I have started a blog about rain about five ten three hundred times this summer. Then I think, “Is weather talk really that interesting? and “Doesn’t everyone have weather?” Finally I have to say that at this point, I doubt our weather would bore anyone. And I really hope people aren’t having weather like we are having weather.

As you know we look out onto the hills of Vermont. We are just a few miles from Vermont as the crow flies. This means we have been getting the exact same weather as Vermont, so our roads have flooded and some have washed away. I am grateful to be on a hill, that is for sure.

The Vermont town my eldest son Ben (webmaster for GHF) lives in made the opening sequence of the ABC and NBC news. I am grateful he too lives up a hill. In Quechee, anything near ground level was flooded out. Here’s his photo of one of the golf holes near his house. This was well before the streams crested.

Below is a shot of our favorite specialty grocery store in nearby Woodstock, Vermont, the Woodstock Farmer’s Market. The store posted this photo on their Instagram Page.

The store is in the middle of the shot and the building on the right is where they cooked their food. The main road going east west across Vermont is Rte #4, and you can see here that it too was flooded. The Woodstock Farmer’s Market is was the place for particularly delicious sandwiches, choice produce and enormous fun cookies. We had just been there a few days before the flood.

The Woodstock Farmer’s Market lost everything during Hurricane Irene in 2011, and they have lost everything again. We hear they had time to get all their stock out and donate it to needy folks. They have always had a particular mission to feed the hungry but this was heroic.

Every time I think this extreme weather is over we get more rain. Last night daughter Emily who lives across town sent this picture which she entitled “The Edge of Mordor.

Yes, it heralded a new storm coming in with thunder like I have never heard. One crack last night rumbled so loud and so long that our house shook for what seemed like a minute. Since the noise was pretty much in total sync with the lightning, we looked around wondering what had gotten struck. We texted our neighbors to see if they were okay. They were fine but also wide awake like we were!

The gardens soldier on, but the endless wet and wild winds have knocked over some plants that I didn’t expect to find wind and rain a challenge. Here are some of the Scotch Thistles this morning.

I just went and cut this all away as they were flumped on the Red Shiso.

Yes, the Red Shiso is quite small. Like most plants, it needs sun, and between the smoke and the endless rain we haven’t seen sun very much. BTW if you know a farmer, they probably need your kind words of support. This has been quite the growing season just about everywhere.

As far as our vegetable garden goes, it looks fairly lush but looks can be deceiving. Two fawns have figured out how to join the groundhog in feasting on the produce each night. They have eaten down the peas, beans, beets, and swiss chard twice. You can see the swiss chard at the bottom of the shot trying to come back. And did I mention how much the bugs like these wet conditions?

I am just grateful for the farm stand on the other side of town and the fact that no one seems to like basil, parsley, celery or onions. The fawns also broke into the blueberries. Lizzie chased them out this morning. It is hard to get cross at fawns, but Jim probably was pretty irritated with them by the time he had repaired the netting they ripped to shreds.

Well I have got to go. A delivery of 54,000 bottles has just arrived and I have got to get it tarped and ready for the next big storm predicted to arrive any moment! Wish me luck!