Illinois, but the storm here caused damage and even livestock deaths on Lincoln’s own town farm. Below is the account of farmer Pete Lowy of Codman Community Farms. He sent this account to subscribers of the farm’s email newsletter; it’s reprinted here with his permission.

Last Wednesday was yet another memorable night on the farm. The evening starting out pretty much business as usual for a chicken catching night. As we do every chicken catching night we loaded the trailer with empty chicken crates, recruited some volunteers, and planned to gather out in the field to catch and crate birds about one hour before sunset. A bit of rain and thunderstorms did pop up in the forecast which had not been predicted, but it didn’t seem like a big storm.

Of course, the rain itself was due to arrive right around 6 pm, just when we planned to meet up with volunteers at Mt. Misery field, but otherwise, all seemed fine. Jared and I decided to get a jump on the weather as we first had to catch the last 40 turkeys at Van Leer field, then head over to Mt. Misery. We successfully caught all the turkeys as planned and loaded them in the back of the pickup truck. Toby the guardian dog looked on lazily as we caught the birds, no doubt happy to be done working for the season, then Jared loaded Toby in his truck and we both headed back to the farm to hook up the big trailer with the empty crates and to drop off Toby.

I was eager to get going as I’m always a bit excited and hopeful that chicken catching goes well – so I headed over to Mt. Misery first — Jared would soon follow. Just as I arrived in the field where the coops were located, some raindrops started falling. I got out of the truck to open the electric fence gate and as soon as I opened the truck door I felt a strong gust of brisk wind and some big pelting raindrops smack me on my bald pate — never a nice feeling! I jumped back into the truck and pulled into the field about 200 yards from where the coops were located.

Driving slowly towards the coops, the weather closed in, uncertain how much rain would fall, I stopped the truck. The raindrops were unusually large — but the rain was not falling heavily. But then a strange wind quickly descended from the tree line. The tall trees surrounding the field swayed in the strong wind. Before I knew it, the 8’x12′ open-floored, tarp-covered chicken coops, each containing 65 chickens, started lifting off of the ground. One popped off the ground and descended again, like a kite trying to take off, then was suddenly picked up and flung through the air, tumbling and twirling side over side until it lay resting at the tree line about 200 feet from where it started. Then just as quickly another coop — and another — and another lifted off the ground and flipped over.

I honestly could not believe this was happening. We have used these types of coops for over 10 years and never, ever has this happened before. But this storm, later to be officially classified as a derecho (defined on Wikipedia as a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with fast-moving windstorms, potentially rivaling hurricane and tornado force minds), was like nothing I have ever seen. As the coops tossed and turned and danced in the air, I could only imagine how many chickens were being injured.

As quickly as the storm arrived, it departed. I called Jared, who had yet to arrive, and shouted out to him about the disaster I just witnessed — he was on his way. I was afraid to get out of the truck for fear of another wave of wind, but thankfully it never arrived. Once Jared arrived, we cautiously walked out to the coops to survey the damage. The chickens were scattered around, newly exposed to the open sky, and disoriented from the sudden change in their housing situation! Many chickens were walking around aimlessly in circles, wondering where their feeders and waterers went. Some were huddled together in small groups trying to stay warm, and yet other birds took advantage of their newfound freedom and started foraging, searching for tasty bugs and grass bits.

As Jared and I walked in circles surveying the damage, we began developing a plan as to how to unravel this mess. Volunteers starting arriving and we all pitched in to catch and crate the birds that were ready for harvest. We then had to relocate the homeless birds back into shelters for the evening. It was the best we could do as nighttime quickly descended. We would sort it all out in the morning. And just as we were finishing up and moving the last of the homeless birds back into shelters, an opportunistic hawk swept down and grabbed a free chicken dinner! And to our amazement, that was the only chicken that we lost due to the storm.

Unfortunately, the story does not quite end here. While we were dealing with the chickens, our pigs over at Minuteman National Park were also impacted that evening. Minuteman National Park along 2A was devastated by the storm with a tremendous amount of fallen trees. A large branch fell in our pig field, knocking down our pig fencing and injuring some of the more than 60 full-grown pigs who live on the field. Several days after the storm, three pigs died from internal injuries suffered from the fallen branch. They were beautiful full-grown Old Spot pigs that we had been growing since the spring. Tremendously sad accident. So far the rest of the pigs seem strong and healthy and we are keeping a close eye on them. Never a dull moment….

These events that happen all too often are just part of the many physical and economic challenges farms like ours face every day. We feel it’s important to share these stories to provide a deeper understanding of our work and what it take s to run a small diversified farm in today’s world. As always, we appreciate any and all feedback and are grateful for your support! Onward!

Photos of some of the damage caused by the derecho (click to enlarge).