​Farmgirl’s hard work of last week paid off as we watched the first green shoots of 2016 emerge through the warm, moist soil-filled flats in our mudroom. The new shoots stretched upward against the weight of the remaining seed husks. We will provide supplemental light for the little plants until they grow stronger and we prepare to transition them for life outdoors in several weeks.

One morning last week I walked outside with Little Rosie De and found the entire farm adorned in beautiful ice crystals. It looked like fog, frozen in mid-vapor descent. It was, in fact, a frozen fog, for which I didn’t realize there is actually a word--hoar frost. This phenomenon happens when the air is still and frozen water vapor deposits dainty ice crystals across plants, fences, etc. It is akin to a fresh beautiful snowfall, but more delicate in nature.

The ice and deep snowy drifts of early, bitterly cold February melted precipitously into Mud Season by the middle of the month. The accompanying gusting winds blew in severe cases of spring fever across the farm. Farmgirl played in mud after school. The chickens extended their foraging range in search of seeds and other tasty morsels. I sensed an urgency to launch ‘spring cleaning’ in the polebarn. 

Typically, we aim to start cleaning out livestock pens in late March and April, NOT February, once the congealed bedding has thawed after a cold, deep-freezing winter. It is impossible to move bedding before the thaw. However, a winter marked with atypical weather patterns did not allow the bedding to freeze up this year as usual. With temperatures rising, so too were the moisture levels in the polebarn.

Muscles and ambitious work ethics, accompanied by new friendships and community connections, arrived at our farm to assist with farmwork. What could have taken my hard-core other half and I several days to achieve was accomplished in relatively short order. Pens were cleaned and refreshed, compost was moved (some of it at least!) and lots of fresh air and sunlight danced through the big open polebarn doors. It was a notable accomplishment!
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Just as farmwork was progressing, the CRUD entered our house and took hold of the farmkids. As the week progressed, so did their colds and coughing, our farmboy apparently predisposed to developing croup.  There is never a good time for sickness to enter a home, though I have found it sometimes seems even worse now that we are running a small farm. As farmers, we cannot call in sick; someone has to feed and water the animals and check on things, everyday. During such times, my hard-core other half and I work together as a team, alternately comforting the farmkids and tending to the livestock. The days feel long but the week passes surprisingly quickly.

​With the onset of illness in the house, we fell short in cooking many farm-grown meals this week. Frozen leftovers and a few items from the grocery store carried us through. We enjoyed one particularly nice meal of banana pepper relleno casserole, pulled together from frozen and fresh ingredients. With this dish, we first roasted our peppers (from last summer’s bounty), then baked it in a dish of farm-fresh free-ranged eggs and cheese. When topped off with homemade salsa, it was quite delicious! 

​Expressions of love come in so many forms, gifts, cards, flowers, romantic gestures.  LOVE is creating memories and growing good food to fuel our bodies and feed our souls. LOVE is a connection with the land and animals (wild or domestic).

​Last week’s cranky and seemingly unrelenting arctic airmass begrudgingly released its icy grasp on us late in the week. Still in cozy winter torpor, I was enjoying the long, dark winter nights and cooking rich, core-warming winter foods. It came as a bit of surprise, as it does each February, that my ‘hard-core other half’ insisted that we needed to start planting for the coming growing season.

“Already?!” I exclaimed. “But it’s only the middle of February, ...in Wisconsin! It is 5 degrees below zero! Are you sure?”

“Yes! Look at the calendar!!! We have to get the leeks, onions, and celery started. Maybe even a few of the herbs,” he responded in exasperation. “In fact, we might even be a week late!”

While the mercury parked itself below zero and winds blasted chills into the frost biting zone, it seemed like the summer growing season was eons away. However, still weeks before the first green shoots will emerge from the sun warmed soil, the 2016 growing season got underway at Emerald Acres Farm. Our laundry room metamorphosed into a mud room. . . 

​Last Sunday, Valentine’s Day, our 5-year-old farmgirl worked alongside her daddy to build soil blocks and plant the first seeds of 2016. As I watched the two, I realized that there is no love quite like that which exists between a father and his daughter. As they squished and massaged the moist potting soil between their fingers and meticulously placed each of the seeds, no larger than a pencil tip, with a tweezers into the soil, I marveled at the memories they were creating together. As they were sowing seeds for the coming summer’s bounty, so too were they sowing lifelong memories of time spent together.

Our little farmboy accompanies me most mornings, dressed in his toddler-warmest and nestled close to my chest in our Ergo (baby carrier), to walk around the property. Farmboy, not yet much of a talker, hums in contented relaxation and chirrups excitedly at first sight of the goats. The pups join us on patrol. This week, the peninsular winds brushed the snowy slate clean across our field. As we clumsily walked through the snowy drifts, we encountered fresh tracks stamped across our path. . .

When I showed the photo to Farmgirl, she enthusiastically informed me that they were turkey tracks! Of course! Wild turkeys frequent our orchard where they scratch through the icy crust to retrieve last fall’s leftover apples.

More signs of wildlife of the miniature nature etched the snowscape, evidenced by an intricate network of snow tunnels
and decorated by pawprints. 

Farm Grown Meals of the Week: We continue to pull what we can from our deep freeze. My ‘hard-core other half’ excels in stuffing peppers of the Mexican/southwest flavor. His sweet peppers, topped with chili and cumin seasoned venison burger and organic black beans spread over a bed of warm brown rice, top our Farmboy’s list of favorite foods. A little (probably Americanized) Asian influence also graced our table last week with some homemade Chop Suey.  

