As I’m sitting here some time after a 37 foot wall of water came through the farm and down the river. I wanted to take some time to reflect on the last few days before I shared a few thoughts with Y’all.

1. My heart breaks for those families who lost loved ones over these last few days. As a parent, I can only imagine losing a child in an event like that would be like my soul being ripped from my body. Words will never be able to adequately express the pain they must be going through.

2. I am so thankful for my neighbor who called me at 5am asking if I knew anything about the river being up. This gave us time to get all the animals out and mitigate as much damage as possible.

3. I appreciate the community response. For a minute, everyone sets asides differences and preferences and comes together to help each other as humans should. I wish we could do that more regularly. Thank you for all the county EMS who have risked their lives to save others. Thank you for all the people reaching out and wanting to help!

4. We exist in a floodplain. It’s never a question of if, but when stuff like this happens. I am so thankful this time it happened during our slow season in the summer. We have time to repair things before our busy Fall Fest. Last time this happened (2018) was the opening day of fall fest and then it flooded again in October. For those of you who don’t know my story – I had to sell my house to keep the farm alive for another year.

5. How you’ve helped: We appreciate the outpouring of love from our friends, members, and guests. While we have a lot of work to do, as we prioritized helping those who lost everything over us. There were several organizations you helped us reach while we offered to match your donation of tickets. For every Single ticket you bought we donated two at the organizations of your choice!

6. The farm closed for 2 months so we could work to restore services, re-fence, and rebuild activities. Again, I find myself with an err of optimism. How often do we get a blank canvas to repaint a picture — not of what is, but what could be? While I won’t get to build the farm of my dreams quickly, sometimes there are benefits to starting over.

7. First hand account of what happened:
I got a phone call from a neighbor on the river around 5am asking me if I knew anything about the river coming up. I told him to let me look and I would call him back.

I like to use weather underground’s wundermap tool to see everyone’s personal weather station so I can get an accurate idea of how much rain is falling in geographical areas.

I saw Burnet / Liberty Hill already had 12 inches of rain since midnight and so I called him back and said yes – we’re going to have a slug of water coming down the river.

The USGS also has three river gauges on the San Gabriel that I regularly use to also determine the probability of a flood event and time frame. The one in Liberty hill went to 30 feet and then stopped reporting. The only at I35 and Georgetown then was showing an equipment malfunction. So I had no idea how bad it would get, and wasn’t willing to wait so we immediately started evacuation procedures of the animals and getting all the loose stuff in the lowest lying areas.

I think of it like a military tactical withdrawal. I’ve seen the property flood 3 times before and so I know how the water flows through the farm.
Thankfully, we were able to get everything moved out of the low spots before water breached the banks. The water came in FAST! We continued to move to higher ground and the buildings until we could do no more. Then it is just a waiting game.

The third gauge is at Mankins crossing (the low water crossing on 29 just east of Georgetown). I watched that crest and I knew it would be a few hours before we crested. So we just sat, rested and took in the surreal environment that we were a part of.

I made some marks at the waterline to see the crest and watch the river receed. While it went down as fast as it came up, we had lots of new aquatic friends on the farm.

Then the long road begins again…

We honestly don’t even know where to begin, but thank you is a good place to start. To our incredible community: thank you for showing up when it mattered most.

Huge thanks to Amanda and Alisha from Taylor Feed and Supply for organizing over 60 people: high school cheer and football teams, NJHS groups, church groups and a Taylor City Councilman. https://www.facebook.com/TaylorFeedandSupply
Special thanks to @Matt Perez For organizing a clean up crew!

Centex woodland co. – @Mike Savoy
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558992622039

Mallard and sons- Brent Humphreys
https://www.facebook.com/mallardandsons

Austin Powder Company- Georgetown Crew
https://www.facebook.com/AustinPowderCompany

Granger ISD – Athletic Department
https://www.facebook.com/granger.isd

Big Bs Grocery in Granger TX- Elliot Bohuslav
https://www.facebook.com/bigbsmeatmarket

First Baptist Church Taylor
https://www.facebook.com/fbctaylortx

The Dirty Barbque crew
https://www.facebook.com/Dirty.Barbecue

Chick Fil A Georgetown
https://www.facebook.com/cfageorgetowntx

Grace Academy https://www.facebook.com/graceacademytx

Our Church FBG and especially the 40s class
https://www.facebook.com/fbgchurch

To our amazing annual members: thank you for being the steady support we can always count on & thanks for coming out & helping!

To every customer who reached out in support or asked how to help, bought a donation ticket, thank you!  Your kindness, generosity, and heart remind us why we do what we do. We’re so grateful.

And finally, that brings us here — to this sign.

It’s our playful way of letting you know that something exciting is on the horizon. Big news is coming soon, and with it, a few new furry (and not-so-furry) friends who will be joining us. Stay tuned — we can’t wait to introduce them to you!