Winter Grace: The second notable arctic airmass of the year descended on Emerald Acres last week, with temperatures dropping below 0 F and windchills -20 to -30 F. Memories of the winter from two years ago (2014) blasted back into my mind and chilled me to the core, reminding me of when daily high temperatures remained below 0 F for nearly 50 days, shattering records and freezing old pipes across the state. In The Little House on the Prairie, the chapter book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder that I just finished reading to my daughter, the Ingalls family faced seemingly endless blizzards, extreme cold and near starvation during The Hard Winter in the late 1800s. While the winter of 2014 will never fully compare to that which the Ingalls faced well over a century ago in De Smet, South Dakota, it will forever remain The Hard Winter for our family here on this Wisconsin Peninsula. While food was not scarce, propane shortages, rationing and sky-rocketing prices forced us to lock our thermostat at an uncomfortable 58 F in our drafty, century-old farmhouse and to layer on the clothing in triplicate. Our elderly family dog at the time spent the greater majority of her time lying on heating pads to keep the arthritis in her bones at bay. A hot cup of tea remained a permanent fixture in our hands. While we suffered, not intolerably, in the house, it was our first year ever with livestock and most of our attention was focused outward. With warnings on the radio that told us to ‘stay in’, we ventured out. It was the least we could do for the animals that provided so much to us.
Without a source of water in the barn, twice a day, sometimes more, we trekked 5-gal buckets of hot water in a sled, across the snow, head-on into driving winds all the way to the barn—100 steps in normal weather, 200 painful, nostril freezing steps during a polar vortex. The goats never greeted us without the utmost gratitude as we refreshed frozen buckets with warm, steaming water. Goats slurp, and slurp and slurp, swishp, slishp slurp, and lick their lips, grasping at the warm droplets before a few fell into the straw below. I swear they smiled at us after they felt the warmth hit their bellies and warmed them from within. The girls shivered on the milk stand as each squirt of milk froze instantly in the bucket, but they graciously accepted the grain in their feed bucket, which helped warm their rumens. With fresh bales of hay in their feeders, deep straw for bedding, warm water in their buckets, the goats weathered the cold that year with impeccable strength and resilience.
Our flock of laying chickens also tolerated the extreme cold of the polar vortex (without fire-causing heat lamps!) so long as they had freedom from drafts and access to ample food and water. Our birds survived the confines of a long, hard winter and ranged far and wide as soon as winter gave way to spring.
Without a source of water in the barn, twice a day, sometimes more, we trekked 5-gal buckets of hot water in a sled, across the snow, head-on into driving winds all the way to the barn—100 steps in normal weather, 200 painful, nostril freezing steps during a polar vortex. The goats never greeted us without the utmost gratitude as we refreshed frozen buckets with warm, steaming water. Goats slurp, and slurp and slurp, swishp, slishp slurp, and lick their lips, grasping at the warm droplets before a few fell into the straw below. I swear they smiled at us after they felt the warmth hit their bellies and warmed them from within. The girls shivered on the milk stand as each squirt of milk froze instantly in the bucket, but they graciously accepted the grain in their feed bucket, which helped warm their rumens. With fresh bales of hay in their feeders, deep straw for bedding, warm water in their buckets, the goats weathered the cold that year with impeccable strength and resilience.
Our flock of laying chickens also tolerated the extreme cold of the polar vortex (without fire-causing heat lamps!) so long as they had freedom from drafts and access to ample food and water. Our birds survived the confines of a long, hard winter and ranged far and wide as soon as winter gave way to spring.
As my belly grew through 4 to 6 months pregnancy (for our second child) during The Hard Winter, I was never so thankful as when winter ended and that I no longer had to ask my ‘hard-core other half’ to try to zip me into my Carhart overalls so I could head outside to do chores (don’t worry, he helped me with them!). By the end of winter, there was simply no more ‘sucking it in’! As The Hard Winter transitioned into a chilly, not entirely forgiving spring, I eased into my roomy fleece jackets and maternity pants and set about preparing for the coming months.
We learned through The Hard Winter that extreme cold adds a level of complexity to life that we had not known before embracing a farming lifestyle, especially one with livestock. We also learned that animals, and we as humans, are extremely strong and resilient, and that we can survive some of the harshest of conditions. This winter, 2016, has kindly graced us with intermittent reprieves in the weather and warmer temperatures, something unknown to us during The Hard Winter. Any sane person or family would probably have given up after such a hard year, especially when it was a first ever with livestock, but apparently this family has an affinity for adventure (or insanity!). Our goat herd and chicken flock have actually grown in size and with each passing season we have learned to better manage all the animals throughout the winter. It is still a tremendous amount of work each day, but what we receive in the way of food and companionship from our critters makes it worth every calorie we spend filling waterers and feeders throughout the long, dark days of winter.
We learned through The Hard Winter that extreme cold adds a level of complexity to life that we had not known before embracing a farming lifestyle, especially one with livestock. We also learned that animals, and we as humans, are extremely strong and resilient, and that we can survive some of the harshest of conditions. This winter, 2016, has kindly graced us with intermittent reprieves in the weather and warmer temperatures, something unknown to us during The Hard Winter. Any sane person or family would probably have given up after such a hard year, especially when it was a first ever with livestock, but apparently this family has an affinity for adventure (or insanity!). Our goat herd and chicken flock have actually grown in size and with each passing season we have learned to better manage all the animals throughout the winter. It is still a tremendous amount of work each day, but what we receive in the way of food and companionship from our critters makes it worth every calorie we spend filling waterers and feeders throughout the long, dark days of winter.
Farm Grown Meals of the Week: Last week, we enjoyed a rich stewed venison chili flavored with frozen sweet peppers, beans and dried thyme from the garden. We also slow roasted a freshly butchered cockerel (boy chicken less than a year old) and paired it with store bought sweet potatoes and garden grown corn from our freezer. We then used the remnants from our roasted chicken to make a large pot pie, a favorite in our house. We added storage potatoes and garlic, frozen peas, corn and green beans from our garden, and January picked carrots and leeks. We topped off our pot pie meal with a homemade cherry pie made from the tart cherries grown right on the farm! As usual, for breakfast and sometimes lunch, we enjoyed fresh yogurt made from our creamy Nigerian dwarf goat milk! When paired with fresh or frozen fruit, it is simply delectable! A week wouldn’t be complete without fresh chevre made from our goat milk. When added with salsa (compliments of Grandma Chris) to homemade soft flour tortillas, it makes a great lunch for the kids and me during the weekdays!
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