CURTIS — Flats of broccoli, cabbage and onions are ready for planting at Boistfort Valley Farm, where just five months ago, much of Mike Peroni’s farm was buried under a foot of mud.
Much of the mud still remains, but hardy plants that were thought lost, like irises and lilies, have started to reclaim the land, and in other areas, Peroni and volunteers are helping others along, digging trenches by hand for the strawberries that are just starting to sprout.
Peroni, like dozens of farmers affected by the massive floods that swept through southwestern Washington in December, is back in business and readying his land so that he can return to farmers markets in the region by next month.
More than 150 southwest Washington producers reported about $12.5 million in damage ranging from loss of feed and dead animals to fence damage and debris, according to a flood update given to Gov. Chris ÂGregoire this month.
Livestock losses alone numbered about 1,600. About $152,000 in official aid has been dispersed to farms so far, and just over $1.8 million is pending, but farmers like Peroni say that it was the donations — in both money and volunteer time — from their customers that kept them afloat.
“Without them we would have folded. There’s just no doubt in my mind,” Peroni said. “I gained such a clearer sense of the impact we made on people who buy food from us.”
Donations from private groups have helped fill in the holes where official aid has lagged. In addition to the farmers markets and private donations, groups like the Washington Farm Bureau, which donated more than $250,000 to damaged farms, have helped keep the farms running. The state Department of Natural Resources has been working for months to clear debris and mud from farmers’ land, free of charge, and the Washington state Dairy Federation donated about 150 cows worth more than $200,000, as well as feed.
Charlie Haney, general manager of Olympia Farmer’s Market, said the market has raised close to $70,000 for about a dozen of her vendors whose farms suffered damage.
Haney said the farms sent her receipts for things that they need that wasn’t covered by insurance or federal aid — like seeds or planting equipment — and she sends them the money. The market reopened on April 3, and all of the farmers have already returned, or soon will, she said.
“I’m glad they’re all coming back,” she said. “I don’t know where they pull that from. If that happened to me, I probably would have walked away. But farmers are tough.”
Peroni’s farm is one of 17 organic farms that were affected by the floods. In March, the state Department of Agriculture said all continue to meet organic standards.
Peroni said his ability to get back up and running was hampered by an especially cold, wet spring. Deliveries of his direct orders of 20- to 30-pound boxes of fruit and vegetables to customers will be delayed a few weeks because he wanted to wait until the ground was in the best condition for planting.
“Normally in our business we take a lot of risks in spring for the sake of being early,” he said. “It’s a year we’re going to take less risks.”
Peroni said he was lucky because much of his loss was covered by insurance, and that tens of thousands of dollars in donations helped cover things that weren’t, like his irrigation system and greenhouses.
But for Twin Oaks Creamery in Chehalis, the owners’ lack of flood insurance meant they had to use federal assistance they received for their damaged home to help with expenses on the farm.
Gary and Heather Howell estimated damages at close to $500,000, between loss of livestock and their feed, about 500 pounds of cheese, as well as flood damage to their home on the farm.
“It’s pretty bad when you have to take your house money to feed your animals,” said Heather Howell. “There was just not that immediate assistance for us.”
Gary Howell said that of the $25,000 of feed they lost, they only got $2,500 from the USDA Farm Service Agency, which handles agriculture disaster assistance. They received $75,000 for the loss of their animals; more than 20 cows and all but one of their goats were killed in the flood.
“We’re still about $20,000 behind in getting caught up with our bills,” Gary Howell said. “But it’s doable now. We’re getting to a point where we can see daylight.”
The Howells used donations to buy a new herd of goats, many of which recently had kids, and a trailer where Heather Howell makes fresh and aged cheeses.
They returned to the Olympia Farmer’s Market in April.
“My goals aren’t to make money anymore, my goals are to break even,” Gary Howell said. “If we can just pay the bills, we’re happy.”
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