Not as in rock ‘n roll either. Just a’rockin’.
The frozen winds were so strong yesterday that the barn was heaving in and out, like a giant loudly asthmatic bellows. Often I anchor the camera by leaning it on the barn wall or a post but that was hopeless yesterday as the whole barn was shuddering from the howling wind. And when I got inside (and I hope this is not too personal a comment) the water in the toilet was sloshing gently about! Sloshing, in the wind.. inside!! Horrors. 
“I am going home, back to New Zealand.” I wailed, peering out the door and pulling on my gloves. “It is summer there. I am going back to the beach.” I sniffed. “There is ice on the inside of the doors, the cold is getting worse, the toilet is sloshing, even the snow drifts are frozen solid. They are talking Minus TWENTY on Monday. MINUS TWENTY! Do you know what that is in Celsius? Minus THIRTY! I looked it up! And that does not include windchill .. windchill is probably Minus Death. But no-one is allowed to die around here because the ground is frozen solid so you won’t even be able to dig my grave!”
Poor John looked momentarily though genuinely concerned then turned his attention back to the news on his tablet. “Well, you can’t take Daisy and Sheila on a plane.” he said. “Did you know that they have discovered the plans for Noah’s ark? It was round.”
“An ark?” I said, my hysteria rising. Slamming my feet into my boots and pulling my two hoods up over my head. “I’ll build a bloody ark then!” Door Slam. Slammed Door.
I was up in the loft, taking photos of the hay. When it is very cold I must feed my animals more. Especially the ruminants. They heat themselves from inside. But I also have to keep in mind that they are pregnant and I do not want fat babies. Certainly not fat calves. Helping a cow calve is a very different kettle of fish to helping a ewe lamb or a pig farrow(they just shoot out like bullets, running!) But pulling a calf is something I have not encountered yet.
And the cold is not letting up. So I feed them extra but not fattening grain. I give the cows some oats and barley once a day now as they are both in their last trimester. But their extra bulk feed is hay. So not only are my firewood stocks going down fast due to this unusually cold weather but my enormous hay pile is shrinking as well.
A pregnant cow on a normal day needs about 25 pounds of hay a day. That is just over half a bale of good hay each. Good hay. The sheep eat about half a bale altogether.
So that is just shy of two bales a day. More in the deep cold. I have three more piles like this (above) left. It must take me through to the end of March. And in the spring the longer I keep the cows eating hay and off the grass the better. It takes time for grass to grow too. It is like a jig saw puzzle and someone is Sawing at the Jig.
Unlike someone who sawed the ceiling out of the barn about 60 years ago to fit his ugly combine harvester in there.
But it is slowly being reclaimed, as long as it does not blow away in the wind.
But it is a tough old barn, and when I feed out, I select bales from all four corners in order – I have a deep fear, based on no scientific evidence what-so-ever, of the barn becoming too heavy on one side and just falling over in one of these winds.
Look what I found yesterday though. Eight beautiful fresh eggs. And they were not frozen solid. A kind hen sat on them all day to keep them from freezing.
I did not get to see Sheila yesterday, the weather was just too bad to take out the cooking oil car. Maybe today? Today is going to be windy too – though it is 34F as I write, just before dawn, our high for today but a nice surprise for the animals to wake up to. We are not even going to discuss Monday.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
your friend on the farm,
celi
ps. I seem to have lost a number of blogs off my follow list. Very few are coming into my email at all. I shall try and get around and refollow you all. So sorry. This happens in wordpress every now and then. But I will find you and be seeing you soon.
The Kitchen's Garden 
104 responses to “Rocking the Barn”
I know the feeling. I moved from a mountain top,where we were nestled beneath the ridge. We often saw the effects of the wind, but never really felt it. I now live in a wide open valley. There is nothing to protect from the buffeting of the wind. Today we get 6 inches of snow, tomorrow the yard is blown bare. The snow is down at the neighbor’s house along with my heat and whatever I forgot to anchor down. It eases up a little during daylight hours but fairly howls all night. Hold on to your hat. We shall make it through.
You are right joy. The snow just blows right past.. our fields are stripped bare again.. well mostly except for the icy heavy snow, that stays.. and I can see a big plastic bin marooned in the middle of the field, I went to bring it in but it is frozen to the ground so I came back empty handed.. c
Oh, C, I totally understand your desire to escape. It is my wish right now, too, especially with the same cold temps and windchills predicted here in Minnesota for next week. Now I am out to shovel snow. Once again. How many days until spring?
and your winter often lasts longer than ours, last year especially.. we just have to grin and bear it as the saying goes!
