This has been the warmest winter on record since I’ve been logging the weather here on the mountain (16 years). Is this global warming? The 11 year sunspot cycle? Something else? We’re due for an ice age any day now so mind you I am not complaining in the slightest. Yes, more snow would be nice for the snow boarding. But this is our first year farrowing pigs in the winter and the remarkable warm weather has been a blessing. Extended periods of -20°F (-28°C) and even -45°F (-42°C) during the day are normal here, sometimes for weeks at a time. It can make breathing difficult – you take chores real slow and don’t touch anything metal with your bare hands. Many years we’ve had a month or more of never getting above 0°F (-17°C) even during the day.
This year has not been like that at all. We had a few days below 0°F but for the most part it has been a balmy 20°F or so. Often days I don’t bother putting on anything more than my light house jacket during chores – my heavy full body winter work suit hangs unused in the grate hall. I’m sure the piglets have appreciated it. I’m glad they got to be born into these warm temperatures rather than the searing cold of a normal winter.
So, sun spots or SUVs, I’m thankful. I couldn’t have picked a better winter to first start experimenting with year round farrowing. It is always nice to get lucky.
29°F/21°F, 1″ Snow, Sleet, Rain, Cloudy.
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
Just lurking around my blogroll. Giving a small howdy-do.
Beautiful picture of the bird. How did you ever get that close? Do you have a really really long lense?
hi mr. jefferies: i just updated my blog http://www.homemakerang.blogspot.com
any suggestions as to how we can clear our land quicker and economically :) pictures on my blog thanks.
Homemakerang
Suzanne, I used my E900 at maximum zoom and then cropped in on a 9Megapixel image to get the picture of the chickadee. It also let me get pretty close, maybe four or five feet away.
Ang, I left a longer note over on your blog in the comments. Basically I don’t go fast. You are fortunate to be starting with rich soil. We use animals to do a lot of the work and it takes a few years. Fence in the new field and get livestock on it. I’ll write more about how we do it soon. Cheers, -Walter
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR LENGTHLY REPLY to my questions, my hubby and I really appreciated it tons! One thing I forgot to add :) is the land is very damp/wet! we had sock tile added to drain it, etc. and it is helping a little. soooo, we are trying to figure a way to dry it out better. thanks for all the info, looking forward to reading what you are posting
thanks
homemakerang and family
Ang, Have you considered putting in a small pond in the middle. Dig deep and that would lower the water table for the rest of the area. Then have the pond drain out away from the area through a low overflow pipe. This also gives you a pond for aquaculture and animals. We have several small ponds that we’ve put in. Very effective. Our goal is to catch some of the runoff racing down the mountain and retain it for the dry times as well.
thanks so much once again for taking your time to answer our questions! Have a great day!
homemakerang and family
ps -9 degrees this morning, good thing we got a lot of work done on saturday!