Homestead Rescue!

What a crazy first summer/early winter storm here on the homestead. We spent the past month preparing for the cold weather…gathering wood, finishing the greenhouse, preparing the animals shelter, stocking up on microgreen seeds, quinoa and coffee. .and then we got hit.

It all started with a giant dust storm, then came the wind, the rain and finally snow. We thought it was the perfect time to light up the fireplace (for the first time) warm up the house, have a cup of tea and relax.. or so, I had envisioned in my “Instagram version” mentality. Then reality hit.

A puff of black smoke escapes the fireplace into the living room, followed by another, and another…next thing I know Drew is coming around with the fire extinguisher. Now white debris is all around and we open the doors to let the smoke out and holding against the force of the valley wind and cold. Outside looks like a scene from the Wizard of Oz, random stuff is flying around, the water in the horses trough is whirlpooling, guest camper is rocking back and forth, left and right, the horses are running, yelling, scared, as a piece of roofing flaps in the wind and random objects are flying askew. there is nothing much we can do but tie down, wait and pray!

As the smoke clears we attempt to light our backup propane heater, no flame…we troubleshoot with no luck and decide to go outside and start up the generator. I peek out the window and see Drew blown about 3 feet in the wind, (it was something from a movie I tell you!) bringing in the cords we used to hook up electric heaters, our 3rd backup plan.

We sectioned off the house and I brought in all the furs, skins, hides and blankets I can find to make a bed for us and our 2 dogs. It’s about 40 degrees inside and the house is rocking like were back in the womb, surrounded by candles and buffalo hides I fall asleep wile my husband watches by my side.

The storm lasted over 24hrs, after we access the damage, all bundled up in our winter gear (in the beginning of September) to learn our stove pipe chimney pulled apart and is dangling on the roof, a greenhouse full of snow, the outdoor compost toilet knocked sideways, our guest camper jumped about 3ft forward, off the jacks and took a nose dive into the ground, outdoor furniture was against the horses fencing, along with a broken window and misc. belongings and debris, glass broken in their arena, our water holding tank had flown about 10ft and a lot of our fencing Drew recently finished was down. It was a MESS! There was recorded wind gusts of 130mph taken at the local valley airport before the wind detector BROKE!

WOW, We made it!

Two days later and we are mostly cleaned up and repaired. Hopefully, stronger than before and thankful for our early storm to show us that we was no way prepared for this wild terrain seasonal change. The weather is back in the 60’s sunny and nice. Perfect for us to get to work! Next is to find expertise to help with the chimney. We learned with the high multi directional winds that we need to first repair, extent and get a specialty cap….and maybe learn about wind turbine power as a back up? Seems to be an abundant resource here in the high desert valley.

SOME GOOD NEWS…..After all that stress we was greeted with multiple bands of wild mustangs on our property, bringing us that special horse medicine and meeting our horses, Atlas and Scooby. See next post for pictures. :)