Easterly
The Easterly is my least favourite wind, our prevailing wind is the Sou’ wester. All the trees bend that way, so the sleeping arrangements in the barn have (like the trees) evolved as shelters bending to shield themselves from this wind. When a cold Easterly comes flying in with snow and rain on its back and I have babies in the barn I have to get out all the panels and old doors I have leaning in the corners for just this use, and prop them around the pen to keep out the drafts. The cold is not a problem for an animal unless she is wet, it is the drafts and blowing winds that are bad. 
Yesterday was rotton, I was back in full winter gear. But by late afternoon the scrappy needle rain had died off and the wind began to move to the Nor’-east. Much more manageable – the North of the barn is completely closed. I unpinned and shoved the pigs huts around so that they were out of the wind and shifted the big pigs back outside.
Everything has to be in order and settled before I can leave the animals for the weekend. I don’t want the boys having to shift any animals. I do not like surprises when I am not here to handle them. 
The Rat House continues to be cleared out in preparation for the building in there. I know it looks a bit down at heel but this old shed has a very good roof. One more car carcass to go.
The Accident Chicks are happily roosting on their perches in their new apartment – it is also shut down completely, at night the windows are blocked off and with their wee heater it is actually warmer in there than I thought it would be. Today they can have everything open again as it is meant to be a nice day .
The asparagus beds are awaiting their layers of clean straw and clean old bedding. This is always my first crop. And such a welcome one. I will begin this job next week. 
I give away pounds and pounds of asparagus every spring. It is such a joy to have so much.
Good morning. I consciously paused on one foot three times yesterday to recover my balance and looked back and forward. The Pants Pause really did help me focus. I was less fractious. And actually got some jobs completely finished.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
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I’d come and queue for the asparagus 😉
I wish I was your neighbour – asparagus and eggs? Shame you have the extra of moving the animals around just before you’re away. The header shot is beautiful, but so cold. I shall try and remember the pants pause today, although I might call it the trouse time out (doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it!) I am getting into a funk over too many things and need to action them all with care and calm. Hope you do get a fine, and milder, day to day, with the wind in the best direction.
Same here withe the easterlies but for us it is dry grass, dust and bloody hay fever!
For us easterlies feel as though they’re straight fro Siberia! Horrible, especially when accompanied by rain or snow. Ughh!
Christine
Sooo, somewhere along the line I wasn’t paying attention. I thought the root cellar was the rathouse building and all along you were hiding a huge barn like building in plain sight 🙂 Lovely to see the sheeps and we are sliding into autumn quite quickly now. I wish you lots of bendy-tree free days 🙂 Laura
I thought that too
The rat house is an old shed and is (was) full of old cars. and terrible amounts of junk. The chook house is in a quarter of it at the end there. The rat house paddock is behind it and has the root cellar in it. I need to draw another map for you. You need a visual. There is a lot of politics involved in having the old cars evicted and my pigs and cows installed. as you can imagine. c
I wondered how you were getting the shed from the cars…here I could never have a shed that a car or collector truck was resting in. EVER! Good for you.
Linda
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OOoh I can hear the mumbles coming from Our John. My father and eldest brother were/are petrolheads and we always had a build in progress in one or both of the garages! One must have the ‘spare car’ but still parts are imported in addition to that 🙂 Move a piece of mangled metal at your peril. Laura
Once the RATHOUSE is remodeled – we must find a better name because it will no longer be ratty!
Oh Asparagus – – I think it is my favorite vegetable and hubs least. I would eat it every day – three times a day in the spring when it is small and so fresh. A little big grain sea salt and I’ll stuff my self to capacity!
I tried a new recipe last night – Julia Child’s braised cucumbers – and I’m in love. SO simple. I can’t believe I am almost 50 and have never had them. Google the recipe if you haven’t tried them. Butter, Cucumbers, Mint, Salt & Lemon….. YUM!!!
