Flood Relief for Terra Verde Farm

It is hard to describe the surreal week our family has been through after the record-breaking flooding that has devastated Whatcom County this week. It has been so hard to juggle basic clean up while processing the damage and tallying the losses we've endured. Thank you for reading our story.

Terra Verde Farm, our Organic vegetable and berry farm, was finishing up our farmers market and CSA seasons and continuing to fill our wholesale orders to the Co-Op — when the flooding hit our Everson home and nearby farm.

On Sunday, the floodwaters rapidly swept across our property on the east side of the Nooksack River. As our home and 4-acre blueberry patch flooded with several feet of rushing water, the kids and I were able to self evacuate before the river peaked. My husband Sküter narrowly got out a few hours after us.

We were able to return home the next day, and got to work pumping water away from our house, our garage and from under our house. We've still been unable to clear all the water from our house to assess whether the furnace is still functional or salvageable.

Two cords of firewood were swept away, and two of our vehicles took on water almost up to the seats. We're still working to assess all the damage to equipment that was located at our home property.

On Tuesday, we were finally able to access our 15-acre vegetable farm on the west side of the Nooksack, and discovered the most significant losses there.

The flood water punched a huge hole in the dike on the eastern edge of the property, causing the river to rush directly through our farm. This path of water was so significant it eroded ground just south of the Everson bridge causing the bridge to close while its integrity was investigated.

A lot of our possessions just vanished with the flood water: a portable toilet, picnic table, and three point sprayer. Several pallet bins filled with irrigation fittings and other valuables are nowhere to be found. We also lost our supply of landscape fabric. We are most concerned about the equipment we have at this site. We have three tractors on this site (Hydro 186, Case IH 685, and our Allis CA) that took on so much water it pressurized the oil system causing water to pour out of the dipstick for several minutes when removed. We are in the process of trying to remove water from the tractor engine compartment and transmissions to see if they are salvageable.

We also have a 20ft shipping container on site housing all our harvest packaging, some seeds and fertilizer. This huge container was picked up and moved 30 feet, took on water and the contents were upended and trashed. We also have implements like a 10ft disc and pulvi-mulcher, and pull behind transplanter that were under feet of rushing water — wheel bearings, hydraulic rams and gearboxes are of major concern here.

Then there is the crop loss, as we cannot legally sell crops that have been flooded; it's just not safe. We only had one more farmers market for the season, but we were still wholesaling crops to the Coops twice weekly and had two weeks left of our prepaid fall CSA to fulfill, and we need to provide a refund option to those clients.

In tallying the damage, loss and cost to repair and potentially replace equipment, our rough estimate is around $32,000.

What is so heartbreaking is that it has taken 15 years of slow intentional investment, little by little to get to where we are. Terra Verde sells our produce directly at the Bellingham Farmers Market, our CSA, and U-Pick blueberry stand. We also wholesale to the Bellingham Food Bank, Community Food Co-Ops, Bow Hill, Puget Sound Food Hub and more.

We have flood insurance for our house, but our farm insurance policy does not cover any of our losses.

We are actively seeking financial assistance to help ensure we can recover from the extensive damage, and have a 2022 farming season.

Our family is so grateful for this amazing community, the love and support and concern that has poured in is staggering — it truly feels like we are not alone and isolated in our recovery.

Thank you so much for your donation, and for spreading the work with your networks. Every dollar and every share will help our family immensely.

Skuter, Amy, Rudy and Alan Fontaine

Terra Verde Farm