After the ice storm Kirsten Brunner’s Beaverwood Farm in Hillsburgh, ON, was without electricity for seven days, leaving her struggling to feed, water, and safely manage 58 horses on the property as the temperatures plunged.
Her number-one ally, without question, was her 15-year-old Honda generator. “The generator is hooked up to the well, and that supplies water to the entire property,” said Brunner. “That is part of our emergency preparedness. I’ve run this business here since 1986, and that was one of the first things that we invested in, knowing perfectly well that without hydro we can’t get the water out of the well.” The generator – which was purchased second-hand and has since been rewired to the house by an electrician – has certainly paid for itself as it soldiered on through a number of lengthy blackouts over the years. “We just switch three panels down in the basement and we’re ready to go,” says Brunner, who adds that the 98-acre property has a river running through it as well, so as a backup they can always “do it like they did in the 1800s – chop a hole in the ice!”
Brunner tried to stick to a daily routine in spite of the weather. “Our horses are very comfortable with living outside, so even with the ice storm and the severe conditions of the footing, our animals still went out every day – from 7:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. They are used to the routine; when you lock horses up in stalls for three or four days, they come out and explode, and that’s when accidents happen.”