Wednesday, 5 p.m.
What a beautiful day! The excitement I felt as I looked forward to the big snowstorm has now given way to utter exhaustion as I peel off my wet coat and soggy snow pants. I collapse in a heap under a pile of blankets, sleepy and content after a day of plowing, shoveling, checking on animals, taking pictures and playing in the drifts.
Once the snow stopped this morning, Matt spent three or four hours plowing out the farm driveways in the old red chevy, while the kids wasted no time getting a raging snowball fight underway. In the afternoon a friend who leases some land here called to ask if we would check on his chickens for him. Jeff lives in town and had been unable to make his daily trip to the farm. So I tugged on my snow pants, stepped back into my soggy boots and headed out to his coop to do a chicken check.
It took a while, but I made it through the thigh-high drifts surrounding the farm buildings. Boy, were those girls happy to see me. They were hungry, but they were definitely toasty in their well-insulated coop. After filling their feeders, I watched them for a few minutes as I breathed in their good chicken smell. (Spending time in a clean, well-maintained henhouse is a real pleasure.) On the way back to the house I made a short detour to check on the condition of our greenhouses. I was a bit nervous about what I'd find. We know several growers whose greenhouses have collapsed under heavy snow loads. Fortunately, all of our greenhouses had weathered the storm just fine. So, for now, all is safe and sound. Chickens are warm and fed. Greenhouses are still standing. I'd say it's been a pretty good day.
CSA Shares Still Available
We are just about sold out of spring shares, but we still have openings for summer vegetable and fall vegetable shares as well as for fruit shares. If you have friends or neighbors who might be interested, please consider mentioning our farm to them. Thanks!
These days it feels like I spend ninety percent of my waking hours in just two rooms of the house-- the office and the kitchen. On a typical day I'll spend an hour or two at my computer, paying bills, ordering supplies or updating planting charts before I feel the need to stretch my legs. So I'll walk back into the kitchen where I can usually find some good reason to stay occupied for a half hour or so before returning to the office. I've found that baking bread is an excellent project for these restless winter days. It's a job that can be done in small increments, in between periods of office work, and the end result is more than worth the effort. Two of my recent favorites include Spinach Picnic Bread and Whole-Wheat Maple Blueberry Bread.
When I made the picnic bread last week we spread out an old comforter on the living room floor and ate our evening meal there. We imagined we were seated under a leafy canopy of tree branches. It was just enough of a break from the routine that it pulled us right out of the slightly grouchy mid-winter funk we had slipped into. (I think you all might recognize the funk to which I am referring....)
Never fear, friends, for spring really is near. Matt and I will be planting seeds in the greenhouse in less than a month. We could use a few greenhouse volunteers, especially for planting all of those onions in early March, so please let me know if you might be interested in spending a few hours with us. In the meantime, we'll get out our sleds and enjoy the snow!
Cheers,
Peg
