The Ice Is On Its Way
A whole new weather vocabulary opened up to me when I moved from California to the country: Flash Flood Watch, Tornado Alert, Severe Thunderstorm Warning, Heat Advisory, Ponding. (Yes, Ponding.) Today they are calling for Freezing Rain and Ice Accumulation, with temperatures turning "very cold" by Monday--lows 7 to 11 above. Chance of precipitation 100 percent. Ice Pellets and Light Sleet were mentioned.
And so the ritual begins. Forget the little hay cart. Instead toss a dozen bales of hay in the truck and drive them down to the barn. Hook up the hose and fill the sheep's water trough before the freezeless hydrant freezes and you'll have to haul buckets of water from the spring. Plug in the tank de-icer. Give the sheep and Donkey Doodle Dandy plenty of grain to keep their bodies warm overnight. Harvest as much bounty as you can in the greenhouse and set up the little heater to help protect what is left. Check the timers and heat lamps and heaters scattered around the farm--in the henhouse, in the old well house, in the new well house.
Back inside, clomp up the narrow, uneven staircase to retrieve sleeping bags for covering up the picture windows in the living room. Dig out the insulated winter suits and hang them near the woodstove. Throw another quilt on the bed. Stack firewood high on the porch. Give extra food to the dogs and cats and make sure everyone has a wool bed to curl up on. Set the shower faucet at a drip to help keep the pipes from freezing, but fill up every empty water container you can find because they probably will anyway. Cross your fingers that the power stays on. Dream of thick hearty soup and freshly baked bread and cozying up with a good book or a favorite movie. Wonder what you are forgetting.
Do all of this before the Ice Storm Warning goes into effect.
Realize that rain has started pounding on the old tin roof above your head. Check the online weather forecast. Too late. Take a deep breath, bundle up, and head outside--knowing in your heart that everything will be okay.
A year of Daily Photos ago:
1/13/06: Defrosting
1/12/06: Donkey Doodle Dandy Soaks Up Some Morning Sun
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Hello, DecemberSo we got a little snow. But first we had enough rain in just one day to start the wet weather creek flowing, then an inch or two of some frozen substance that made it look and feel as if the farm had turned into a giant snowcone. There was lots of howling wind, too--the kind that makes you want to dive under a heavy quilt when you hear it--along with temperatures that dipped into the single digits. And somewhere in the midst of it all the power blinked off--and it didn't blink back on for 21 hours.
Twenty-one hours without lights in the house or lights in the barn. No oven, no radio, no computer, no fans to circulate the warmth from the ancient woodstove (our main source of heat) through the frigid house—and no running water, because no power means no way to pump the water up from the well. Then the phone line went dead. Twenty-one hours to think about just how much I heart electricity.
The important thing is that all of the critters are fine. Not exactly happy with the ice and mud and slush and freezing cold, but fine. (And no, Cary didn't get to sleep in the house curled up by the woodstove--but Robin did.) The sun is shining brightly today, and the sheep and their guard donkey are roaming the fields, hungrily pawing at the snow to reach the grass they know is underneath. It's supposed to get even colder tonight, but we're ready for it.
There are strategically placed electric heaters and heat lamps to keep the pipes from freezing, the firewood is piled high on the porch, and the oven is is sending the scent of freshly baked butter cookies wafting through the house as it heats up the kitchen. And there are buckets and bottles and glasses and pitchers of fresh water everywhere just in case.
Autumn was so very, very nice, but it is quickly becoming a distant, defrosted memory. The calendar may say it lasts another three weeks, but the temperatures and the landscape have declared that winter on the farm has officially begun.
A year of Daily Photos ago: Baa Baa Babsie
A year and a day of Daily Photos ago: Warm Wash, Cool Dry
And out of the kitchen came: Onion Flakes & Things For Cakes© Copyright FarmgirlFare.com, the foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares recipes, stories, and photos from her crazy—and mostly electrified—life on 240 remote Missouri acres.
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