It all happened one evening in April when my husband was at his men’s Bible Study.
Shadows lengthened as the springtime sun descended. Winds whistled past our windows. Trees branches bounced briskly in the strong breezes. But inside our over 100-year-old dwelling, it was calm and comfortable. This old farmhouse has stood strong against many harsh storms over its six generations of use.
Supper dishes had been washed and dried. The busy tasks of the day came to their nighttime halt. My daughter and I took our comfortable places in our recliners to relax. While I worked on my knitting project, I listened to a program on TV. My daughter fell into a peaceful slumber.
Darkness fell and the winds picked up. The noise of the wind rumbled outside like that of a freight train moving down its tracks. The loudness of the sound made me perk up to the weather-event outside. “We had better get down in the basement,” I urged my daughter.
She and I headed for the basement stairway. We got down two steps and a crashing, smashing sound startled us as our basement window came unlatched and items perched on the window sill flew out of their places and littered the floor. We continued on down the stairs and worked together to latch the window. Rain sprayed in at us as we worked to fix it.
I looked for a candle, expecting that the storm might cause an outage in our electric supply. Curiously, it did not.
By this time, we decided to check out the weather reports on TV. Sure enough, there were tornado, hail and severe storm warnings galore! The late hour gave me concern for my husband. Driving home could be hazardous, I thought. So I called him to let him know what we were facing in the weather department.
As the winds and rain began to die down some, we ventured outdoors to see what we could of the storm’s aftermath. To our complete surprise, our windmill tower was on the ground! It landed and broke a sidewalk just missing our garage by a little over a foot. Apparently, we had not heard the tower fall due to the loudness of the winds as they roared through our yard. To the south of our home, two arbor vitas were ripped bare.
My husband drove home with no problem. He encountered just a few things scattered on the roadway, but none were of any consequence. When he arrived home he donned his rain suit and equipped with his flashlight he surveyed the damage on the farm.
About 150 hay bales stored in our hay shed blew out onto our yard and were getting soaked by the rain. Our crabapple tree that decorated our lawn with its pink blossoms each spring was lying on the ground just missing the sandbox my husband built for our children. Many trees were ripped up. Branches were broken and down in our windbreak.
Our heifer shed had east and west doors. One was bent up by the wind and the other was gone!
When the light of day came, other sights grabbed our attention. Trees in our calf pasture were down. The whole length of the windbreak between our land and our neighbor’s land had trees, tops of trees and branches on the ground or hung up in other trees. A few trees on our land by the township hall came down. Our chicken house which was perched on cement blocks had been moved by the wind, but not damaged.
The clean-up was a challenge. Friends from church and others helped disassemble the windmill tower and move piles of broken trees and branches. Our son and his family moved hay bales back into the shed. Grandchildren helped pick up the litter of shingles and broken glass on the ground. Our children helped lift the load of removing debris from the storm’s fury. When one pile of spoiled trees was moved, we could see that behind it there was even more work to be done.
Teamwork and the love of helping hands buoyed us up during this stirring time. Through all of these chaotic circumstances, we could see God’s Hand of protection. We were not injured. Other than shingles blown off the roofs of our buildings, only our heifer shed was damaged. Our cattle, our chickens and even our cats and dog were spared injury.
I t is not clear to us whether we experienced a twister or a series of powerful straight line winds. One friend observed the twist in the remains of our windmill tower which could be evidence for a tornado’s visit. Regardless of a twister or straight lines, the winds made a formidable impact on our home and business … Heritage Farm.
In your times of upheaval and chaos, remember the Lord and His promise. Isaiah 41:10 KJV says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”
Ham ’N Pineapple Upside Down Loaf
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
One 8-ounce can pineapple; slices, drained, halved
3 cups ground cooked ham
2 cups ground pork
1 cup Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup chopped onion
1 egg
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
½ teaspoon salt
Press brown sugar onto bottom of 9×5-inch loaf pan; place pineapple halves over brown sugar down center of loaf pan. Combine remaining ingredients; mix well. Firmly press into prepared pan. Bake in preheated moderate oven (350ºF.) one hour; drain. Loosen meat loaf from edges of pan; immediately invert onto serving plate. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Recipe credit: Quaker
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