Where is Spring?

It is 47-degrees this morning. Wait. Yesterday it was 29-degrees at 6 a.m.

Where is spring?

My winter coat is packed up. My sweats are up in the attic. Oh, did I mention that my ice scraper had been stowed, too?? Yeppers. Needed 'em all.

Only one bit of joy in all this.

We have only planted potatoes. Thank goodness. Many of my friends have lost their entire garden in this late freeze.

Procrastinators everywhere, rejoice! We finally won one!

Even I Am Tired of IT

Snow.

Again.

Measurable amounts.

Up to three inches on top of the ice and snow we already have on the ground from THREE WEEKS AGO.

This makes our third week that temperatures haven't gotten above freezing. While I adore winter -- heck, I have three totes of handknits that I can't wait to wear each year --- it has grown tedious.

It can quit now.

The chickens can't get out of their house; Miss Turkey is tired of snow; the ducks have worn a path around the duck house. The goats, well, even they are cross.

I keep trying to remind myself:

For lo, the winter is past; the rains are over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth.

Hold that thought, won't you? I have to grab another pair of socks. Brrr....

Ice Milk

Clara loves having her muzzle scratched after milking.

She always gets either an apple or an animal cracker when she is done.

She is particularly fond of eating the cow animal crackers.

Today we reached a high of 18-degrees with a wind chill of -5-degrees. Yeppers, it is nearly a spring day! Not.

This is a very challenging time on the farm because we have to make sure every critter has access to dry bedding (fun when there is 18-inches of snow with another 2-inches of ice and frozen rain on top), water, and feed. Don has hauled more than his share of hay as the hay stall is now empty and we are moving it bale-by-bale to the barn until we can get the next load of hay moved from below the mountain. We don't want to move hay twice in this weather, so taking it bale-by-bale isn't as hard as moving 100 bales in the wind, snow, rain, and ice.

And, to keep things even more challenging, let's not forget the pygmy tramps who got out in July and August and were bred. We are checking several times a day to make sure we don't have frozen babies. They both have a history of kidding in the coldest possible weather. During the last kidding Mary had a problem and we lost one kid and nearly lost the second. The upshot was a wild ride in ice and snow in the Suburu Forester "ambulance" -- Don driving while I held the doe in the cargo area, trying to keep her calm and alive. While the does have access to their stalls, which are hay-filled, the wind chill is dangerous for babies.

However, the best (can you sense the sarcasm?) part of winter farm life has to be milking. One doe is dry; however, the other two does are not. I am still getting nearly a gallon a day from them. I have tried to dry them up , but they are not co-operative. To accomplish this, one must reduce the amount of grain in proportion to the amount of milk left in the does' bags. We have tried twice to get the gals to start the drying up process, but they are prolific milkers. Thus, I am milking and watching the steam rise as I do so. Instead of taking my milking pail packed in ice these days, I am simply burying it in the snow outside the milking parlor. And, to keep the gals happy, I am mixing udder wash every day with the hottest water possible, carrying it to the barn, and getting them scrubbed and milked before the wash freezes.

Oh, yes, make no mistake. Winter farming is not for the faint of heart. But, you know, I would rather be doing this than living in town any day!