Snow Day

The kids are away and I end up with a snow day. I guess that is just how it works out sometimes. Got up, went out and took care of the animals this morning at 4:30 am. We already had about an inch of snow but still planned on going in to work, that is until I went back inside and turned on the news. All the schools are closed in the DC metropolitan area and they are calling for a nasty mix of snow/rain/ice etc. Email the people I was to meet with today to tell them I am not coming in and climb back into bed. Wake up at a very reasonable 8 am, and start my day again. Shoveled out the driveway and was beginning to think I made the wrong decision since we only have between an 1 ½ and 2 inches of snow, only to find out the all the surrounding counties have implemented snow emergency plans -- meaning no one on the roads without snow tires or chains. Guess I made the correct decision.

Here are some pictures -- decided to go black and white since it is overcast and the colors didn't show up well anyway.

Bella hanging out in her stall.

Inside one of the high tunnels before I cleaned off the snow.

Maya having some water. She is doing well but unfortunately only two of the piglets made it. I don't think Maya had enough conditioning to support them all so she culled down the numbers.

The barnyard gang hanging out on a snowy day.

Winter Piglets

Just a quick post so Danielle and the kids, who are on a road trip, and anyone else who is interested can see the new piglets.




So far we have 3 boys and a girl. Unfortunately, two other pigs didn't make it. One pig must have wandered off and succumbed to the cold while the other was stillborn.

We would not have planned for a liter at this time of the year but Big Boy jumping the fence changed things.

Cold Morning Chores

Due to the combination of the Martin Luther King Holiday and Inauguration Day I had an extra long weekend.  Actually I was off on Friday as well due to my 9/80 schedule so it was a relaxing 5 days around the farm.  I try to do all the farm chores when I am off work since Danielle does them during the week, especially during the winter months since I leave the house before sun up and don't get home until 5 PM.

We have been experiencing quite a cold snap lately which made the morning chores particularly brisk.  I am not complaining, since I realize many other parts of the country are below zero in actual temperature and -30° F or more with wind chill, but 5° F for Maryland is damn cold.

When it is this cold Buddy grabs his morning breakfast, in this case a meaty bone from the previous nights pork roast, and retires to the relative warmth of his straw filled dog house.


I tend to give all the animals larger portions of feed to help them stay warm. Danielle also put new straw in all of their shelters at the start of the cold snap.





One of the biggest problems is keeping water available to everyone. We have an electric de-icer in Bella's water trough adjacent to the barn. We have not however found a good way to keep the other animals waters from freezing solid. This leads to twice a day hauling of water from the barn to the animal paddocks, luckily only 50 yards or so. The ice then is broken out of their buckets and the fresh water poured in. The pigs manage to drink or spill all of their water before it freezes so in their case it is just a matter of retreiving their trough from wherever they dragged it to and filling it.

Here is an obligatory self portrait of me all bundled up for the morning chores. In addition to my pajamas from the night before I have on a turtle neck, waffle insulated hoodie, hat and insulated coveralls. While I managed to stay relatively warm it was still great to come in by the warm wood stove when I was finished.



Hope everyone is staying warm.

Holiday ReCap

The Holiday Season was hectic as usual (in a good way) as one can surmise from my lack of posting.  The kids really seemed excited by this years bounty, which was heavy on Lego's. We never seem to be able to get enough of those.

Christmas day was beautiful and we all went for a walk in the pastures to enjoy the sunny weather.

Our Tom Turkey was also strutting his stuff in the afternoon sun.

We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather again on New Year's Day and went for a short hike on the Appalachian Trail up towards Annapolis Rocks with some friends who were in visiting.  Seeing all the boulders got the kids (and adults) excited to start climbing again.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday Season!