Musings on Hurricane Florence

How is everyone doing out there? Hopefully everyone is dry and the power’s on…

Just a little update from our corner of the Upstate… A little bit of wind (gusts up to 30mph), a little bit of rain (less than 2 inches). Power went out twice – once Friday, once Sunday – but Florence’s route directly over Greenville meant we were never in her northeast quadrant, and were spared the heavy rains the NE corner of the state received. You can see who got what here.

Blue skies and hot temps Friday at Chau Ram County Park

The most interesting weather actually came through on Friday, which we spent up in Oconee county in some soupy summer weather. As you can see in this video from our local Stone Academy weatherSTEM station, sunrise and sunset were crazy colorful. Add to that clouds moving in two different directions at once all day, and you have some prime sky-watching material.

The rainy weather meant curling up with a good book, and I’ve got two that merit mention here. The first, Karl, Get Out of the Garden!: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything by Anita Sanchez is actually a children’s book, but it was read and enjoyed by 3 out of 5 household members. The beautifully-illustrated book is about scientific names and the Linnaean system (the basis for the classification system used by biologists around the world today), but backyard science is brought to life for the budding naturalist, scientist and botanist.

The second book was a completely unexpected. Despite (or maybe I should write in spite of) Florence, cookbook club persevered, and Sunday evening we gathered for a feast of hurricane proportions. This month’s book was The Cottage Kitchen: Cozy Cooking in the English Countryside by Marte Marie Forsberg. I’m not sure if it is because of the heavy Scandinavian undertones, the accessible ingredients, or the gourmet dishes requiring (surprisingly) little effort, I made a record number of recipes from this cookbook in the weeks preceding our Sunday dinner and loved every single one of them. I enjoy a cookbook divided by season, and with the high temperature/humidity days it’s no surprise I was cooking out of the ‘summer’ chapter… Tomato tarte tatin with burrata, Tomato, olive, and mozzarella baked peppers, Spinach and goat cheese frittata… Thank goodness fall is around the corner as I’ll be able to try the Potato soup with smoked salmon, then come winter I’ll repeat the Warm salmon, mint and potato salad, and Creamy fish soup with clams. However, don’t discount the ‘afternoon tea’ section – Lise’s carrot cake and Tante Marie’s coffee and fig bread among others – which is absolutely delicious. If I could suggest a Femme au Foyer cookbook of the year, this would be it. (Disclaimer, the first edition was actually published in 2017, but let’s not bandy words…)

The Cottage Kitchen's tomato tarte tatin with burrata

But back to Florence, what I find interesting is that despite the massive rainfall received in portions of the state, South Carolina is barely out of drought status. According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, the portion of the state that received the most rainfall in the past week was actually suffering from abnormally dry conditions just last week. Greenville County had been in a moderate drought up until June 2017, and although we’re now at ‘normal’ levels, it’s clear from the lake levels that it will take a little more to bring us back up to speed. Remember, some of the worst flooding in SC has been from rivers cresting – the same rivers that receive all the runoff water from the impervious surfaces and channeled rivers & creeks here in the Upstate.

On the 1.5 mile trail around Lake Furman - the lake level is LOW

Thinking of all those who had more than their share of this massive storm, and keeping a careful eye on the Atlantic during the next two months of hurricane season,

x your Femme au foyer