{"id":709721,"date":"2026-06-17T15:28:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709721\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T15:28:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:28:34","slug":"kuipers-family-farm-in-maple-park-cleans-up-makes-repairs-after-serious-derecho-damage-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709721\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuipers Family Farm in Maple Park cleans up, makes repairs after serious derecho damage \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best thing that Kim Kuipers could say about last week\u2019s storm damage was that no person or animal was injured.<\/p>\n

A storm known as a derecho \u2013 a long-lived, large area of thunderstorms with damaging winds, according to meteorologist Kevin Birk at the National Weather Service in Romeoville \u2013 is what roared through and smacked Kuipers Family Farm<\/a> in Maple Park<\/a>, on the border of Kane<\/a> and DeKalb<\/a> counties, last the afternoon of June 10. <\/p>\n

Kim Kuipers said the storm blast ripped the roof off the barn, mangled it and dumped it in pieces in the apple orchard. The winds also peeled back the roof from the main store and business office. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A derecho storm blast blew the roof off the barn at Kuipers Family Farm in Maple Park Wednesday, June 10. No person or animal was injured and repairs to the damage are underway. (Photo provided by Kuipers Family Farm)<\/p>\n

\u201cStaff was here, but no one was hurt,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team from Zenz Buildings in DeKalb<\/a>, which had built the two-story barn and one-story store and office building, came to cover the barn with a tarp because a second round of storms was expected, Kuipers said.<\/p>\n

\"Indoor<\/p>\n

Indoor damage at the Orchard Store of Kuipers Family Farm in Maple Park after a derecho storm tore the roof off the barn \u2013 where the store is \u2013 and peeled back the office building roof Wednesday, June 10. The family is waiting a new steel roof to arrive and be installed. (Photo provided by Kuipers Family Farm)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tarped it and nailed all the tarps down,\u201d she said, adding Kuipers\u2019 own crew, including her husband and two sons, \u201cflipped the roof back on the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re waiting for a new steel roof to arrive and be installed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still working on an estimate of damage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The storm also blew over some attractions and knocked over eight big trees near their home on the northeast side of the farm property, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us were here,\u201d Kuipers said. \u201cI pulled out on [Illinois Route] 38 and headed east. I could see the storm clouds. [Her son] Joe was behind me in his truck. I call him, \u2018Should we tell your dad we are leaving? If something happens to us, call 1-800-Sell-Our-Farm.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There were two employees at the store who during the storm went downstairs to the lower level farmhouse kitchen, where they were safe, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a little detour,\u201d she said of the storm damage. \u201cWe will be back repairing and working on projects for the fall to be on track to open. We will have a new orchard shop entrance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A derecho storm peeled off the business office’s roof at Kuipers Family Farm in Maple Park Wednesday, June 10. The family is waiting for a new steel roof to arrive and be installed. (Photo provided by Kuipers Family Farm)<\/p>\n

As to this type of storm\u2019s unpredictability, Kuipers said there is a giant windmill still standing in front of the store with not a nick in it.<\/p>\n

The family posted information on its Facebook<\/a> page about the damage and the fact that no one \u2013 and no animals were hurt.<\/p>\n

Joe Kuipers posted a Bible verse there from Jeremiah 17:7-8: \u201cBut blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Kuipers said the family has \u201calways really liked the verse with the agricultural tie-in to the apple orchard. A tree planted by a stream has deep roots and sustains itself even in drought. … It\u2019s just a reminder to us put our trust in God and God provides for us exactly what we need. He actually gives us more than we can handle, so we can put our trust in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farm also has a cow, a horse, goats, chickens and ducks and a pen with fallow deer. Joe Kuipers said one whole side of the deer pen was smashed, but none of the animals suffered injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really really grateful for that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can always repair stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farm, which celebrating its 25th year, is closed until fall harvest and still plans to reopen on schedule on Aug. 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The best thing that Kim Kuipers could say about last week\u2019s storm damage was that no person or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[14144,16993,28,16655,192,39636,306194,79,61548,34470],"class_list":["post-709721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-animal","tag-breaking","tag-business","tag-dekalb-county","tag-environment","tag-kane-county","tag-maple-park","tag-science","tag-shaw-local-front-headlines","tag-storms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}