Thanks to Sarah for capturing this beautiful image of a ewe and her brand new lamb. Such maternal care in this pose!
Wow, what a winter it has been so far! We have two large holly trees near our house. In early fall, they are loaded with beautiful red berries. I love to cut from these trees to bring in seasonal spirit to our house in December. But, this year was one of a handful when I went out on the first day of December and found essentially no holly berries remaining — the birds had already eaten them all! This happens some years; others less so. I noted to Casey recently that perhaps we should take note of the trend in either direction, because maybe — just maybe — it might tell us something of the winter. Because, animals are smart like that.
This winter has been cold so far. That cold snap a few weeks ago certainly left its mark on the fields. The low temperatures plus duration left some plantings dead and others looking haggard. When Casey and I comment on this to each other, we also remind ourselves: ’tis the season.
In spite of the lack of snow, this is winter. Gray. Dark. Foggy. Cold. Not terribly inspiring, except in glorious bursts of crisp sunshine (such as we were blessed with this weekend). Following that cold snap came those weeks of being socked in here in the valley day after day after day. That weather finally broke late last week, and I felt my heart soar as the sight line from our house extended more than a hundred or so feet. These physical things affect my psyche very much, and I was more than grateful for the change.
I’m sure that the rest of the life on the farm was also rejoicing. And, there is a lot of life on the farm. We had a handful of new lambs born this last week (see photo above!) and are awaiting new calves to be born any day now. As with the all things on the farm, this is a good season to pay special attention and plan and ponder. We walk the fields and take stock of what we see, which — as I suggested above — isn’t the prettiest of the year. It takes some imagination to see the reality of the farm amidst the gray and such, because we are in the lowest moment of the year.
But we tend and we wait and we plan. Casey just put in our first seed order of the year this weekend. This first round will contain seeds that we plan to plant in our greenhouses as soon as possible. Casey also recently installed “end walls” on our two high tunnels, which had previously been open on both ends. With the sun’s help, the soil inside is heating up and preparing to be planted. We’ll sow loads of greens and some potatoes for spring harvests. This planning is the hope of the season, along with those glimpses of the sun’s power. It’s still up there! Even when we can’t really tell!
Casey’s also been doing more detailed planning for animal diets in the coming year. We’ve gotten to the point with the farm where keeping animals contained and such is routine, so now we can pay attention to the finer details. This feels really good — progress. It is necessary to get to this point with every aspect of our operation, as it is a sign that we are moving past the little immediate fires that come with starting something new. We’re moving into the world of sustaining something good and worthy, which takes thought and conscientious effort, even when things are certainly running more smoothly than at first.
So, looking over Casey’s shoulder right now, I see these such things in his notebook
pasture = 1.5 lbs protein
25# our hay = 3 lbs
10 lb oats = 1.3 lbs
10# of 22% protein alfalfa = 2.2 lbs
7 lbs protein / day
The latent biochemist in Casey is having fun with all this math of percentages times percentages. The farmer in him is happy to know how to care for our cows in the best ways possible. The eater in him is excited about the potential of increasing the butterfat in the milk. Good things.
Now that the holidays are solidly behind us, all this planning and waiting and tending has us starting to get anxious for spring. Yes, winter just officially arrived, but we’ve gotten our winter rest and rearing to go. Which we will, as we can, when we can. Greenhouses will help. So will the heat benches in our starts house. A new year is here. Let’s go!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