According to various news reports from around the state, 3 different groundhogs did not see their shadow on Groundhog’s Day and independently predicted the arrival of an early spring. However, the latest polar airmass to descend on Emerald Acres during the 6th week of the year brought with it a stark reminder that winter will still be here for another 6 weeks...

​Following a beautiful weekend jam-packed with sledding and skiing around the property, candlelight hiking at Whitefish Dunes State Park and ice skating on the local outdoor rink, temperatures plunged once again and the mercury dropped below 0 F. Windchills blew into the eyelash freezing, nostril pinching, frost-biting zone. In the farmyard, water buckets froze, so we hauled more hot water. We kept hay (for the goats) and grain (for the chickens) feeders full. Eggs froze,then cracked.

​As we farm, we learn to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. We knew that the goats would not want to spend much time outdoors during the latest cold snap, so we decided to separate our junior does from their moms to help them fully wean.

We dam-raise (in other words, let the moms feed and raise their kids) goat babies born on our farm because we feel it affords the goat kids the best possible nutrition and lessons on how to ‘just be a goat.’ Goat moms usually start to naturally wean their kids, if not forced to do so earlier, when the kids are about 6 months old, give or take. Our junior does range in age from about 7-9 months and were nearly weaned already so it was not a difficult transition for them. The goat moms will be able to rest for a while before they give birth to new kids this year.
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A rather uneventful and extremely cold week afforded us time to work around the house and attend to some paperwork (ugh, taxes….). We also started to gear up for planting in the near future! Below are some rich dishes we cooked up this week to keep us warm.

Decked out in my, ahem, ‘fashionable’ Carhart overalls and hotpink Muck boots, I stepped through the doorway onto our porch. A blast of cold air slapped my cheeks and the bright winter sun forcibly contracted my pupils into near obscurity. My senses, trained and practiced, fired up as I directed my strides toward the farmyard.

Observation is the first step in assessing the health and safety of all those that reside on our farm.

SIGHT

My experienced eyes caught sight of the bucklings, cloaked in burly winter coats, playfully ‘bucking around’ in their fenced yard. It isn’t unusual to see them outside during the day, though it was surprising that they were outside during the start of a winter storm; I made a mental note. Chickens and our two turkeys basked in the fleeting sun shining through the doorway to the pole barn. The goat pen doors were secured, the does lounging lazily and chewing their cud. Everything looked as it should, at least at first glance…

SOUND

A loud squabble among the chickens, presumably a few hens vying for some prime morsel of food or the best spot on the roost, muffled the crunch of snow and ice beneath my feet as I entered the pole barn. The deep alto bleat, “Maaa-aaa” from Polka, one of our Oberhasli goats directed a greeting to me. Each of our goats has a unique ‘voice.’

“Polka! What are you chattering about today?” I call out, expectantly waiting for her to respond.

“Maaa-aaa, MA!!” she answered! I made a mental note to look at her more closely; it’s likely she was coming into heat and ready to breed with our buck. A peaceful atmosphere enveloped me; it was calm before the snow storm.

SMELL

As I hoisted my heavily booted legs into the bucklings’ house, the sweet smell of decaying hay and straw seeped through my nasal passages. While I assessed the hay feeders and glanced at the water bucket, my nose alerted me to a sharp scent characterized by earthy undertones overlain with ammonia. Though not entirely unpleasant, I noticed that the bucklings would not come into the house unless forcibly persuaded. Something wasn’t quite right.

TOUCH

While in the buckling house, I knelt down for a moment to ponder the information transmitted by my senses. In short order, I felt warmth sliding along my shin and moving upward through my knee. I removed my glove and shoved my hand into the bedding of tight packed straw, urine and goat berries. Heat, radiant and moist, enveloped my hand. It took a moment to realize what was going on. The strength and magic of creating compost was happening immediately below me! It was fascinating! And HOT! My hand did not burn, but it was considerably warmer than my own core temperature.

​DEEP LITTER

We use a management technique called ‘deep littering’ in our chicken and goat pens through the winter. As bedding gets damp or soiled, we add fresh layers of straw to keep pens dry and relatively clean. As layers pile up, alternating between clean straw or hay and animal waste, the natural process of decay, or compost action, kicks in. The heat produced from the chemical reactions of decomposition actually helps to keep the animals warm through the winter months. Bedding + animal waste (urine or poop) = compost = heat = MAGIC!

However, there is a fine line between being nice and toasty and too much moisture produced, which can cause sickness…pneumonia or other respiratory illnesses.  Without going into too much detail, we decided that while the bedding in the buckling pen was producing wonderful warmth, it was also emitting too much moisture and ammonia to be safe for our bucklings. Their house needed to be cleaned, immediately!

Standing knee-high in a thick mat of bedding, it was not an easy task. With gale winds blowing and snow piling in, my ‘hard-core other half’ and I alternated shifts between watching the farm-kiddos inside and cleaning out the buckling house during a snow storm. Steam billowed from the bedding as we moved it through the door, and falling snow melted on impact. Once cleared and a new layer of straw bedding spread down, the bucklings enthusiastically reentered the building.

AROUND THE FARM:

​The snow storm last week laid down a nice blanket of fresh snow, though accumulations didn’t quite reach levels originally predicted. Our furbabies played hard and continued to keep watch over the farm. 

​In the house we made fresh batches of goat milk yogurt and chevre. Our beautiful farmgirl came up with an idea of spreading fresh goat chevre inside a leaf of cabbage and rolling it to make cabbage-chevre roll-ups! They were delightful! We also made a tasty, core-warming chicken and bean chili using beautiful Calypso beans grown from our garden. We all played in the snow and in the sunshine ahead of the approaching cold-front.