I’ve never heard of braised cucumbers, and have really only eaten them fresh. But upon your recommendation, I’ll try them! I”m always up for something delicious! 🙂 And we grow lots of cucumbers for eating and to make pickles! Thanks for the tip!
While we’re re-naming, I vote the Accident Chicks become the Survivor Chicks. As it stands, they sound like they are looking for a place to happen!
I would love to get Julia’s recipe for braised cucumbers. Pat, could you please tell me where you got the recipe? Thank you😊
I also love asparagus and my buddy at the farmers market started to sell it last week. I enjoy mine roasted in the oven with some walnut oil. Yummy!
I love a new recipe, i will order more cucumber plants planted. thank you pat. c
East wind is the enemy
bringing chill and ill
to man and beast.
Your precautions are timely, but I still hope the wind changes back to SW.
Love,
ViV x
yes, a sw is the one I have the hatches battened down for – the Bendy Tree days are on their way. c
SWy here is a balmy breeze.
A Balmy breeze sounds very nice!
AND women, Viv. Don’t forget the women. I was cold to the bone all day yesterday. Today was brighter, but the wind is howling outside now.
I’m not into PC. I suppose I should have said humankind, but it wouldn’t have flowed so well.
Viv, I was teasing you, I am not really a PC person either. I am the coldest person in Christendom, when people shake hands with me they never say “How are you?”, it is usually “Awh, awh, awh. Your hands are cold!”
I’m a very chilly mortal too – I nap under a pile of quilts in a room at 23C
I sleep rolled in a 13.5 tog duvet with only my nose and mouth showing. My heating has been on 24/7 since last November.
Your constant hard work never ceases to amaze me, as does your steadfast sunniness – even in the face of needle rain and blustery wind! Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend away. I know the farm will miss you. 😊
I forgot who used to stay in the Rat House at previous times. Was it Charlotte and babies when she was so cranky? Or was it your male sheep, whose name I can’t remember anymore….but I really liked him! Or …was it the ‘time out’ area for awhile for some? It will be wonderful to have another space….once the last car carcass it gone. (I hope Our John won’t be upset about its removal!.) What are the new plans for the Rat House? xo
There are four more cars in there, it might take years, and yes this year i made a corner for the sheep to spend their winter in. It is beautifully situated, but once again an easterly will blow straight in. Diane do you have a sow with piglets at the moment? I only ask as Heather is looking for a recording of a sow nursing her piglets. c
And the Rat House is where I will build the farrowing pen for Poppy and co. She is such an exciteable pig i need her to be right out of the way of general work..
No piglets just yet! Estimated time of arrival is mid-May!
Asparagus…another harbinger of spring with those delicious, delicate tiny stalks. YUM 🙂
Dear Celi – you got my attention with the asparagus. Oh how I love that stuff! My mother didn’t care for it with the same passion that my dad and I did. He and I could easily eat a couple of pounds every day, mum would have a few pieces. I love it raw, I love it just gently steamed then drizzled with butter and a sprinkle of salt. I’m nearly drooling thinking about it. Can’t wait for the stuff to show up at the farmer’s market – soon I hope.
You spoke of giving pounds of it away – I wondered if you had thought about using some of it to barter for things you need? Might be a little thought to chew on, perhaps it would provide “balance” for you and someone else?
Can’t wait to see more work on the Rat House.
Chris S in Canada
Morning Chris. yes the asparagus is major currency in my bartering. That and the pasture raised chickens. Though I love taking friends and a basket down the back and saying Pick as much as you like. I love to eat it picked straight from the ground and into my mouth. Raw, unwashed and crisp. Perfeck.. c
I should have guessed that you would have already thought of that, but it just popped into my little pea-brain when I read “give away pounds of it”, but sharing freely is good too. Does the old codger like it? And I was so busy drooling about the asparagus that I forgot to say I love it roasted too! I will confess to not caring for it pickled although some folks seem to think it’s great. It seems wrong somehow to pickle that wonderful fresh taste. I’ve never had much luck freezing it either, it just goes soggy. So – I eat my fill when it’s fresh and then dream of it the rest of the year. Chris S.
