In 2010 a series of tornadoes devastated part of Wadena, Minnesota, and the surrounding countryside. Gardens Gourmet, a nearby CSA farm, took a direct hit. Owner Diane Webb recounts the events of that day, and the aftermath. [Diane Webb] "In 2010 before the tornado, we were very diligent about doing CSA, we were selling at multiple markets, and our product was also available for sale here on the farm. On June 17, 2010, there was a tornado that went from Elmore, MN to Bluffton, MN. We were not prepared for this tornado that hit our farm at all. I mean, that was the—one of the furthest things away from our scope. One of the fingers reached out and got our yard pretty bad. Our losses included 52 trees and seven buildings. Our greenhouse was wrapped around the oak tree. We could not get in our yard. One of the big things that really, really, basically broke my heart that summer was the fact that my husband had worked so hard at getting the fields ready for that summer and it was probably six weeks or so before he would even go back out to the field. I couldn’t even get him to go look—go look at the field because the tomato plants were sucked right out of the ground, all the stands that go around the tomato plants—all of those were gone. The only thing that was left in the field was potatoes and carrots and onions because they were all underground crops; other than that, everything else was gone. The two things that were left standing that day was the barn where my horses were, and the house where my family was. The way that affected us was that there was no time that summer for farming in anymore. We were totally on autopilot and whatever it was, whatever it took to go through the recovery phase. We depended on volunteers to come and help us to get the trees cut up, to get the driveway cleared off, to find a place where it would—it just felt safe again. We had busloads of people that would come out and help us. I actually stopped counting at 144 volunteers. Well, the best disaster recovery plan is to have insurance. Sometimes it’s so hard to make that payment, but it’s so totally worth it, whether it’s a car accident or a fire or a tornado, it’s so important to have insurance. A good practical advice that I would say is reach out to fellow people like us. Reach out to your neighbors. Reach out to community action. Reach out to the Red Cross or whoever it is. Get—keep asking for help. Don’t just think that you have to do all of this on your own." [Patrick Waletzko] "Not every business is located on Main Street. Other businesses might be on the outskirts of town or might be even more rural. In our fields, in our neighborhoods, in our wooded areas. These businesses serve as equal of a role as any business in our downtown areas. Many of our businesses in the area are also family- and home-based. It’s important to remember that you’re not alone in this, whether you are a multi-location operation or single farm-based entity business serving your local residents and neighbors. It’s important to reach out, to find those neighbors, those who are able to help, those who are willing to help, to be part of your planning process. Engage them in your planning. We’re not in this alone: we’re all in this together."

• published: 27 Dec 2016
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