Our family wanted to take a moment to share how Hurricane Helene has impacted our farm and community in Ridge Spring, South Carolina. Yon Family Farms was established in 1996 when we moved to Ridge Spring – our primary products are Angus cattle, small grains, corn, sorghum, hay, pecans, and timber. We also operate a small retail store where we sell our local beef and pecans, along with other locally grown products from neighboring farms. Yon Family Farms is truly a family farm, run by “boots on the ground” family members and a dedicated team of around 12 other full-time employees. We raised our family here, and today, the third generation is seven members strong thus far.
Hurricane Helene came in around 4 a.m. on Friday morning, September 27th and raged for a full three or four hours. Three of our family members who serve as volunteer firemen were out responding to calls from 2 a.m. on Friday morning, all day, until darkness fell again, assisting with clearing trees from roadways and helping people with damaged homes. Those of us left at home alone (moms and wives - with young babies and small children) hunkered down in darkness with howling wind and beating rain being the only sounds we heard, unable to communicate, except for the occasional text urging us to move to the center of our homes, that it was not safe elsewhere. We storm-shocked gals and the children all migrated to one house after the storm passed, where we eventually cooked supper on the grill and ate, before returning to our dark homes alone. When the guys, tired and weary, did safely return to our homes, they had to cut numerous trees from the roadways to do so. We were happy to see them home - two firemen in our county lost their lives responding to a call earlier in the day as a tree struck their vehicle. It could have just as easily been our guys. They were responding to the same call before being turned around, as it had become too dangerous to travel. Two members of our small town were also lost due to the storm’s fury. All power was quickly lost during the storm and snapped poles, downed lines and transformers remaining in the streets are commonplace. We are now on day 6 with no power as of October 2nd. The loss of power has been at best, an inconvenience to residents and an unexpected nightmare for farmers with livestock, poultry and perishable products needing refrigeration and freezers. We all knew the storm was forecasted, but the wind speeds and severity were grossly underestimated, which in turn, meant we were grossly unprepared.
Yon Family Farms has been dedicated for years to producing high quality Angus cattle, which we run across roughly 5,000 acres. Across the farm, numerous downed trees on fences have required a skeleton crew of employees (who have their own issues at their homes) to spend their days running chainsaws, clearing debris from fence lines, accounting for missing livestock, trying to get them back to safety, and then patching fences non-stop. Most of our fencing is high tensile electric, so scrambling to secure multiple generators for different locations has been a real challenge. Those we have now secured are running for dedicated use to power fences and wells to provide water for the animals. There is no gas available for purchase in our town and fuel deliveries are not being made to the farms as entire fuel pumping stations are facing their own storm related issues. On a bright note, our animals made it through the stormy morning and are now doing well, in makeshift fences, with a cool drink available, due to the tireless efforts of our team members going at it from sunup to sundown for 6 days now. There is no end in sight. There are literally miles and miles of fence repairs ahead, much brand-new fencing that was just built a few short years ago, at great expense. Ironically, the same crew that did the original construction was there the day after the storm hit to start the repairs, as they knew the importance of keeping the livestock safe. The owner of the fencing business went to high school with our kids. We are a tight knit community and here to help each other; he didn’t think twice about sending help right away.
The Nut House & Country Market (our small retail store) on Main Street in Ridge Spring began scrambling on Friday afternoon to prevent the loss of many thousands of dollars of frozen beef and pecan inventory, with the sure to be, extended power outage, which we quickly realized was our new reality. After hours of searching and calling around, we were fortunate to locate an industrial generator to rent and drive the five hours round trip to pick it up and get it going within 24 hours. It is still humming outside as I write this, which has become a strangely comforting noise. We have been able to open the store and provide milk and meat for sale, as well as offer storage space to another local meat market in danger of losing their inventory. Our town has been blessed with selfless residents, cooking daily on the town square for those in need (3-400 people per meal). Donations of non-perishables and water have started pouring in, a blessing to many. As you drive out of “town”, just past the only gas station in town, is our pecan orchard bordering Pecan Grove Road, which is also the same road we live on.
The pecan orchards were loaded, heavy with nuts, ready to harvest within the next couple of months. Many of the trees have stood for over 50 years and provided a livelihood for the former owner’s family, and now for ours. The orchard took a hard hit, as the combination of drenched soil from heavy rains with wind forces clocked at 70 mph resulted in uprooted trees strewn about the entire orchard. Some of those trees have stood for over 100 years, and in a three-hour span, 75% or more were laying on the ground, like corpses, along with hours of labor, care and inputs. I am certain each member of our family has had a private moment of weeping over the sight. If you know much about pecan trees, it’s not a crop that can be replanted for next year and put you back in business in short order. It’s a sickening loss and will have a devastating financial impact on our business. As fate would have it, a new pecan cleaning facility was already under construction on our property, creating an added financial burden that will not result additional income, as there will be no nuts to harvest this fall and limited amounts for subsequent years. Just past the orchard, our beautiful grain sorghum fields, ripe with full seedheads, were ready for harvest soon. I was just thinking before the storm, I should grab some of the sorghum and make a fall flower arrangement – now they are all battered and prostrate on the soaked ground, no longer worthy of harvest. Same story with timber land. Multiple trees on the ground everywhere you look– never to be harvested.
Our homes are all fine, without structural damage, just trees and limbs galore in our yards – which will likely be the case for a long time, as the farm clean-up will take priority. Many of our neighbors here, and in the surrounding area, were not so fortunate and have trees at rest on rooftops and tarps on the roof where damage occurred. Our barns and buildings are all fine for the most part as well. It was a strange storm marking each area it hit with a different set of blows.
Coming home after full days post-Helene is an odd feeling - a throwback of sorts to a time years ago when everyone relied on candles and lanterns for light. When the alarm clock was the sun and birds chirping and when dusk meant time to settle in for rest. Seems that I am noticing things more - like just how very dark the night is, except for the occasional fire someone is using to cook from in their yard. The stars seem to shine brighter and look more marvelous when I look out the bedroom window at night. I’ve also noticed the lack of the daily trains coming through our town, the ones that cause us to stop talking until they pass – I miss them… they are part of our “normal.” I’ve noticed the strong character of my neighbors, serving others with a smile despite being weary. I’ve noticed the teamwork of our own family kicking in, everyone doing what they can without complaining and still making time to run more fire calls and help friends in need. It’s funny, too, how most of us aren’t talking about our own problems but are more heartbroken for the footage we see from our neighbors in the high country of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Despite the horrendous damage, Helene has renewed hope in my heart that there is still much good in our country. She will go down in history as one of the most notorious natural disasters to hit the Southeast, and maybe the only named storm I will have experienced firsthand besides Hugo. Her effects will be loud financially and, without continued help, many in our rural areas will not recover well. Here’s hoping that Helene is the last storm that we’ll recall by name around here in our lifetimes.
The Yon Family