I love asparagus. If only I lived closer…
If only you were my neighbor! Asparagus is a favorite of mine, but no one else in the house. Therefore, growing it is not done. I LOVE it roasted at a high heat (400+). The little tops turn brown and taste just like bacon. I swear, they really do!
same! I love it like that too, roasted in butter with a little lemon to finish, and salt.. YUM! c
Add a few baby bella (crimini) mushrooms to the mix, my son in law the chef told me it was the best he ever ate! Puffed me up proper.
For sure if we all lived close to you, you’d be stripped bare of asparagus. How lovely to have so much of it.
Yes. Husband won’t eat it cooked so I separate his from hers.
As a kid we had (wild-ish in-charge-of-itself) asparagus growing by the front wooden steps of the front porch. You’d just go out and get some as needed without getting off the porch…and there it was protected from horses and cow nibbles. There the “yard” was red fine sand which got swept for visitors. The feathery asparagus looked pretty.
I like the “accident chicks” title – they sound like brave survivors ready to take on the world. (and the “car carcass” still gives me a laugh. great term. I’m using it with one here)
May gentle winds slip in and soothe everyone until you’re back…and longer!
What a lovely idea to sweep the yard for visitors, kind of japanese – raking the gravel into swirls.. c
It’s an old fashion rural thing in Texas. Lawns were for city folks, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t be neat and welcoming to guests.
Love it! c
I had to reread the “pants pause”, sometimes we just need a little reminder. Enjoy your milder day.
ooh, and that kid goat!
Love asparagus! Love the photos this week. Love the new hay feeder thingy. And the Pants Pause is so necessary. Balance.
Thanks for the pants pause exercise, boy that really works!
Robin🐥
it is working for me today as well Robin. Stops me drifting off!.. c
I, too, love asparagus. Our daughter moved to a new home a few years ago and there is a nice established asparagus bed. We get some if we’re lucky enough to visit while it’s abundant. I have to ask though (for my husband), what “old cars” are in the garage? He’s always dreaming of that virgin “barn find”!
Um (from memory) a Blues Brothers car, an old challenger body, (John is into 70’s cars) a javelin body (he is building a new one) and a 70’s Dodge Jeep. I can’t remember the rest. His actual workshop is over at the old farm so he needs to get them back over there. Your husband would love the yard at the old farm then – plenty of old stuff over there.. c
Everytime I read Rat House, I hear Rathaus in my mind, which is a very different place indeed, or at least, the one in Vienna is. Your livestock would have palatial accommodation there… Fresh asparagus with hollandaise sauce, mmmmm.
I have a longing and I am not even pregnant. It is all your fault Celi! I am reading about luscious young fresh asparagus at 21:40 when I cannot get my hands on it. I will have to go looking for some to nibble on on Saturday, as I listen to the livestreaming of your talk from Portland! Maybe you should ask your John to rig up some speakers in the Barn, so all the farmy crew can hear you talking about them!;) I bet they would be cheering your every word.
The Fellowship has asked, and received! The wind has blown in livestreaming from Portland https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/press-publish-livestream/ 🙂
I’m not sure how I’ll fit in tuning in but we’ll see, I’d love to see it.
Oh Ella, I could not believe it just now clicking on my ‘Press Publish’!! – am just waiting for my registration as I had forgotten my password!! Yes, have to work out the time differences: thinking quickly – for us nighttime viewing on Sunday . . .? Mind not in gear as yet . . .
Idiot me could not ‘do’ maths – have just told a few friends I’ll be busy 🙂 !! But isn’t it great!!!!!
I’ve never livestreamed before – sounds interesting. Glad Eha mentioned the time difference or I would not have thought about it. Easterly winds for us come off the sea and are quite refreshing on a hot day. It is still really hot and muggy here and we are in Autumn. Not happy 😦 Joy
How wonderful to have asparagus right outside your door for dinner! Uh oh, it sounds like you have a bout of vertigo….I have missed a few posts, I better go back and read. 🙂