I don't know about you, but I was not ready for it to be this cold already. We knew the cold was coming for several days, but it never fails that every year there is a mad dash to get everything buttoned up. Maybe we were caught off guard since the first cold spell was so early, but more likely, we've just been so busy trying to finish things up outside knowing that the warmer weather would be done soon that we felt the time crunch. Our Monday in the nice 70 degree weather was spent getting the animals ready. Ray and Sam helped with loading hay into the wagon behind the 4-wheeler to fill the pig huts with bedding and some for the pigs to nibble on too. They also cleaned the stock tanks, refilled, and got the heated deicers plugged in. Next, the lambs shelter was modified and extra hay bedding was brought in. The chickens were left in their chicken tractors, but we wrapped them in tarps (the tractors, not the chickens :) to keep the cold north wind from blowing straight in. Ray and I covered the lettuces and kale in the greenhouse with extra layers of frost blankets to hold in the heat. Brad spent the afternoon putting foam boards into a wooden box so we could store the soaked pig feed with a lamp to keep the feed from freezing. We quickly sealed up gaps around the door frame of the greenhouse and covered the vents with foam to keep the wind from blowing through. When all was said and done, we were in for the night around 10pm, six hours after the front blew through the farm.
Before the weather changed we were able to complete the work on our tarp building. Around 5pm one evening the wind went calm so we called up my father-in-law and a close family friend and in four hours the tarp was set up, pulled over, and tied down with no complications. In fact, I ran into town to get some pizza for dinner since this was a spur of the moment event and dinner hadn't yet been planned and by the time I got back (I was gone only 10 minutes) they had the tarp pulled up and over. It reminded of me when I ran to the grocery store when they put up all the greenhouse frames before I got back. It was a relief that it went as smoothly as it did, so I won't complain about missing the cool stuff. The next day the plywood boards were put up on three sides. Now it's ready to be filled!
Since the spring season on the farm has always been a busy time for us, even before taking over the CSA, I always do a fall cleaning/purging of the home. I started in our living and dining room this week. I always hope that no one come to surprise visit us while I'm deep cleaning because it always looks worse before it looks better. I remember a couple of years ago I was cleaning the children's room and pulling stuff out of their closet. I had stuff everywhere and my oldest said to me that he thought I was cleaning their room, not making it worse. Sometimes to clean a mess, you have to make a bigger mess. Surely someone out there understands what I mean.
I hope you all enjoyed the snowfall we got. We got between 2-3 inches here. We will take any and all moisture we can get and if it comes in the form of snow, so be it. I know our children were quite happy to wake up on Sunday morning to a snow covered farm. We don't have any hills for sledding. A compost pile yes, but a true hill, no. So we make do and do it our own way. We hook up two sleds that Brad used when he was growing up and pull them behind the 4-wheeler in the field behind our house. Everyone comes inside cold, but happy. I have the hot cocoa ready and the wood stove is always warm and ready to sit by.
After a successful first drop a couple of weeks ago we are looking forward to our next this coming Thursday. We learned a lot about what works and what doesn't work when it comes to filling boxes. We will be learning more each time we do it and will have it down to an art by next spring.
Stay warm and enjoy the "warmer" temperature arriving later this week!
Until next time,
Tiff
Before the weather changed we were able to complete the work on our tarp building. Around 5pm one evening the wind went calm so we called up my father-in-law and a close family friend and in four hours the tarp was set up, pulled over, and tied down with no complications. In fact, I ran into town to get some pizza for dinner since this was a spur of the moment event and dinner hadn't yet been planned and by the time I got back (I was gone only 10 minutes) they had the tarp pulled up and over. It reminded of me when I ran to the grocery store when they put up all the greenhouse frames before I got back. It was a relief that it went as smoothly as it did, so I won't complain about missing the cool stuff. The next day the plywood boards were put up on three sides. Now it's ready to be filled!
Since the spring season on the farm has always been a busy time for us, even before taking over the CSA, I always do a fall cleaning/purging of the home. I started in our living and dining room this week. I always hope that no one come to surprise visit us while I'm deep cleaning because it always looks worse before it looks better. I remember a couple of years ago I was cleaning the children's room and pulling stuff out of their closet. I had stuff everywhere and my oldest said to me that he thought I was cleaning their room, not making it worse. Sometimes to clean a mess, you have to make a bigger mess. Surely someone out there understands what I mean.
I hope you all enjoyed the snowfall we got. We got between 2-3 inches here. We will take any and all moisture we can get and if it comes in the form of snow, so be it. I know our children were quite happy to wake up on Sunday morning to a snow covered farm. We don't have any hills for sledding. A compost pile yes, but a true hill, no. So we make do and do it our own way. We hook up two sleds that Brad used when he was growing up and pull them behind the 4-wheeler in the field behind our house. Everyone comes inside cold, but happy. I have the hot cocoa ready and the wood stove is always warm and ready to sit by.
After a successful first drop a couple of weeks ago we are looking forward to our next this coming Thursday. We learned a lot about what works and what doesn't work when it comes to filling boxes. We will be learning more each time we do it and will have it down to an art by next spring.
Stay warm and enjoy the "warmer" temperature arriving later this week!
Until next time,
Tiff
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