We went thru this in August. A microburst came thru Glenview and downed 1,000 trees. An 80 year old Catalpa tree in the Cemetary across the fence was ripped up at the roots and knocked over. There was ONE house in our neighborhood that had a tree fall on the house, it was a HUMONGOUS cottonwood tree and a big chuck fell on their roof. It took out the corner of the roof at the end of the garage and punctured a hole or two in their roof. The house was not terribly damaged and nobody was hurt.

It will get better. Hire or borrow a wood chipper and turn those trees into mulch!

You dont have to abandon the soltice sowing, involve your husband and do the four! It wont take long to do four pots. You can do a bit at a time.

It will get better!

:)

Kiddo, you've got a right to feel blue so go ahead and indulge yourself, then get busy doing what will make the holiday acceptable. Notice I didn't say perfect.

I read your post with my heart, we had record hurricane strength winds here on the 2nd, lost a friend to a falling tree, had a tree on our own home, lost a weeks income for us and our employee = etc, etc, etc (I don't want to whine either :)) And now I remember why I don't go camping....I don't function well at all without power.

What's working for me - forget the small stuff because it's only stuff, and be grateful for all the loving and helpful people in my life; my friends amazed me. My family is safe and will be around me at Christmas, everyone is going to know I love them and be well fed...just with a minimum of festive decorations this year.

I have a lot of damage to my gardens (think truck, power saws, lots of feet that were not mine), not to the extent you are describing yours. But that's what we do, we nurture and grow things and that includes trees and our gardens will recover even if changed...please hang in there and know that people do understand!

Well I am so glad your power is back on!!! It must be so awful to be without it in the horrible cold weather. Losing all those trees may end up giving you LESS shade than you planned for!!! You have all winter to sow seeds so I wouldn't worry about getting it done. Getting ready for the Holidays will certainly take precedence! However did you keep warm? did you have a fireplace?
Joann

Thank goodness your home was spared. Thank goodness you and yours were not injured. I certainly admire you attitude. To be so positive in the middle of all that says that you are a very special person.

You are right to pitch in with the cleanup - you'd feel rotten if you didn't. But maybe you can still sow a few containers while you rest from that. Day long seed planting marathons may not be possible but, as Doris said, it doesn't take long to tuck seeds for a few varieties into containers. Little by little it will add up and I can't help but think that knowing you've started new things growing will go far to keep your spirits up while you do this hard work.

We're going to want to see pictures of your new shade gardens come summer. And with that many trees gone you may have new sunshine beds, too!

seedmama - Gosh, with all that you have been through - you have the right to feel "blue", but then that is such a normal feeling ANYWAY this time of year, for some reason.

You have a good attitude that at least some of the weak trees are already down - which would have had to be done anyway, but all that work cleaning up around the holidays is not welcomed.

Just remember, though - BE CAREFUL of your back, etc. Then you REALLY will feel blue if you can't get around

Good luck - Carrie

I'm sorry, Seedmama. As others have said, you were lucky that your home and family came out unscathed. It's sad about your trees, and although it will take years for them to grow large, now you can wintersow some. Another excuse.

I'd concentrate on a nice Christmas first, just a few days away. Now that you have power and heat you can prepare for a nice holiday with your family. The outside cleanup can wait a while. And you need not feel rushed to start WSing on the solstice, many of us start later. You still have months to do it. I never get started until January, when Christmas is over, all the stuff packed away. Winter used to be that boring, depressing time of year, now the sowing is something I look forward to. You can, too.

Karen

Seedmama,

Definitely not something anyone would want at any time, much less the holidays. I empathize with you since I went through a similar experience in 2003.

I am encouraged when you say that the decision on which trees to remove has been made for you. You are so right. The strongest ones are the ones which remained, and those are the ones you want. They will do well in the future.

Do take your time now, celebrate the holidays and all that you have been blessed to keep... your home, your family, your health, etc.

On the solstice, you might like to just sow the proverbial four containers simply to celebrate what you are grateful for. Consider it a gift to yourself - a feel good gift. You need one now and well deserve it.

It will all come to pass. It might take a bit longer than you'd like, but there's only so much that can be done in one day and at the end of it, we all need to rest, reflect, and look forward to the next day and what it will bring.

My heart is with you.

There was a wooded lot (which was supposed to remain vacant) right next to my house which was cleared in ONE DAY so I know how you feel! The lot was the my focal point of my entire garden, I was in such despair after years building something so beautiful to have it taken away overnight. A house went up and the way it was angled (I'm on a cul de sac) didn't give our family a stitch of privacy. Well, let me tell you, you are a gardener and once the initial devastation wears off, your brain will naturally start churning out some incredible ideas of what you will be doing with your new yard. Once you get it cleaned up, really take a long hard look at what you've got now. Forget what you once had so you don't feel so sad and find the special areas (like more sun in one spot or a new path you can make, ect) and just keep going with it. Go, go, go, dream, dream, dream! I've had to do so much work (I put a fence through the woods, taken down trees to be able to put in privacy trees, I put in a 250 foot living fence (expensive) non-stop work). But once you get through the immediate stuff (getting rid of the trees) I hope you find that your excitement comes back to you and you ease right into...new beds to make! Thank goodness you are all fine, that's the most important thing. And, by all means, if sowing makes you feel better than go for it! You can't be out cleaning up the yard in the dark afterall, so do some pots in the evening to keep your spirits up. The holiday's are just about over so hang tight for one more week!

