{"id":7483,"date":"2013-01-25T03:59:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T10:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=7483"},"modified":"2013-01-29T12:43:33","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T19:43:33","slug":"ready-set-mix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=7483","title":{"rendered":"Ready, Set, Mix."},"content":{"rendered":"

There is something special about preparing the farm for the approach of a winter storm.\u00a0 Well, OK, here we actually call it a “wintry mix.”\u00a0 To differentiate it from those of you that have real winter storms.\u00a0 We may not get 21 inches of snow or wind chill causing negative temperatures (84 degrees below zero, New Hampshire<\/a>?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Skiing seems like so much, um,..fun?), but we do occasionally get a snow, ice, and sleet “event.”\u00a0 Which means the weather forecasters want to cover their butts by declaring that it is going to be cold and any type of precipitation is possible.\u00a0 A lot of people sneer at this type of forecasting, but I think it is completely appropriate.<\/p>\n

There have been plenty of Saturday mornings when I would have greatly appreciated a well-dressed person poking her head into my darkened bedroom to say, “Warning!\u00a0 One of the dogs got into the trash and then barfed on the kitchen floor, the kids spilled the milk while fighting over the last of the Cocoa Crispies, someone wrote in permanent marker on the leather couch, and that broiler pan you decided not to wash after cooking salmon last night has left the entire house smelling like fish.\u00a0 I don’t know exactly what the rest of the day holds, but it’s going to be bad.\u00a0 Very bad.\u00a0 Nix the idea of a delightful family hike, completing a 1,000 piece puzzle together, and reading quietly in the windowseat and plan on a day of cleaning, screaming, and spankings.”\u00a0 Because sometimes it’s just good to get the jist of what’s ahead.\u00a0 So you can be ready.\u00a0 And sleep in for another hour before getting up to face it.<\/p>\n

In any case, I’ll take whatever warning I can get.\u00a0 So with cold precipitation and night time temperatures in the 20’s headed our way, me and Little went down to cover the garden.\u00a0 We also gathered lettuce, radish, green onions, chard, and spinach in case the frost cover wasn’t enough protection and temps were colder than forecasted.\u00a0 We especially checked over the broccoli and gathered whatever heads were ready.\u00a0 We’ve been waiting for the broccoli to come in and I’d hate not to get a single taste of fresh broccoli if we lose the plants.<\/p>\n

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Then we carefully tucked in the beds, bent over the rows, securing the frost cover with rocks.<\/p>\n

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And as the wind picked up and bit into our cheeks, I couldn’t help but think that this type of work is what I love most about my little farm.\u00a0 That there were small farmers everywhere, including up and down my street, pinning down frost covers and sheets and blankets with rocks, or logs, or old fence posts.\u00a0 That they were spreading bales of straw, shaking it out as insulation, forking it over their crops.<\/p>\n

That they battened down the hatches to cold frames made of discarded windows or leftover plastic sheeting.\u00a0 They spent the morning filling their greenhouses with jugs and barrels of water, wrapped in black plastic, to soak up the daytime sun and help regulate nighttime temperatures.<\/p>\n

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That sometimes farming still comes down to the basics.\u00a0 That, although some of the materials have changed, sometimes we are still doing things the way our grandparents did and their grandparents did before them.\u00a0 Without a tractor or gasoline or a generator.\u00a0 Just our hands and our backs and our children.<\/p>\n

When the garden was ready, we headed out to the barn yard.\u00a0 When the afternoon sun just touches the tree tops it means the warmest temperatures of the day have arrived and the hoses will run clear after last night’s freeze.<\/p>\n

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So we turned on the barn hydrant and let it fill the automatic waterers, rinsing out the ice chips and sludge from the day before, letting it run until the water was clear and clean and fresh.\u00a0 Then we went around with a bucket, filling the waterers past their automatic shut off, hoping the extra water might keep them from freezing solid, and keep the animals in fresh water throughout the night.<\/p>\n

