Winter 2023

Winter 2023 Farm News
The anticipated pace of winter has finally set in.  The warm weather and our winter C.S.A., along with various house projects have kept us on the go into the new year.  This fall it felt like we had piles of food stored everywhere, each according to its specific temperature and humidity needs.  The walk-in was full to the brim with beets, carrots, cabbage, and kohlrabi, while the potato room was close to overflowing. Onions were stacked on pallets in our cramped basement, and my parents had to put up with boxes of squash and sweet potatoes sprawling around the loft space that they use when visiting.  We are now down to a few hundred pounds of each. Beets and potatoes are set to go out in our final winter CSA distributions, and just enough squash and sweet potatoes left for winter home eating.  The greenhouse has one small row of kale left that we’ve been picking daily for dinner. 

The morning of our first real snowstorm, I found Otto, one of our sheep, down in the stall when I went in to feed the big animals.  He hadn’t been looking so great for about a year, so it wasn’t an unexpected find, but it’s never easy.  He was close to 11 years old, having been a lamb when we worked at the Earle Farm that many summers ago. He maxed out the expected lifespan of a male sheep.  The Vet came out, Kyle dug a hole before the storm, and we said goodbye to a good sheep.  Stetson(horse) and Ginger (other sheep) seemed relatively unconcerned by the whole ordeal.  I’ve witnessed animals exhibit emotional loss, so it left us wondering if his death felt expected to them as well, or if there was some other factor to their calmness beyond our human understanding. 

With an old farm animal life ending, a new farm pup, “Moon,” came in November.  We weren’t looking for a second dog this year, but he fell unexpectedly into our laps. So far Moon has added both an extra layer of work as well as enjoyment.  I have been out doing regular puppy sized walks slowly increasing in length trying to use the winter to show him how to be a good dog.  He and Joni have been a mix of funny and infuriating together. The first few weeks were challenging; teaching a three-year-old how to properly interact with a puppy, while teaching a puppy how to properly interact with a three-year-old.  Homer watches it all like an old pro and must wonder what all the fuss is about. 

The dustings of snow have at least provided us enough cover for a few weeks to get some good sledding in without adding the burden of shoveling yet.  Joni is fearless sliding down our one and only hill by the side of the house. She starts at the giant ash tree and sleds down between the three old apple trees, sometimes crashing into one of them. It’s a short run, but for now its enough and has been keeping her busy for hours at a time. 

Seeds and fertilizer are here, other supplies to follow.  Before we know it, we will be firing up the heater in the Seedhouse and pulling out trays and soil to start all the summer plants.