This country (the USA) is a country of extremes. The hot wind-blown fires in Los Angeles and the freezing temps here sliding even further down.
I feel terrible for all those people and all those firefighters in LA. And as hot and fiery as it is over there we are getting even colder. Though I am grateful for my home.
In a few days we are down as low as 0F which is minus 17 in celcius. This morning we are at 6F and blowing.
I got help to get all barn doors chipped out of the ice yesterday so I could roll them all the way shut at night. With this even colder weather on the way we need to be able to shut the barns up to keep the frigid winds out.
The barn is always sad when we cut out the sun but life is full of decisions like that. We lose the warming sun but also cut out the freezing snow blowing wind. It is an equation. Not all equations are easy.
This teenager steer is called Late to Dinner – he is always last. We watch for behaviour that is out of character and his lateness is always in character so I never worry about it.
If the animal you love suddenly behaves differently or goes even quieter than usual, or stops eating food or is unusually late to dinner pay attention. It is the behaviour that is Out Of Character that we need to be worried about.
Late to Dinner is always late. Usually he is late because he and the white teen are play fighting. I was calling the white teen Lollipop for a while then remembered that I cannot name animals destined for the family table. But it is natural – right? To label things so we can watch more closely, point them out with words.
These black cows are super black against the white of the sky and the snow. They are seldom still – especially in this cold. So I find them hard to photographs. I need to think harder about my aperture.
Because the little pigs are always on the move it is the same kind of shot. We either go dark or out of focus.
Moving black blobs. But they are also doing super well. The little pigs. As long as they stay out of the wind. We don’t want frost bite.
Here is the newsletter from the weekend with a walk about and a round up. Have a watch and leave a like. Share if you can. I love creating the newsletters though I thought Saturday was Sunday and hurried to get it out on the wrong day!!
SNOWY WALKABOUT AND FARM ANIMAL CATCH UP
This is what the kitchen floor looks like with all the buckets of water ready to go out and with the temperatures going even further down, (though there is one odd day above freezing later in the week) we are carrying water out for the animals in buckets for the foreseeable future. The outside faucet is frozen solid.
Rhonda is on her break until March and will be grateful to be missing this particular hell. Slogging through snow with buckets of water.
And yesterday it went just up to freezing level which means there was some snow melt. And that snow melt is now ice.
This gate that we need to get through might be iced up by this morning, which is going to be a problem. I got it cleared so it will still open smoothly last night but we will see.
Remember – I am NOT COMPLAINING – I choose to be here – I am merely reporting the facts about farming in the deep winter. The meat in our freezer is hard won. The vegetables and eggs and dried herbs in the store-room are hard won. Farming is not for cissies. Self sufficiency is hard work. And – yes – in my next role as globetrottibg doula and nanny (with a garden) – I have been offered time off from this tough life for a long while, starting next month. And my aching hands and aching shoulders will recover in the warmth of Australia. But I am divided. Though there is no question of my choice. Babies before Cows. But. I still feel guilty leaving. Leaving others to do the work. It is just not in my nature.
Anyway. That is for me to get over. Right?
The animals will be as fine with others as they are with me. It is arrogant to think I am the only one who can do this.
Here:
This will cheer us up.
Have a good day. The sun is out here today. Frigid cold but sunny so I will open the big doors in the barn to keep them sliding. Let the sun in for a while. Then shut it all back down.
Love Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
15 responses to “deeper cold ahead: rolling the barn doors shut”
It’s been freezing here for a week with hard frosts at night. I went out on Saturday at 6pm and the path and roads were white. I half expected to slide down the mountain. Today it’s warmed up and daytime temperatures may be up to 8ºC this week!
IMHO if you call the animals White Cow or Black Cow, you might as well use Late to Dinner or Lollipop. They are descriptive names that they’ve earned and not quite the same as given names like Sheila or Ton Ton…
Those little pigs are so cute! I bet they leap out of bed every morning when you call.
Those little black pigs always look so healthy with their shiny shiny coats. I too think descriptive names are a good thing. Late to Dinner, shows animal awareness and affection but not sentimentality. I do understand your forthcoming adventure( in the warm ), though your animals and followers will miss you. It has also been very very cold in the Uk for the last few days but luckily no snow at our end of the country.
I will still be blogging and narrating and while we might lose visual and visceral touch with the farm for a while eventually i will be back. If all goes well of course because promises are seldom ours to make.
It always surprises me – though it should not- how similar our weather can be.
Now they know I will bring them out into the frozen tundra to eat they practically tear the gate down when they hear me coming. And they are prone to fat so they are eating piles of veg and fruit. Lucky we have the restaurants. But they still look too fat!
Ha ha – they look just right to me! They are the cutest pigs – I’d love to farm some myself.
Sooooooo cold just reading this 🙂
I know. I am all rugged up to go out again and even I am not looking forward to it.
I live in Southern California, not in LA, but about 30 miles from the fires. We are having the same Santa Ana winds, but so far no nearby fire (yet). The news coverage shows everything grey, grey, grey and dead. Your wonderful blog and photos of color and life, though cold, is soothing to our traumatic souls. Thank you.
And thank YOU for popping in to let us know how you are doing. It must be so I unsettling to be in the same winds knowing what they can do with flame. Thank goodness you are not in the path of fire but I bet your anxiety is high. And I am so grateful to read that this little blog can be a tiny help with that. Keep in touch.
Late to Dinner just has that look about his face that says “I am trouble and I am coming right for you so get used to it!!”
This line that you wrote is a life lesson I still struggle with in many areas as I don’t have animals- “The animals will be as fine with others as they are with me. It is arrogant to think I am the only one who can do this.”
As well as the guilt when decisions are made to change the plan. I am not good at letting responsibilities I have set for myself go on to someone else. I am trying because realistically I know that I cannot sustain being everything for and to everyone all at the same time. But when that is who you have been your entire life change is so slow.
Hoping at least for the winds to die back and for all doors and gates to behave as they should
It is a major life lesson for me at the moment – and a really good one. (Thank you for joining me in this!), We need to learn to move like water – just go where fate dictates, go through the doors and windows as they open and do our work wherever we wash up.
If you and your readers have clear skies tonight at 8 pm CST, look to the Moon in the east. It will be within minutes of occulting Mars for a little more than an hour. Mars will emerge at about 9:10 pm CST. Binoculars will help see it. An east facing window will suffice if it is cold. It will be cold in the midwest.
Cold and cloudy here by nightfall . 😒 then snow again by morning. and I have beautiful big east facing windows. But you never know! Anything can happen!! I will watch out for it. Thank you, Jim.
I well understand the commenting not complaining part. Our visitors arrive to an everything present and accounted for scenario and assume it’s like this all the time. Days, years of ongoing behind the scenes diy isn’t evident. But while we can manage and adapt in-house we wouldn’t have it any other way. However, as we well know things change and it bodes us well to be prepared for that possibility also.
yes indeed! Things change.
I love the long run up to visitors- when I grow just The right things – for a special occasion.