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The poultry got a heavy helping of cracked corn with their evening pellets.\u00a0 Just to provide them with a bit of easily digestible energy for staying warm throughout the cold night.<\/p>\n

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All of the extra hay racks were hung and loaded to the brim.\u00a0 So that there was space for everyone to get their fill.\u00a0 And plenty of leftovers for a late night snack.<\/p>\n

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Th special needs populations were appropriately coddled.\u00a0 We lowered the heat lamp for the young Silkies in the brooder room.\u00a0 They’re fully feathered, but haven’t had to withstand 20 degree temperatures yet.<\/p>\n

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The expectant does were put into the kidding barn with a heat lamp and an extra ration of grain.\u00a0 Charlotte and Vixen aren’t due until the first week of February.\u00a0 But cold or rain seems to spur some of my goats into early deliveries.\u00a0 Dairy goats can be drama queens like that.<\/p>\n

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Since any eggs left behind were sure to freeze, we hunted down every last egg and gathered them.<\/p>\n

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Even the ones some hens tried to hide on the very top of the hay rolls.<\/p>\n

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And as we inspected every last feeder and waterer, checked on each animal—-small and large, I wondered at how many farmers over how many years had walked through their barns before a winter storm.\u00a0 Water buckets and pitchforks in hand.\u00a0 Throwing down extra feed and extra bedding.\u00a0 Settling their flocks, soothing their herds. \u00a0 In a ritual as old, as familiar, as sacred, as farming itself.<\/p>\n

Only when the chickens were finally taking to their roosts, safely sheltered under the eaves.<\/p>\n

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(Except for Blackberry.\u00a0 Who was crouched by her waterer<\/a>.\u00a0 Even in her new pen.\u00a0 Sigh<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

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When even the weak were as comfortable….<\/p>\n

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….as the ones who didn’t even know it was cold outside.<\/p>\n

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When tummies were full and thirsts were quenched.\u00a0 When the milk bucket and the egg basket were full.\u00a0 When the last of the sun finally slipped below the trees, leaving nothing but a rosy remembrance.<\/p>\n

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Only then did we pass the care of the barn yard into the most capable of hands, er,…paws, and head inside.<\/p>\n

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I paused on my way back into the house.\u00a0\u00a0 Admired one of the hardy ones—-the ones that don’t need any care from a farmer at all.\u00a0 Not even in a wintry mix.<\/p>\n

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And as I strained the milk over the kitchen sink and wiped the eggs, like the farmers that came before me, like the farmers down the street, like the farmers my children may be (Probably some of them.\u00a0 Well, maybe one of them.\u00a0 Definitely not the Big one, who plans to live in a subdivision where they burn people like me at the stake and put our heads on spikes by the community entrance gates as a warning to others.\u00a0 Backyard chickens ??!!! NIMBY!!!), I glanced out the kitchen window.\u00a0 At the moon rising in the east, over clear cold skies.<\/p>\n

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I knew those clear skies meant frigid night air.\u00a0 With not even a wisp of cloud cover to protect the Earth or her creatures from falling temperatures.\u00a0 Nothing except the protection we had provided.<\/p>\n

But, no worries.\u00a0 All that anticipated precipitation would be sure to bring clouds in the morning.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, the forecasters were so sure of a “wintry mix”\u00a0 that as I wrapped the broccoli to go in the fridge, the schools called.\u00a0 The information officer left an automated message on the answering machine letting me know there would be an early release.\u00a0 The children would be getting out of school at 11am.<\/p>\n

Fine already.\u00a0 Let’s mix it up.\u00a0 The garden is covered.\u00a0 The animals are sheltered.\u00a0 And I do believe I have a new 1,000 piece puzzle somewhere around here….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is something special about preparing the farm for the approach of a winter storm.\u00a0 Well, OK, here we actually call it a “wintry mix.”\u00a0 To differentiate it from those of you that have real winter storms.\u00a0 We may not get 21 inches of snow or wind chill causing negative temperatures (84 degrees below zero, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7483"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7569,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7483\/revisions\/7569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}