We had a lazy day Monday until lunch. 3+ inches of rain Saturday and Sunday and 3.5 inches of snow Sunday night, and our power went off. So we slept in. I got up and built a fire in the woodstove for the first time in about 2 years. We use propane. Our kitchen stove works without power but the furnace doesn’t. Jenifer, Ellie, and Levi all wanted a fire so I built one. I was on the back porch scooping up snow in a pot to melt on the woodstove so we could flush the toliet and the dogs started barking at 2 guys walking through our backyard. They were from Union Electric, our rural electrical cooperative. Looking for the source of the outage. I was talking to them and mentioned that when we have an outage, it is usually where the lines cross the creek at the end of the road. They said they had checked everywhere but there. To check that length of line requires that they walk on foot through heavy brush and briars. I don’t blame them, it would be the last place I check too. I have always been impressed with the Union Electric line crews. I have seen them work around the clock in horrible weather to solve the problem. I have seen them up in buckets working on transformers in pouring rain during a thunderstorm with lightening cracking all around. Just keep that in mind when your power goes off. Electricity is a privilege and not a right. Plan in advance accordingly.

When the power came back on around 10:30 am Monday morning, I clicked on the Fox news Business channel and promptly fell asleep in the recliner next to the wood stove listening to the doom and gloom economic forecasts. I love mini-vacations like that.

Sunday, I kept waiting for a break in the rain to go feed the laying hens. I knew that they were out of feed. The break never came so I put on my rain gear and went and gave them two five gallon buckets of feed poured on the ground. The 6 weather-proof feeders that hold 50 lbs each were full of water…

I got great rain gear, a Filson oil cloth jacket, pair of overalls, and a couple of hats that will keep you bone dry but they are expensive. I fretted over the cost and it took me 6-8 months to make each purchase over a 3 year period. Their stuff is made solid, I am just breaking it in for Levi, maybe he will be able to wear it out.

When I fed the chickens on Sunday, it was a muddy mess around the coop so I went and got the tractor and put a 500 lb round bale of wheat straw next to the hen house and spread it out a bit in the rain. The chickens love straw. Stray bits of grain and such.

Rain had blown in to the hen housing and made it a mess. I ended up going to Tractor Supply in Albemarle and buying 15 cubic yards of pine shavings to place in the hen house.

After our mini-vacation Monday morning, Jenifer and I spent the afternoon getting the chicken house ready for a 14 degree night. We put the shavings in the nest boxes and the the rest of the house, finished spreading the round bale of wheat straw over the mud, and stapled plastic over any openings.

It was too mushy to drive a truck or tractor to carry chicken feed so Jenifer and I toted 240 lbs of feed in 5 gal. buckets 100 yards to fill up the feeders.

Clover planting

I took advantage of the cold and snow and frost seeded around an acre to a crimson/ladino clover mix on Tuesday. The theory behind frost seeding clover is that clover needs a good seed to soil contact. Seeding on frozen ground or muddy ground that will freeze will suck the seeds down as the ground thaws and provide a good soil to seed contact. Clover is a great crop to have on a farm for soil health.

Song of the South

Some folks think that this is racist. I don’t. I think it is a positive in gloomy world. It hits too close to home for me. We don’t have bluebirds on our shoulders, our bluebirds are fighting other bluebirds over territory. Bees do not land on our fingers but they do land on us and we brush them off. We do have butterflies land on us. If you extend an index finger in the flower garden, a butterfly will land on it. Ellie is particularly good at that.

Judge the video for yourself…