May 19, 2009

out here in the sticks

Farming has totally changed our lives in may ways. One of the biggest changes has been how we view weather. We have learned, (the very, very, very) hard way, that weather can have the power to seriously break us.
Let's take the 2 major offenders for us....rain and wind. I love rain and I love how it makes things turn green, grow and flourish but too much rain can be a bad thing. If it rains hard enough,the movable pens (to be explained in more detail in a future post) will flood requiring us to get straw to lay down inside the pens. The straw is enough to get the chickens up and away from the water. That has happened a few times and of course, always at bad times like when we had plans to go somewhere or when it's late at night. And now we have the lambs who are outside during the day. So, while in my previous life, if I heard it start to rain, I might wonder if my windows were down or maybe if I'd left something outside. These days it's more like *grab all of the laying hen's feeders and put them under the shelter, *Run across the road into the other paddock and put the tarp sides down on the broiler pens and make sure they're spaced well enough so any water runoff from one pen doesn't run into the pen below it, *run and grab the lambs and corral them inside, *make sure windows in brooder are closed so the baby chicks don't get wet.
Knowing that you are responsible for all of those lives is a pretty intense feeling. We would feel terrible if something happened to them and of course, that's money sitting out in that field getting wet.
Ah yes, then there's Wind. I'm still adjusting but at the moment, the wind and I don't have a very good relationship. 92 mph winds picked up, flipped, crashed, and destroyed our 'Eggmobile' (portable hen house). This happened on 2 different occasions. It was devastating because Nate had spent so much time building it and around here, time is valuable. It was a huge setback. In addition to the Eggmobile carnage we had some damage to our field pens and were out in the crazy winds trying to stake down the tarps.
I can't explain the feeling I get when I hear heavy rain or high wind. We have since built a shorter, less flippable Eggmobile and I am beginning to forgive and learn to work with Mother Nature. However, I still hold my breath every time a huge gust comes through here. Having so many living things who are depending on you and living outside where they're vulnerable can be scary. Take, for instance, the other night...
Nate was in town for a friend/art event. At 11:00 pm I was awaken by a pack of barking, howling dogs. I sat straight upright in bed immediately flooded with fear. I couldn't tell how far away they were but they sounded pretty close. I could tell there were at least 4 or 5 of them. They were going crazy. We have heard that there are coyotes around here and Nate thought he heard some a few weeks ago. All of our animals are either inside at night or locked up in pens or in the eggmobile but I was afraid the dogs were harassing them trying to get into their pens or something. I was alone and didn't know what to do. If it was coyotes or wild dogs, what could I do? If they saw me would they come after me?
20 minutes later, all of a sudden, they were all quiet. The next morning, everyone was fine and there was no sign that anything had happened.
I have since learned what that comotion was all about and you will not believe it. I had no idea at the time but I was experiencing my first "Coonhound Night Hunting". Um, yeah. It's an actual sport. A group of guys have a contest to see whose dog can chase the most raccoons up a tree. The dogs are specailly trained for this. They don't kill the raccoon, they just scare the livng crap out of it. Sounds like a humane sport, right? I am slightly disturbed to learn this but at least the coyote theory was put to rest..... for now, anyway.

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