Winter’s last blast?
23 03 2008
We’ve now had three days of hail, sleet and snow, often combined with strong winds, so feeding the animals can be a little interesting as the Other Half found when she fed Daisy this morning. It’s not proper winter weather as the snow is neither deep nor lasting, but it is cold and wet.
We do find it a little disturbing that we’ve only had half a dozen day’s snowfall this winter and none of it has lasted more than a couple of days. According to families who’ve farmed here for generations, 80 years or more in many cases, we should have had deep snow on the ground for weeks at a time from late December through to about now. As for the photo, I’m heading out to water the chickens with a tonic added to the water to give them a bit of pep.
The snow may not be impressive, but the mud underneath it is. The combination of constant damp, mixed with spells of snow melt, rain and hail, has turned the top six to eight inches of soil into slush. There hasn’t been enough water to penetrate much deeper, so the grass and top soil tend to slide off the subsoil. The result is a mess—even without pigs on it.
After each 30 to 40 minute spell of overcast and snow showers, the sun emerges to heat everything up, create an instant thaw and generate even more mud. At one point, the Other Half and I had just walked out of the hayshed, the roof of which was covered in snow, when the sun came out. In less than five seconds, the entire covering of snow on the roof had melted and run off in a cascade of icy water—just missing us.
Still, there are some that are warm, cosy and comfortable! Delilah and her litter of Berkshire piglets are well and truly settled on their mound of fresh, dry straw with the heat lamp keeping conditions nicely snug for the litter. When people ask why we have our sows farrow inside, this is the sort of weather we have in mind.
Looks like things could be ‘interesting’ tomorrow then!
Let me know if it gets too bad
It’s very dependent on local microclimate and height above sea level. We went to Oyne this morning, which is a little over five miles away.
As we drove down the hill into Insch we found markedly less snow in the village than here, while we found Oyne was enjoying much milder weather with nary a trace of snow. In fact, the staff at Archaeolink were bemused when the OH called to see if their activities were still on given the weather. They had no idea that it was snowing heavily here.
In fact, it’s still snowing at the moment. We’ve spent most of the day inside doing spring cleaning and tidying, but I think all we’ve achieved is to stir up dust that would have been better left where it was!
no snow here either, but chilly this afternoon
Over here on the other side of the world we have had one of the coldest winters ever. We have had three snows but none of them ever lasts more than a day or two. It made me feel kind of funny to see you in Scotland carrying two watering cans identical to the ones I use here in Texas. Thanks for your “blow-by-blow” account of crofting in the 21st century. Most enjoyable…I salute your hard work!
I also live in a micro climate zone. Our winters are as close as one gets to a monsoon season in Canada but our summers are Mediterrean. These last 4 winters have been atypical and I assume that’s due to the effects of global warming.
It’s always good to drop in and see what you and yours are up to at the croft. It’s been a year since we had any livestock and part of me misses the lifestyle desperately, while the other part is thankful for the respite. Take good care and stay well and happy.
hope its not the last blast
I enjoyex Cross-country skiing at Clashindarroch Forest (between rhyine & cabrach) yesterday and telemark skiing at cairngorm today.
chickens dont like the snow though, is chicken water tonic like poultry spice??
i put the spice with the pellets but they dont seem to eat it….
that mud must get annoying, bet you prefer it frozen solid
I certainly hope it is! We need to get the potatoes and artichokes in within the next fortnight as the short growing season up here means April is too late (we run into early frosts at the end of the year).
Some chickens don’t mind snow — Scots Greys being notable example. Our ISA Browns occasionally venture out for a forage but quickly retreat inside again. The Scots Greys, on the other hand, were out all day and most had snow blankets on their backs. They finally went in just on dusk.
The tonic is probably similar to poultry spice, but it’s a liquid that’s added to their water. I give it to ours at the beginning of the laying season and mid-moult, plus January if it’s been a hard winter with little greenery for them to forage.
The Other Half and I prefer frozen mud, the pigs on the other hand absolutely hate frozen mud. They don’t like the ground to be be too sloppy, either, but frozen mud is guaranteed to keep them in their beds as much as possible.
Dwight and Brightfeather, thanks for the messages,
I think all your snow is landing in Michigan–we got another 12 inches last friday.
I was all set to get out and pull up some early weeds, too
I’ve learned not to get too excited by an early thaw here, and have not started any seeds yet. Perhaps *this* year I will learn, and not spend all of May running around with blankets and buckets covering seedlings.
Perhaps.