This week: – Farm pick up: Wednesday 11 – 7 in cooler by the Purple Garage. City Delivery: Northside – Wednesday 3:30 at 801 Union Place/N. Diamond St. Place your order Here.
My heart goes out to Texas and the other states that are getting hit with the winter weather. I can only imagine how hard it would be to deal with pipes freezing, children, babies and elderly being too cold, and not having the resources to keep you, your family and your community safe.
Most of my news comes from the bits I hear on NPR while doing off-farm errands. What I haven’t heard is how the dairy farmers and ranchers are doing. How about the annual and perennial crops? What’s growing in Texas right now that our national food system depends on?
If pipes are freezing in houses, how are thousands of head of cattle getting drinking water? Are greenhouses set up to handle such low temperatures and are late winter and early spring crops ruined? Those tomatoes you see at market in May are/were growing right now in Texas….
It gets pretty darn cold here – (it was 9 degrees when I got up this morning) and I’m thankful for the bales of straw to keep our pigs and chickens cozy at night, for the buried water lines and the frost free hydrant in the barn. We have a wood stove and a cord of wood left for the remainder of winter.
Winter farm work can be taxing; having to bundle up every time we go out to care for the animals; slipping and falling on ice and snow; breaking frozen water barrels with pick axes, and dealing with the piles of winter snow gear and boots that the kids leave at the door every time they come in!
But we’re happy, comfortable, and busy. Spring is on its way and you can tell, not only by the daylight and the angle of the sun, but also by the birds and the songs they sing. We even have a wren starting her nest in the garage.
Hopefully the experiences in Texas will be lessons we can all learn from. Simple things, like, how do you turn off the main water line (or gas line) to your house? How would you cook if you didn’t have electricity? Do you have enough clothing and blankets to stay warm?
Life is tenacious and time keeps ticking. Sometimes it easy to get wrapped up in the big picture. The Drama. It’s also good to remember what you’ve got at home – friends, family, food, shelter, your health. There’s plenty to be grateful for.
We better get out on that frozen pond – as the spring peepers will be peeping before we know it!
