IMG_4053Today, when I stopped by to make a bank deposit for work, the cute little teller asked me, “Snow – are you for or against?” It was kind of an odd little question, but seeing as we still have snow in the mountains, and are expecting more at week’s end, I understood where she was coming from. I’d bet that the “for” vs. “against” are about 50/50 in Sierra Vista. There are a whole lot of people who have said, “I didn’t move to Arizona to be cold!” There are the snowbirds who are here to get away from all that white stuff. Then there are people like me who say, “If it melts off by noon, I’m for it.” It just looks pretty!

I’m not exactly sure where Sue stands. She was surprised by the snow on the ground Tuesday morning. She said she had looked out of her window in the night, saw that everything looked bright white, and thought, “Boy! That moons sure is casting a great deal of light tonight.” Turns out it was simply that “The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.” (How often do you actually get to quote that?)

Snow does pose some really difficult issues with farming. The water for the animals freezes and you can’t use the hoses, so you end up hauling a great deal of water from the house out to the chickens and goats. Sometimes, the goats’ water, as well as the water that’s out there for Vicente’s chickens won’t freeze because it’s covered… but we’re expecting 19° over the weekend, so I don’t think there will be anything that’s NOT frozen. It adds quite a bit of time to Sue’s morning chore routine. It also makes us really think of what we’re purchasing, feed and bedding wise. Sue was going to go get a great deal of straw tomorrow to change out the bedding, but we don’t really have any place to keep it covered and dry and wet bedding doesn’t work at all. We will be able to store the alfalfa under tarps, so that’s ok. and food will be covered as well. Just funny things we’ve got to think about.

The garden remains covered against the freezing temperatures and so far, it’s worked like a charm. We even used some of the greens for the chickens and ducks’ breakfast this morning. Didn’t see anything left behind, so it must have been yummy!!!

The cold temperatures also have projects on hold. Can’t purchase the cement bags needed because we really can’t keep it dry. We already have somewhere!  Luckily, Sue has signed up for some interesting webinars on different topics. She watched one today thank youabout regenerating your soil. She learned that, if you use the right cover crops, you won’t need to put additives on the soil. So- yet another confirmation that we are trying to do the right things!  That’s always great to hear. I’m sure we’ll have more time to spend researching and maybe I can work on catching up the books, since it will be such wintry weather this weekend. We’ll catch you up on the happenings on Friday, right now I think I hear the wind bringing the storms down the mountain.  Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading.

Today’s Weather: Done and done.

Egg Report: Here’s the lonnnnng report: Thursday – 3 duck, 36 chicken. Friday – 3 duck, 44 chicken. Saturday – zero duck, 41 chicken. Sunday – 5 duck, 41 chicken. Monday – 3 duck, 38 chicken. Tuesday 3 duck, 40 chicken. Wednesday – 3 duck, 37 chicken.