Wait! I Thought It Was Spring!

Just when we were starting to feel a hint of spring in the chilly air, and when the earliest daffodils decided to bloom...

We have been reminded again that we are not in control!

We have around 6" so far, but thankfully it's not very cold...

My rooster is a little snow-laden...

The daily work must go on.  It doesn't feel quite right to desecrate the beauty of the snow like this, but the gutters need to be cleaned out and the manure has to be hauled out regardless...

Somebody loves the snow!  While the older dogs stay holed up in the warm barn, Phoebe goes exploring. The chickens hate walking in the snow, and when I checked for eggs, she was confused about why they weren't outside...

Now my morning chores are finished and I'm hoping to get the last of the prep work finished on the hallway before it's time to prime...maybe later today or tomorrow!! 

The warm radiators can do their part in drying the coveralls, hats and gloves...

...and we'll wait for the snow to stop...and melt.  Quickly.  The forecast is for temps in the 40's this weekend!

Spring is just around the corner!

You Know It's Spring When...

You know it's spring when...

There are lots of ways to finish that sentence, but one way you know it's spring here is that the pens at the other farm get cleaned out.

I'm a few weeks late with this post, but here are a few pictures anyway.

It happens every spring and fall, but there's nothing quite like a barn that's been completely cleaned out of pen pack manure.  Load after load of manure has been spread on the fields, and now bales of corn fodder are tossed from the mow, down through the hole onto the floor below...

(the windows are open now, letting more fresh air in the barn)

Fresh dry fodder has been spread all over the floor of the pens and the skid loader sits idle out in the barn yard...

The cows (with the bull, of course leading the way) are left back into the barn after spending the day outside...

They suspiciously explore their freshly bedded pens...

...and get right back to work at messing them up for the fall clean up!  That one won't take as long, because the animals will all be spending a lot of time out in the meadow before too long!

How do you know it's spring in your neck of the woods?