I know you have no tv but my John is quite fond of it. Every time I walk past they seem to have a commercial for vacations in the Caribbean, it just adds insult to injury.
We are no where near as cold but having a unusually old winter down here in sunny(not) Florida
BUT yesterday I saw the first 2 sign that winter will end. The Maple trees are blooming right on time and a Redbud tree was in bloom-a month early for it. But helped make me feel better, when I go outside and see 90+% of my garden plants dead. Oh well a clean slate to work on come summer
Hoping everyone there is warm and safe!!
Oh that is good news Sandra, that your maple is flowering, bad news about the garden though, though sometimes plants and shrubs surprise us and we think they are quite dead but after a wee while of warming up a little shoot comes.. hopefully many of yours are a bit hardier than advertised.. I love redbud flowers.. c
There are some that will but we have had a large(for us) number of freezes. Our main problem is we can go for the mid 70’s mid day to freezing by dawn. Nothing gets use to the cold including us. Plus we rarely find real cold weather cloth for sale down here.
Some of my plants exploded, including some of the natives(I grow mostly native plants for the bees, butterflies and birds.
But I am planning to replant. LOL
You’ll need a snowboard as opposed to an ark 😉
or an ice breaker ark.. actually deep in one of the family sheds is an old snow mobile but John said snow mobiling in these temps would take your face right off.. c
You’d definitely need a mask and goggles.
In the days of film, people had to put their cameras inside 2 sealed plastic bags when going from outdoors to indoors, or condensation formed on the film 😉
I think I should do that anyway, going out and in steams everything up, I will try it. thank for that tip.. a goodie.. c
It is better to do that for the camera – inside two sealed bags the condensation should form in the bags and not in the camera 😉
ah, good oh.. will do.. c
Or a Ice cooler. I do that with my camera as it will fog up going from the A/C to outside
oh C, don’t worry about following blogs. Stay warm, stay safe, stay sane! What a winter this is turning into. I asked a friend today if by chance they had moved the Canadian border south of Pittsburgh!
The Old Codger said plaintively that there was a tear in the sky and the artic winds have dropped down through it, usually they are far far up above us, whipping along out of harms way.. I hope the rip did not close up after it fell through!.. c
I hope those arctic winds get sucked back up through that rip and sent way, way north.
The water in the toilet probably sloshed here too last week, but that was because of the earthquake.
I didn’t see the water, because I was hiding under the kitchen table – listening to things fall off the pantry shelves…
Wind has been bad here too, summer has been cancelled it seems.
The weather all over the world has gone crazy this year. I do not know how you manage in that cold though – I can’t even imagine such cold!
Mere is missing too – is she ok?
Mere has a new puppy keeping her happily busy no doubt! that earthquake .. was it bad? I hate it when I hear of earthquakes in Welly, with my sons there.. c
I’m in Palmerston North – I understand it was worse here than it was in Wgtn. It was bad enough, and gives us all a new appreciation of just how terrible it must have been for the people of Christchurch.
Now why did i think you were in Wgtn, when you are in PN? Is my memory going? I lived there for years as well, on campus. Damp old Palmy. c
Celi: it was 6.4 in Wellington – some damage, no injuries/deaths.
I know.. I hate it that there are so many earthquakes at home, but geographically there is no avoiding them, two plates rubbing up into the alps.. more unrest lately tho.. c
Eha – ! – where are you? 🙂
Were you ever involved in the Operatic or Theatre Society productions when you were in Palmy? I was backstage…
Palmy has not changed, damp and windy… I can’t think why we live here… Which, I guess, is about what you are thinking of your Illinois weather?
I do admire your persistence and tenacity in the most respectful way, Celi. It is not easy being sustainable, especially in a winter like this one. yet, you carry on, sloshing toilets and all. I smiled at the eggs – what a good hen. Stay as warm as you can. I hope there is a bit of mild weather soon so you can gather more wood.
Ah, the memories of Nebraska! Just think, your toilet water comment took me all the way back to my roots this morning. I haven’t seen gently, sloshing toilet water in 24 years! LOL
Laugh! I never have! or maybe I did not notice.. I think you miss Nebraska just a little.. though maybe not in winter.. c
I was wondering about Chgo. John too. Worried something happened to his German shepherd.
