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Last week, hotels and restaurants with power responded to customers looking for a hot meal and a warm bed. This week, landscapers and tree services were responding to countless calls to help clear debris.
One of the busiest has been Double-D Tree Service of Olympia, co-owner Karen Drewry said. The 18-year-old business has responded to storm cleanup before, but nothing quite like this, she said.
The phone is ringing about every three minutes, and Drewry said she is so busy responding to calls that she can hardly do anything else until about mid-afternoon.
“This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” she said.
During the storm the business lost phone service, but that didn’t stop people from calling and leaving a message. Drewry checked her messages on a neighbor’s phone, and the business had quickly accumulated 45 on the business line and 21 on a cellphone.
While Karen Drewry answers phone calls, her husband, Dave, is in the field, removing trees, chipping wood or hauling away debris. She doesn’t expect business to slow for the next three to four weeks.
Although business has been great for Double-D, others, such as Thurston County farmers, are dealing with a different kind of reality. Some milk farmers temporarily were without power during the storm and others are facing damaged crops or facilities, Thurston County Farm Bureau vice president Glen Morgan said.
Morgan’s family raises alder, cedar and fir trees on a 300-acre tree farm between Rochester and Tenino. He and his father recently toured the property and found 20-year-old trees that either had been broken in two or bent in such a way that they won’t grow straight, ruining the long-term value of the product. It also means replanting trees that require a 40- to 45-year life cycle before they can be harvested, he said.
Left Foot Organics, which leases farmland south of Olympia, lost a “hoop house” – similar to a greenhouse – after it collapsed under the weight of so much snow and ice, executive Director Ann Vandeman said.
The hoop house, which was about 100 feet long and 24 feet wide – big enough for a tractor to drive through – covered an area that was used to grow tomatoes, peppers, basil and celery, she said.
“It was something we used a lot and depended on,” Vandeman said.
Replacing the hoop house with a new one might cost the nonprofit about $6,500. Other options include using smaller, existing hoop houses on the same site or investing in an inexpensive replacement, she said. Left Foot Organics also might apply for grant funds through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but those grants tend to favor those who own their own land, rather than lease, she said.
Morgan said the farm bureau will provide advisory assistance to farmers as well as insurance.
Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403
rboone@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/bizblog
