Is it just me, or is there some mean, vindictive spirit in garden hoses that makes them always want to bend the wrong way when you are trying to wind them up?
Many, many years ago, when I was in the prime of life, I owned a lovely country house in Maryland behind which I had cultivated a spacious yard filled with flowers, shrubs, thick, green grass and other delights.
One sunny summer holiday, we were entertaining Greg – yes, that Greg -- and his family. His kids were still kids then. I had just finished watering the flower beds and hosing down the swimming pool deck when they arrived. The kids immediately headed for the pool, but Greg immediately headed for the snarly, knotted hose wound up in its usual unkempt state on its holder. Carefully, silently, he unwound it and then put it back, neat as a pin, each coil in its perfect place.
“I didn’t think it needed to be Moweaqua Fire Department perfect,” I said, knowing him to be a veteran of many years in that august Illinois organization.
“Might as well get it right,” he answered, sounding just like his father, and making me seem just like a little kid in need of learning how to be an adult. This despite me being almost old enough to be his father.(Biologically, yes, but it would have been a great scandal.)
Now, all these decades later, I still can’t wind a hose right, and he’s still a volunteer fireman, only now with the Orange Grove, North Carolina Volunteer Fire Department, a much larger operation than the Moweaqua one, then or now.
The OGVFD has eight fire engines in all, including a fine new one that carries some 1600 feet of hose, every inch perfectly wound. The Fire Chief is Ricky J. Baker and he is in charge of 45 volunteer firefighters, EMT specialists and other expert personnel, as well as three stations, including Station #2, which sits right next to Union Grove Farm, more or less across the road from the Maple View Ice Cream Shop near the Blue Heeler coffee truck. And about a mile and a half from the Little House by the Vineyard, whose 50-foot garden hose is pretty much permanently tangled, when I bother to wind it at all.
But hose winding prowess is only one of the reasons I stand in awe of the Orange Grove Volunteer Fire Department. They respond to an enormous number of emergencies; Greg himself has gone out on 844 calls since 2020, when he became an Orange Grove fireman. He’s put in 374 training hours since then, too – learning how to deal with fires, floods, wrecks and other emergencies.
Greg is, of course, one of the many Licensed and Certified Responders, who in their real lives include people like doctors and aspiring doctors, a music teacher, a town manager, mechanics, farmers and more In fact, the makeup of the department is pretty much a sample of the people who live in this exceptional area. It’s a heck of a community organization, if you ask me, and not just because they know how to wind hose. They are also willing to face real danger to serve their neighbors and community, heading toward trouble in any weather conditions at all hours of the day and night.
Some of the men have specialties, things they are really proficient at. One of Greg’s areas of focused training is rescuing victims trapped in their vehicles after automobile accidents. With practiced precision, he uses the jaws of life and Hurst tools to cut through the wreckage, carefully freeing the occupants and often saving their lives. .
In these days, First Responders are finally getting some of the recognition they deserve. The turning point was 9-11 and it has endured. A new book, Behind the Badge, by a war hero double amputee with the unlikely name of Johnny Joey Jones continues the veneration of First Responders and I recommend it.
Just this month, Tropical Storm Chantal passed right through the heart of Orange Country, causing death and destruction from the Eno to the Haw Rivers, dumping eight inches of rain on the Little House knocking the power out for almost a whole day and causing a leak in the roof. The resources of the Orange Grove Fire Department were sorely challenged but heroically met: on at least nine emergency calls in twenty-four hours
serve breakfast at OGVFD event
The close relationship between farm and fire department goes beyond Greg’s service. Meredith is an active member of the Fire Department Auxiliary, which is headed up by the redoubtable Allison Nichols, owner of the ice cream shop, who keeps its records as neat and tidy as its hoses are. Her husband, Hank, has the awesome responsibility of keeping all the grass on the Union Grove property similarly neat and tidy, including the lawn at the Little House. I try to make sure I don’t leave any hoses out where they might be a problem for him. It’s the least I can do.
is never far from his cellphone
The Auxiliary is most proud of the fifty year history book they put together, and which is on display at the station. It’s a remarkable achievement, and duly.honors Charles W. Snipes, Allison’s grandfather, who founded the OGVFD. They also sponsor two annual breakfasts and other events to raise money for incidental expenses of the department.
Last year, they coordinated the assistance the Orange Grove Department gave to devastated Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. OGVFD sent some nine semitrailer truckloads of food and water, medical supplies, equipment and other needed items. Greg donated a box truck to pick up the various items and bring them to the station. Somehow, Allison found the 18-wheelers.
Many of the fund-raisers and celebrations are hosted by Union Grove Farm, in the wedding venue or in Greg’s own home. At the breakfasts, he can be found, spatula in hand, flipping pancakes.
I know that all the people of Union Grove Farm are grateful to be part of this amazing organization. It’s evident especially in things like hosting the fire department’s cookout this year at Greg’s house; also, the celebration for the 50th anniversary of the OFVFD was hosted by the Barn at Union Grove Farm.
So here I sit, everything written, except for one small item, which I need Greg to confirm for me. I try to reach him, but, wouldn’t you know it, he’s out on an emergency call. Well, I guess I don’t really need it.
