CURTIS, WASH. — Before floodwaters sent mud, timber and debris roaring through it, Boistfort Valley Farm was a model of modern food production based on old-time values: community involvement and organic growing methods.
The family farm supplied veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers for farmers' markets in Seattle, Olympia and Chehalis, Wash. Some 250 families participated in its community-supported agriculture program, in which they buy a share from the farm in exchange for part of its bounty -- a weekly box of fresh produce, usually delivered from spring until fall. The last box included celery, Brussels sprouts, pie pumpkins, kale, sage and rosemary, and went out in November.
Then, in December, nature came crashing down around Mike and Heidi Peroni, their 47-acre farm and the rest of Lewis County, in southwestern Washington.
A storm packing hurricane-force winds dumped nearly a foot of rain in places, and the Chehalis River swelled over its banks. A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 was flooded, with water as deep as 10 feet. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed; more than 1,000 farm animals died.
Residents were sent scrambling for their lives.
The volume of water and the speed at which it rose was "absolutely surreal," said Mike Peroni. "When the water came in the house, at that point I switched from saving possessions to saving the family."
While helicopters plucked neighbors from rooftops, a rescue boat shuttled the Peronis, their infant daughter, his parents and the family dog to safety.
Two months later, muck and silt still blanket yards, barns and fields throughout the normally picturesque Boistfort Valley. Woody debris litters the land, which is home to dairies, other produce farms and greenhouses. Tractor-size dryers blow hot air into still-soggy houses. Roads, bridges and rail lines look battered. Some water and sewage systems remain broken.
The Peronis and their neighbors are working to dig out and put the pieces back in place.
And they are doing it together -- the way they built the community in the first place -- with help from unexpected quarters. Volunteers from churches, schools and service groups from towns hundreds of miles away expedited the recovery effort. Some still have their sleeves rolled up, as Seattle entrepreneur Diane Carney does.
"I was just stunned by the reports of the flooding," she said. "I felt like it was happening in my own backyard."
