Floods damage Love is Love Farm, Canoe

The Sept. 21 floods that drenched Atlanta brought heavy damage to Love is Love Farm and Canoe restaurant.

Kevin Gillespie, executive chef at Woodfire Grill, plans a benefit at 6 p.m. on Oct. 11 for Love is Love Farm. He'll be cooking a five-course meal with wine pairings for $100, with all monies going to the farm. Joe Reynolds and Judith Winfrey lost their fall crops when flood waters from Anneewakee Creek covered the fields. The chickens made it through the storm.

Gillespie is a contender on the latest edition of "Top Chef," airing at 10 p.m. Wednesdays on Bravo. He's winning raves from the judges for his Southern-influenced, honest cooking.

Winfrey is co-leader of the Slow Food Atlanta convivium, and Reynolds works to set up school gardens as well as running a community-supported agriculture program and the farm. They're regulars at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market on Saturday, and also are among the operators of the Local Farmstand at Star Provisions. To read more about the flooding, check out this article from The New York Times or check the farm's Facebook page.

Canoe, nearly submerged when the Chattahoochee River poured over its banks, looks to be out of commission for repairs for a couple of months. Restaurant owners are trying to find temporary jobs for employees so they can keep the team together when the restaurant reopens.