Archive of Past News of the Farm:
Facing the Windy Cold February 3, 2011 |
Facing the Windy Cold
February 3, 2011
Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Aunt
Tooter was standing in the water tub, on the ice. Her message could not
have been plainer. So I complied and poured boiling water into the far
corner of the tub, so as not to burn her toes. She decided to hop out
and join the others who had their beaks already inside the tub, scooping
up the soon-chilled water. During the last few days, I have poured
boiling water for them at least six times a day. They appreciate it.
Also, everyday, I harvest their eggs before they freeze.
The bowl on the outside, for the escapees, is full of ice.
The older hens really appreciated the lamps, but before dawn, the younger hens leave the perch to huddle together on the ground. Early birds get the worms you know, and so they wake up each and every day to take up the challenge.
Above: A few old hens stay put, near their heat source....
Covers blew off almost as soon as they were installed over the crops. The fava beans, in particular, in full bloom, with tiny beans showing, lost their covers repeatedly. Granted the plants are tied to the fences and the row covers are merely fastened to the fences with clothes pins, but what is a woman to do?
I use a lot of clothes pins on this farm. There is no man really in charge here, so I fall back on my feminine instincts: use what you have and what you understand. I hang out our laundry on the clothes line under the roof edge of the barn. I see those pins every day of my life. It is easy to adapt them to other tasks. Hanging up feed cans on the Hen House fence? Hanging posters there also? The clothes pins are perfect for those situations. Affixing row cover as a wind break to the Hen House fence? Again, clothes pins.
But, the pins are not made the way they used to be made. Just when they are most needed, they twist up in a tangle, which often can not be rearranged. Giant wind gusts can rip them right off the fava bean fences, throwing their parts everywhere.
The Fava Beans, above, are frozen stiff, and as brittle as their row cover. No need to re-cover now;
it would do more harm than good. The blooms and their tiny beans will likely be lost,
but if the plants themselves recover, perhaps they can bloom again.....
A
photographer followed us around the farm over the last few days. We
were his assignment. Monday, while the weather was warm, he commented on
how peaceful the farm was. On Tuesday, as he followed me along the
favas while I re-pinned the the blown-off fabric, all of a sudden there
was a loud war-like whomp! Startled we looked behind us as the wind
ripped the just-pinned fabric off the fence. It billowed like a canvas
sail on a boat. He remarked that the cover felt like canvas. I replied that it got wet during the sleet and now was frozen almost solid. it would do more harm than good. The blooms and their tiny beans will likely be lost,
but if the plants themselves recover, perhaps they can bloom again.....
I re-pinned the stretch undone. We both paused frequently to blow our breath on our frozen fingers. He took a photo of me doing that....I'm sure I was very photogenic at that moment.
The next day, the photographer took photos of our tiny market, which we set up in the Salad Shed (and adjacent walk-in cooler). Fresh vegetables placed outside on the farm stand tables would have frozen in about 2 minutes. Inside the shed, we cleared the clutter, topped the washing tubs with refrigerator shelves covered with a colorful hot-hued bed sheet, and set our baskets of salad mixes there. Produce covered the small space, which soon was crowded with a parade of two or three visitors at a time, plus us and the photographer. (The moment seemed like a major news event!)
There was no wind. We even turned off the walk-in cooler's fan, as it created noise plus a wind chill. We dislike wind. Of any kind.
Fennel and Butterhead lettuces nestle together, below our collection of berry baskets....
The first Ten Brave, Bold and Beautiful visitors got the 10 pints of Gause farm Strawberries. They were happy.
A little bit of almost everything. Oops, the mud-splashed bucket didn't get hidden!
Oh well, the Salad Shed, the Nerve Center of the farm, has been occupied by more mud than that!
The salad mixes sit on top of the washing tubs....fitting for them.
Shelves held two varieties of cabbage, Hen House eggs, and various greens...
Outside,
I noticed that the adolescent Dino kale's cover had blown off. It, the
favas, the strawberries, and the young transplants have been our major
concerns. So I re-covered the frozen plants, as if that would help them
survive. You do your best.
The frozen Dinosaur Kale, its cover wrenched off by the wind.
Notice the bulging bubble of row cover on the adjacent bed.
We just have to wait and watch....but at least, perhaps, the wind will have calmed. And we will all, hen and human alike, be happy about that.
Carol Ann Back