Our Valley

Posts filed under Our Valley

Eight Mudslides: What Helene Did to the Farm - Cover Image
Our Valley
Eight Mudslides: What Helene Did to the Farm

People ask whether the farm was destroyed. It was not. What Helene did was get into everything: water in every basement, every building touched, and something nobody here had seen before on this land.

SF
Shipley Farms
October 3, 2026 · 3 min read
Reopening After Helene - Cover Image
Our Valley
Reopening After Helene

The farm store took six or eight inches of water and had to come apart. Rebuilding it properly would have been the better-looking decision and the slower one.

SF
Shipley Farms
October 3, 2026 · 3 min read
The Farm as a Supply Outpost - Cover Image
Our Valley
The Farm as a Supply Outpost

Nobody planned this. The farm had a retail presence, a bit of parking and a location people already knew, which in the weeks after Helene turned out to be the whole job description.

SF
Shipley Farms
October 3, 2026 · 3 min read
When Hurricane Helene Cut Off the Valley - Cover Image
Our Valley
When Hurricane Helene Cut Off the Valley

Hurricane Helene reached the North Carolina mountains in September 2024. At the farm in Vilas the damage was real but survivable. What people here remember most is not the water.

SF
Shipley Farms
October 3, 2026 · 3 min read