We are happy to report that on the whole, Papa Spud's growers and ranchers are reporting minimal damage and losses as a result of the Hurricane.  Farms west of the Triangle like Faucette Farm outside of Greensboro, or even Lyon Farm in Creedmoor report little more than some wind and occasional rain.  Farms east of the Triangle are reporting much more rain and heavy winds, but minimal damage.  Gary Wise of Wise Farms in Mount Olive, says he received 5-7 inches of rain, but the ground soaked it all up.  He hasn't noticed any significant flooding in his fields, and very little crop damage.  However, Gary did say that he is worried another storm may come through in the near future, which would cause a lot more damage since the ground is now so saturated.  Up the road to Snow Hill and Rainbow Meadow Farm outside of Greenville, Sandra Gardner reports more damage than her counterparts further west.  Sandra says they lost a couple of hen houses in the high winds, despite having tied them down with mobile-home anchors.  Sandra reports further damage by fallen trees, which destroy fences and leave animals free to wander away from ranches in her area.  However, she says it could have been much worse, and they are already getting back on track.  She says she will still have fresh eggs to deliver next week.  

We also contacted John Haag with Haag and Sons/Southport Seafood on the coast, to see how the storm is affecting them.  John says they actually opened right back up on Sunday after the storm passed through.  John explained that all boats obviously came in to harbor before the storm, so there is always a disruption as they head back out to sea and try to gather stock.  In terms of actual fishing, John explained that large storms cause disruptions to the sea floor, and essentially mix everything up, making it difficult to locate many varieties of fish that go into hiding until the seabed settles back down.  Regarding shrimp, John says that the storm is expected to have flushed the majority of shrimp out of the Pamlico Sound, where they had been found before the hurricane.  The challenge now is to find out where they have gone.  He says they often end up flushed south down to the stretch of water between Morehead City and Sneads Ferry.  John sounded quite confident that the shrimp would soon be found, but it's a gamble trying to decide where to look!

Search:
Browse all recipes