I'd try a "free fire-wood" advertisement to get some labor help. People around here will come out and cut & haul the wood if it's down on the ground already. No insurance help on something like this?

Oh, Seedmama, We saw the pictures on TV and knew our GW friends were in the middle of it all. I'd say skip the seeds and have a nice Christmas, work outside when you can on the clean up, and continue with your great attitude. It's infectious and I imagine your family, friends and neighbors appreciate it more than they can express.

You have an enormous job ahead of you, I know, and if you want shade plants in the spring, if the beds are ready for them, drop me an email or post here, and I'll send out a box, ok? Skip the seeds and go right to the plants. :))

Lime

Seedmama, I don't know you as others do but saw a phrase the other day that comes to mind after reading your post and goes something like this:

"The most important presents you give to loved ones is your presence."

You sound like one special lady and everyone will be glad to gather round you this year as they likely have for many years gone by.

You work hard, care for others, respect nature, cherish people and appreciate beauty.

Do whatever feels right for you at each moment.

Know what you mean about finding out the hard way why camping isn't your thing. I still have the 48 hour emergency candles, water jugs and other miscellaneous "survival items" from letting myself buy into the Y2K scare...LOL. Glad your husband prepared well for an emergency but sorry it came to you.

One of my nieces is down near Vance AFB with her "pilot in training" fiance. They should have those strapping young'uns out there helping their fellow Oklahomans!

And a big OKAY to feel blue for yourself and others around you who have experienced any level of loss. It's normal and human just like all the good things you're holding onto.

Blessings to you and your loved ones at this time of year and throughout the coming year of rebuilding on all the wonderful things you already have in your life.

Seedmama: My heart goes out to you. It brings back to me our experience with a similarly devastating ice-storm in 1997. Ours was after Christmas, January I think, but your post brought back to me the sound of branches of our particularly large maple crashing down on the house; large chunks of ice crashing on to the roof and ricocheting off on to the driveway; watching the explosions as transformers on the hydro poles went up in flames; and seeing the top of my choice flowering crab fall off into the driveway, just after I had moved the van. It was a nightmare, but we were safe, together, and had a fireplace and a gas barbeque, and those things brought us through. It was over two weeks before power was restored to everyone - we had itermittent power as the Hydro crews removed branches which fell on the power lines across our yard and I used those times to start meals which I could finish on the barbeque. It's amazing how creative we can become if we have to. So hang in there, and try to enjoy Christmas, and leave the cleanup until Spring. We had to because our weather continued to be bad, but it was amazing as soon as the weather began to warm up to see perfect strangers just arriving on your property, cutting up downed trees and stacking the wood for free, and clearing up branches stuck in trees, and downing those which did not straighten up after the ice melted. We all pitched in and helped each other and things went faster than we expected. Maybe your comunity will come together like ours did. But take your time and see what nature has presented: it may be nicer than you think and remember 'this too will pass'. You will feel down sometimes, and that's O.K., because it will pass. Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones and we'll look forward to seeing your new beds in 2008.
Northerner.

I'm writing to thank all who encouraged me, both in writing and in spririt. I read and re-read your comments and was finally able to cut bait and get on with it. I had planned to give cakes as Christmas gifts, but the time without electricity really cut into my baking time. I adapted and decided to give muffin batter instead. I used an old family recipe with a one week ripening time and a 6 week shelf life. It saved time and cut back on stress.

The tree clearing shows some promise. The county is picking up and disposing of all wood that is cut into 12 foot pieces and placed at the curb before January 17. They say they are making two passes. I hope so. The front of our property is about 150 across. The curb is now piled 10-12 feet high from one end to the other and it hasn't made a dent in the damage. I am nonetheless encouraged by the fact that we don't have to haul it off. The challenge at this point is getting everything to the curb before January 17.

Again, thanks for all the encouraging words. I hope to have a garden this spring which is worthy of all positive people here on the forum.

Gratefully,
Seedmama

I remember the feeling. We were hit with an ice storm last year, nothing like I had ever seen before. It took quite awhile to clean up. You will recover and be stronger for it---now get out there and pick up some limbs! Just kiddin.

Seedmama, I was glad to see you posting, I'd been wondering how you were doing. That muffin adaptation sounded like a great idea, I'm glad you cut back and relieved yourself of some of the stress.

It's good too you can take advantage of some service from the county. We have many friends in the timber industry so had equipment available to us not everyone has, but our city did a similar pickup of storm debris - in fact are still doing it. (wow, would I love to own that city chipper/shredder that's been parked in the neighborhoods! It's the size of a house)

Good luck with your clean up. I hope you are pleasantly surprised in Spring with how far behind you you've been able to put your storm and the progress of your garden. If you are like many though, expect another dumpy day or two here and there. I had dinner with a friend who is our county health nurse New Years and she said 'fuzzy thinking' has been a big complaint and will be for some time - it's stress related and very common.

Happy New Years!