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| Sue Dillman assessing damage to her farm. |
Driving from Bloomington to Columbus yesterday, it was impossible to miss the storm damage.
Trees were down all over Bloomington and power only recently restored in many areas.
I passed at least 30 utility trucks headed down south to aid in the cleanup.
I’d heard about the destruction of a few homes and barns, but hadn’t realized that barns and production facilities at Dillman Family Farms – the maker of my favorite Hoosier preserves and jams – were heavily damaged.
There are surprisingly few reports on the farm damage. But the Bloomington’s Herald-Times has a storm roundup and video featuring the extensive damage at Dillman. At one point in the video, someone says facetiously, “It’ll be a fun six months to get this place operational.” And someone else responds, “It’ll be hard to get it done in six months, won’t it.”
Indeed, the main building, which contains the farm’s primary boiler for cooking jellies and preserves, took a direct hit.
The building was damaged in a fire several years ago. But that only took production offline for a few weeks.
Son Cary Dillman tells the paper that the product is in good shape, but production will be offline “for a while” and during the farm’s busiest time – June through November. He estimated more than a million dollars in lost sales.
That’s what co-owner Sue Dillman is worried about most. She says in the video that she lost a lot of antiques, family dishes and such. But, those “are just things.”
Looking around at the damaged barns, she says, “Here’s what I’m worried about because we’ve got people depending on us for their livelihood and we need to get back in business as quickly as we can.”
My thoughts and prayers will be with the Dillmans and the cleanup crew as they scramble to get up and running as quickly as possible.
Virtual Farmgirl 