Scenes from the 2021 ice storm in Salem

Oregon gets a little cold in the winter and some years we even get snow. In my 30 years in Salem, I remember one other ice storm and it was nothing like this.

They warned us, but as I looked at the temps in the weather forecast I thought they were out of their minds, the temps were not getting that cold.

Boy oh boy did they prove me wrong. I so desperately wanted to get more photos, but the branches falling from the trees was terrifying. We watched them fall from our 80 ft. cedar trees and crash to the ground, or the roof as the case may be. I spent a few moments catching what I could before I boogied inside.

The gardens

I’d be lying if I said the gardens didn’t take a beating. We have some carnage and as the quotes roll in, trust me when I tell you it ain’t pretty.

On the flip side of the coin, we have new canvases to create a few more unique gardens.

Our ancient plum tree

I love this tree, she went through menopause several years ago, but I love this tree. She actually held up pretty well. We had some breakage, but I think she’ll make it another season or hopefully 20.

The ice laid that bamboo right down to the ground. So much so we couldn’t walk through it. The mountain willow just behind it took out two fences and is now resting on the shed.

Many of our tall grasses stood as long as they could before toppling to the weight of the ice. They needed to be trimmed this spring anyway.

The entry way into the bamboo forest.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t normal bamboo habitat. They look great now. Almost as if the ice never happened.

Around the gardens

The ice was absolutely beautiful. In hind sight, I really wish I wasn’t such a coward and had stayed out longer.

The goats and chickens were all fine, thank goodness. They were mortified and we kept them in their covered areas for the next two days so that they couldn’t get hit by any falling ice.

We never see ice cycles in this part of the state. They were almost mesmerizing.

The flamenco garden looks surreal hidden beneath the ice.

This bird house is clearly for alpine birds.

I was amazed how well the ice could build up on such a thin blade of metal.

This is the fence into the vegetable gardens. The ice was even impressive on it.

The birds hardly came out during the storm. We didn’t see Rocky the Raccoon or Inca the stray cat for days. I was starting to worry about them. Rocky came by on Sunday and Inca finally showed up last night.

Our garden angel held steadfast during the storm. Despite the damage we have, I can’t begin to tell you how lucky we feel. The animals are all safe, we are safe. Minimal damage to structures and fence considering what could have potentially happened.