After the flooding of Irene and Lee, NYC food blogger Liza de Guia, who makes short behind-the-scenes documentary films about food from field to fork, visited Maple Downs Farm in Middleburgh. What she found was a landscape that has become all too familiar in the region: acres of flattened corn, destroyed equipment, evidence of barns and buildings that were up to their eaves in water.
In the film, farmer Denise Lloyd echoes the words we've been hearing again and again from flood victims: At least we survived.
"I choose to thank God that it wasn't worse than what it actually was. It wiped out our farm, our business, it wiped out our home, it wiped out my business on Main Street, my car was totaled, trucks were totaled. Everywhere you look, it affected every part of our lives," she said.
"I am thankful to God for His mercy that we're all here, my family members are all here."
It's a powerful and affecting video. De Guia writes that she will continue to tell the stories of upstate farmers whose lands and livelihoods have been devastated by the floods, and is looking for more ways to help:
When you think about it, this is farmland that feeds New York, farmers that work the land and tend to their animals so we all can eat locally. If these farms don’t recover, we will see direct implications on our plates. Again, this is just one story of hundreds out there. I’ll do my best to bring you more stories over the next few weeks. And if you’re interested in helping out in any way, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me. I’d love to help organize something.