When I read about sloshing toilets I think of one of your responders saying his toilet seat was so cold “something or other” threatened to make a U-turn. My husband and I still laugh about that comment! Of course, I’ve “cleaned it up” a bit.
Sounds like you had a day like mine! I spent most of it mumbling to who ever would listen (Dogs, cats, chickens) about this was just too bloody cold! And how I was not liking 2014 already and we weren’t a month in! Then get a call from a friend to tell me my Plumber committed suicide last Saturday. Sad news. But heck the day had only just got started – because then a pipe burst in my kitchen!! So had that to deal with (plus finding another plumber) . Hey but can’t get worse can it? Oh yes it can, my best friend just called to say she has breast cancer and because she has the ‘gene’ has to lose both plus ovaries!! So my broken pipe is a tiny little inconvenience I will deal with, (even though the ‘new’ plumber says the whole kitchen needs all new pipe work due to the D.I.Y genius who lived here before.doing all wrong!!) but friend is my biggest concern so next few months I will be there just for her!
Yep 2014 seems to be starting badly!!
Oh no, your friend, that is miserable, why the only answer in this day and age is exactly the same one as 50 years ago, aggressive invasive surgery. This is exactly why I do not go to doctors. The gene lives with me too. Yes, it does put a broken pipe into perspective, though it is a damn nuisance. Is your friend back in england?.. c
No she is an American friend that lives in town. And such a sweet person too! At least I made her laugh and said she could have mine as they are too big for me and just get in the way!
I am glad she is close, you can care for her much better if she is close-by. She will be needing her support team now..You are just what she needs… nothing like ribald humour too .. take care lynda.. c
I know exactly how you feel. And I make similar ultimatums to my long suffering Swede every year. Funnily enough, he reacts with the same equanimity as John. Perhaps they know we are bluffing 🙂 My guy reminds me that I can’t take out little red wooden cottage home on a plane. And that it would spontaneously combust in the Australian heat. Then he mentions sharks, crocodiles, spiders, snakes…
Here it’s the blasted wind that is getting to me as well. It’s not as strong as yours, but it’s every single day. I just want it to stop for a day or two so I can feel human again and not have to do the re-enactment of Mawson’s Antarctic trek just to buy some milk. I love the snow as it covers a lot of ugliness and it lightens up the landscape. But the wind needs to go away.
Keep warm and safe. I absolutely applaud your true grit and survival out in the prairies. The things we do for love, eh?
You are so right! I also love this little life deep down, battling against the elements. They are a worthy adversary.. c
I know those feels, miss C! We have been doling out lots of extra hay ourselves, tough we only have many, many rabbits not cows and sheep. They are out having litters in this cold and must be helped to stay warm! Those fur coats are mighty impressive, though, and do wonders! We get the wind off of the lake out here. It never does stop blowing and drifting. The high winds can suck the heat right out of anything! Our wind chills tend to be -10 the actual air temperature on a nice day without much wind. On a bad day it will be 20-30 degrees less than the air!
I hope your rabbits are warm in their little straw homes.. what a rough time to be having babies but i guess they are rabbits after all.. c
They sure are rabbits! Baby bunnies are born totally naked, but their mamas pull out their own fur to line the nest… It can be -10 outside and the inside of the nest will be 80-90! That fur is a great insulator! But they need lots of hay to line the nests and keep out all the drafts.
We had your cold last Novembrrrrr and Decemberrrrr. 30 below with wind. Now we are so dry that we are on fire watch! Crazy weather is right. When you get the ark, please save a place for us, too. I hope Sheila is warm enough at night without you to tuck her in. One thing about old barns…they seem to live on through all kinds of weather. They shake, rattle and role and shiver and shake, but weather the storms year after year. They don’t build them like that anymore. Our old barn vibrates and rattles in the wind, too. We just batten down all the hatches and it stays snug and almost cozy. Slowly the earth is turning….it is light past five o’clock now. Hang in there.
Your barn is like Noah’s Ark – it will look after all its precious cargo. Am not sure if I was more impressed that you have a toilet in your barn (did I get that right, or was it in the hosue?) or horrified that the wind was so strong it was sloshing?! Take care miss c, your animals need you, we need you!
Oh no, the toilet is in the house! I don;t even have running water in the barn! I will take care.. no worries.. c
It sounded a bit odd the idea of a loo in the barn! Wow – that was a strong wind to rock the water in the loo 😦
Stay safe and warm. I have that problem with wordpress dropping blogs I follow every now and then too!