A Winter Storm Watch in the first days of a midwest Spring. The old people keep telling me anything can happen in March and it happens they are right! 
Nothing as bad as what is happening back East Coast with their four storms this month so we will not complain. The good news is that the storm will break this North East pattern of weather that we have been experiencing for the last few weeks and the winds will swing back to the South-west and we will begin to warm up.
Yesterday Our John opened two more acres of corn field. Clawed back from the grip of commercial mono culture. He tilled it, to fold in the corn husks and stalks and even it out a little, a corn year leaves the field very bumpy. and very soon we will sow it in a grass and oat mixture. Just as soon as it warms up. Later in the summer when the oats are long, I will take one cut of hay – then when there is rain in the forecast he will top sow into the grass with the alfalfa and leave it to grow until next year. We have sown in stages like this before and it has worked very well.
I am also working on another initiative. I want to talk Jake into letting me grow a few pigs over in his big commercial vegetable garden. This way instead of me having to drive the truck over there to collect all the discarded weeds and vegetables during the season, he and his gardener Marty, can throw them straight into the pigs enclosure. And in return the pigs will open up next years vegetable beds for them. And I get the use of another field. 
It makes perfect sense to me and Marty so let’s hope Jake agrees and we can being work on that initiative shortly.
I will take the old stock trailer over there as their house! They could sleep either in it or under it. And if there is an emergency or really terrible weather coming – we can shut the door and lock them up inside out of the elements. I think the old Black Mariah will be ok for short trips – fingers crossed.
Most importantly we need to build a VERY sturdy big pig enclosure over there – It would be horrific if the pigs got loose and into his garden!
But I could raise four more hogs with the addition of his backfield. And all within our existing circle of goodness.
The ducks, when they are old enough, will spend the summers being strip grazed across the home hayfield, which is in desperate need of fertilising, behind electric poultry fence. They will be given a really large area to roam in – poultry manure is harsh on forage if in a concentrated area so their field will be big. (Collecting eggs will be interesting as I hear that ducks have no system for laying eggs so I need clean grass and hay to get clean eggs). Maybe I can find a small old stock trailer for them too. One that is no longer road worthy. The trailer could be cleaned out straight into the field and moved with the ducks.
OH, THE IDEAS!!
I hope you have a lovely day. The sun is here for the morning so I am off out to work in it. I wonder what this storm will bring. We will shut the doors and get ready for it anyway.
Love celi
WEATHER: All seasons in one day. (Already that is singing through my head on an earworm loop).
Friday 03/23 0% / 0 in
Mostly sunny skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 48F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
Friday Night 03/23 60% / 1-3 in
Rain showers early with precipitation turning to a mixture of rain and snow overnight. Some sleet may mix in. Low 32F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 60%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected.
Sun
6:51 am 7:08 pm
Moon
Waxing Crescent, 37% visible 10:58 am 12:48 am
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “SPRING STORM”
Sounds like you have some great and plausible ideas..if you need any help call me! I’ll be up your way all next week.
Thanks gods – I have packages !
initiative is your middle name. Or is it “Initiative, thy name is Cecilia”…something like that. Love the constant churning of ideas…
You!!!
I’m going to be anxious to read tomorrow’s post to see if the storm let you be and went around and whether Jake likes your ideas. A person has to be very smart to be a good farmer. That you are.
I am going to wait until the storm does or does not do anything then I will post – so i may be a little later in the morning tomorrow..
I’m not that far north of you and we’re now predicted just a chance of snow with no accumulation and a small warm up after with rain for a couple days. I’d rather rain, with the blasted hill, snow is dangerous. We did have a bit of a surprise, the city came and patched the common drive (which means the city considers it and alley and they are responsible for it – eventually). Have a lovely evening.
I am so pleased they fixed your alley – that was a terrible icy trap – chg john said they were looking at a trace – so I hope it goes way south and misses us all!!
Brilliancy! Is that a word? It is now! 🙂
Yes! wonderful.. c
Glad you have Big John at the moment to help – and glad you have been able to get the extra acres for your usage. Difficult for a ‘city gal’ to believe how much land is necessary for the pigs to have live food! Am looking forwards to the ducks . . and to Jake saying ‘yes’ and us visitors being able to move further afield and up with our learning curve also . . . best of luck!
The cows are the ones needing the extra pastures but yes the pigs need more too! sigh – c
That’s a great idea! Duck eggs are fantastic with a large yolk and as you say, ducks don’t care where they lay them. If you have a pond, you will find eggs at the bottom!
Lucky I don’t have a pond then!! They will have rubbish bin lids and shallow stock tanks to splash about in!
They will be very happy with that. Ducks love to splash around and make a mess.
The female wild teal arrived a couple of days ago after 1 year away………always lovely to see her.
Sounds like a good plan…I’ll hope for it as well. Beautiful photos of the rooster
The trick to getting clean duck eggs is no food overnight in their enclosure. Otherwise, they poop up a storm. I give mine a little water so they can wet their whistle, and I throw in a snack of shaved carrot and/or some peas to help lure them in the shed and because they are spoiled. But they really don’t need any food at night and in the morning they will have made a new nest and deposited perfect eggs. The two I collected this morning were spotless.
I love that you are working together with others. It just makes so much sense, doesn’t it?
Ah. What an excellent solution. Thank you. I love how they lay so early too. That will make collection easier. Good tips. Thank you
And a lovely day to you dear Celi. What do you do for impacted crop?