As a warning, this post is not a happy one. This is my first time writing about something awful.
Sunday morning started like any other day. We had no idea that Sunday would be the day that our hearts would break into so many pieces. Ben and I did morning chores, fed the cows, fed the pigs, fed the sheep and the chickens, fed the calves. We had cleaned the whole barn out the day before, so everybody was comfy on their new shavings.
Sundays Ben and I like to go to Houlton and get groceries. Neither he nor I really every get a whole day off, but Sunday is usually the closest thing to it. We get groceries then I make my food for the week to take with me when I head down to Old Town area for work. I usually make a double batch of breakfast bars or cookies or something so I can leave half of them for him and half for me.
After groceries, we did chores that afternoon. We fed and watered everyone, The sheep were being especially cute so I took some photos of them to put on the website. We made sure the barn was still clean and then went home for supper. We had no idea we would never see them again.
At 8:30 someone pulled into the driveway and asked us if it was our barn that was on fire.
We live 3 houses down from the barn, and can see it from the kitchen, and could see nothing amiss. I had just taken my weekly cookies out of the oven.
We RAN out the door. Ben grabbed his boots but didn't have time to put them on. It was 20 degrees, we had shorts on.
I can't even begin to describe the feeling. The firetrucks were coming, but it was already too late for our beautiful sheep. Ben wheeled the truck into the farm yard and we ran in through the already burning doorway.
I opened up all the pens with the steers in them. Ben opened all but one of the pig pens. There was no time to cry for our babies. The cows and pigs still had a chance. It was hot and smokey. The animals were confused. It was chaos. Steers and pigs of all sizes mixed together and loose. The firetrucks arrived a minute later and started hosing. Ben and I herded our critters out toward the back of the barn in the dark, smoke and wind.
I had read that animals will run back into a burning barn, but had never seen it before. I know now that they do in fact try to run back in. Once we got them about half way out, we ripped off a couple of gates and propped them up to try to keep the animals from running back. Ben had soot on his face. I held the gates while Ben screamed to the firefighters to "cover him". Ben ran back into the fire. I died witnessing his bravery.
The fire fighters were able to hold off the flames and the collapsing timbers just long enough for Ben to get the last pen of pigs free. It was seconds, literally seconds after Ben and the last pen of pigs were out that the roof came down.
The wind switched away from the barn and hay side, thankfully. Instead of the barn it then burned the farmhouse and nearly all of our belongings that we had stored there. The firefighters were incredible. They worked efficiently and together. There were 5 volunteer fire departments on site. One of them found a lamb and gave it to a friend, who nursed her wounds sitting in her pickup truck.
It was 2:00 in the morning when it was mostly all over. We realized that all but 3 of the beef cows had run away.
Friends and family came and helped as soon as they heard. They brought us clothes (we were still in our shorts and it was 15 degrees by then). They brought us a hot drink and flashlights. They helped us find our missing beef cattle. They helped us corral the loose animals back into a pen and make sure they had food and water for the night. They let us cry over our lost calves and our lost sheep.
We went back to the house around 2:30. We were numb from the cold and from the heartbreak of losing our precious animals. We nursed our remaining lamb and tried to sleep.
The following day more friends and family came by to check on us and help out. The support from our community has been truly humbling. These are wonderful generous people. Although our barn and our hearts is crumbling around us, they volunteered to help hold us together in whatever way possible. We are so grateful and can't say thank you enough to show how much it means to us.
The fire was Sunday. Today is Wednesday. Ben and I are so grateful for the animals that were saved, but we are truly mourning the loss of our precious calves and sheep and lambs. They were kind and gentle and did not deserve what happened to them.
Rest in peace Peyton, Peter, Sun Flower, Olaf, Oliver, Hootie, Gretchen, Wynona, Patsy, Shania, Miranda, Martina, Reba, Faith, Dolly, Loretta, Gordon, Skippy, Moxie, Mocha, Whoopie Pie, Face, Partridge, and the 7 other little lambies who didn't even have names yet. We will always love you.
Silly as it sounds, I know that in heaven I will see their sweet faces again.
All things considered, we were lucky. We still have hay to feed our cattle and we still have cattle to feed. We still have pens full of pigs and chickens absolutely everywhere.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you firefighters, we thank you family, we thank you friends. We also want to thank whomever stopped by to tell us our barn was burning. You bought us enough time to save our animals, and we can never repay that.
We will start again.