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”
Although, we are not in your frozen world, full of white and blowing snow, our ground is still frozen deep. Two feet of frozen ground…which is correct for January. I’m sending Magic Thoughts your way for a nice warm up WITHOUT the biting wind!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
I love your magic thoughts.. c
Oh Celi ~ if there is one thing in the world I loathe and fear it is a high wind – I have looked at your big barn more than once and wondered if some gust one day would do damage! The ‘old girl’ seems used to the blows!! At least, thank God, you do have heat and hay contingencies worked out even tho’ one will again have to dip into the pocketbook!! Just had to grin at ‘Le Petit Potager”s remark about her ‘brr’ cold nighttime temp of 19 C – yes ours has been the same the last two nights [not summery at all!] but I wonder whether those used to F realize that is quite short sleeve weather 😀 !!!!
I definitely feel your pain! We do not have a barn, but our livestock greenhouses breathe with the wind, and the gale force gusts today were something else! Today was above freezing, but we are going back to the big freeze tomorrow. We don’t usually get this deep a freeze on the coast and we are also feeding out more hay than usual. Can’t do anything about it, but it is just something to move through, I guess!
Yup, you are right, one step and one day at a time.. c
Funny someone said Nebraska. I am in Nebraska and our toilet water sloshes all the time. This year has been worse wind than last but not so cold as you. Not lately anyway. We could go for some more snow for the moisture so long as it is wet enough to not blow away.
I hear you, ours is just blowing right past! c
This is so tough! Almost like going to Antarctica. I wonder how those early pioneers managed to survive? But you are tough too. At times like these we have to remember two things:
1. This too shall pass.
2. I will reach deep down inside myself and discover some quality I never knew I had. And it will see me through. Then it will be part of me forever. It will live on the top layers and will never have to be dug for so deeply ever again.
Sending you waves of warmth to wrap around your heart.
What a wonderful way of looking at it. You are so right. That reaching down and finding something, I definitely feel that lately but I had not found the words.. Thank you Juliet. c
This sickening cold should be stopped at the border! It is colder in Atlanta GA the deep south than it is in Alaska NUTS! I think where my son is in WY it was in the 40’s and 50’s while we are below 0 yes not counting that WIND CHILL! 😦 Hope your barn holds up you have a lot of life in there counting on it 😦
So cold, so cold, so cold! I’m sending warm thoughts your way darling girl. Mull some wine, keep as warm as you can. The toilet sloshing in the wind is scary stuff indeed!
Snap again. I said to John we need mulled wine and he said (Get this!) Whats that? Whats that? Well as soon as I get a couple of bottles of red wine for heating up, i will show him Whats That! Do you have a good recipe? c
Hehehe…I haven’t had any since we we were drinking Gluhwein in the 80s! 🙂 This one sounds nice though.. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19194/mulled+wine
PS. I seem to have lost a stack of blogs I was following as well – glad to know it wasn’t something I did! xx
I hope Sheila is okay!
Yeah! Fresh, unfrozen eggs. Beautiful, beautiful eggs!!!
Boo!!! Wind 🙂 Cold, cold wind. Tomorrow’s weather doesn’t sound so bad, but Monday and Tuesday will not be fun at all. Of course I don’t have to brave the cold and wind to feed animals, although I long for that day. Okay, I don’t long for the cold, windy days. I do long for the animals though. When I finally have those animals and I’m out caring for them in this type of weather, ask me how I feel then. I may want to go to New Zealand with you.
i just love your stories…the cold, the wind, the snow and all the animals to keep feed and safe…maybe your barn is a modern day “Noah’s Ark”…be safe and stay warm.
thank you teresa, i am nicely warm in front of the fire now!
c
I’m so sorry you are having such awful weather – it sounds ghastly!
I too have been in well built barns that trembled in the wind. I have lived on the prairies where one winter it was 30 degrees below zero for 30 days in a row and I have in the North where the winds howled relentlessly. Sloshing water in the toilet is better than having the pipes freeze solid and yes I’ve been through that nightmare too. I have no desire to live where winter reigns supreme again. It’s mild here on the coast and that suits me fine. And, I’m sending you and all the animals the warmest thoughts I can generate.
Aw, my poor frozen girl! I ran out first thing this morning to a silversmithing course and am catching up very, very late. I hope you’re all snuggly in bed under loads of warm comforters. Sleep well. 🙂
Beautiful barn. Pretty peacock!
That is Pania the peahen, she is the shy one.. c