Early Saturday morning, the McGruder farm suffered significant hail and wind damage. Curt McGruder estimated nickel-sized hail fell and reported many trees were down.
“It could have been a lot worse here,” he noted.
McGruder said several of the trees felled were four feet in diameter and between 150 and 200 feet tall.
“We had quite a bit of crop damage,” he said.
One-third of the cornfield for their upcoming fall maze was laid down by the wind. McGruder described the pumpkin leaves as looking like someone had blown holes in them with a shotgun.
However, McGruder remained optimistic about the ability of most crops to bounce back. He said the farm will need to be watchful for signs of disease and insect infestation where the pumpkins were penetrated by hail. The pumpkins are only three to four weeks from harvest.
McGruder estimates most of the corn fields will spring back up without issue since the plants are still young. Unfortunately, he informed, the ornamental corn field lost up to 75% of its crop and will likely not make a comeback.
He reported damage to the siding and roof of his house and the back wall of a storage building being blown out. McGruder mentioned the cleanup efforts will likely not affect preparations for the farm’s fall festival on Sept. 21, but it will take up a large amount of time. He enthusiastically looked forward to the farm’s fall events.
McGruder also mentioned possible plans of setting up outdoor movie nights in the pumpkin patch on Fridays in October.
“We’ve had such a wonderful reception from the community,” he added.
In the meantime, “The big thing really is a lot of cleaning,” he affirmed.
McGruder will hire a bucket truck to help cut down one of the trees and set about cutting up the rest with his chainsaw.
“This has been a tough year for storms,” he stated, “I think everybody has been impacted by storms this year. It’s not just us.”