Bracing for the Nor’easter
February 13th, 2014 · No Comments · Posted in rural life
Forecasts call for another eight inches or more of new snow in our area on top of the 10 inches already on the ground as a powerful nor’easter moves up the east coast. With winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour, getting around our small farm could become difficult. I expect snow to pile up in places we don’t normally see it. Time to batten down the hatches.
My main job is to maintain heat in the house and keep our livestock fed and watered. Since I’m scheduled to volunteer at the local food co-op this morning, I have some work to do before I leave. Here’s my checklist:
Bring firewood into the house off the front porch. Anything on the porch is going to be covered in snow and we’ll need a supply of dry wood to get us through the storm into Friday.
Empty the ash can in the orchard. In case moving about becomes difficult, I want the ash can empty so we can tend our wood stove without any extra issues.
Deliver extra hay to the goat shed and the walk-in shelter in the main paddock. I like to have a supply of hay high and dry and readily available to the animals in a sheltered spot. No sense putting out hay if it’s just going to get covered in snow.
Fill water troughs. That means the big tub in the main paddock as well as the water supply to the goats. I’ll be switching to a bigger bucket in the goat enclosure. The small bucket’s likely to get buried in the snow. But here’s the good news: our well drilling crew stopped by here the other day with their industrial propane torch and defrosted the frozen water hydrant next to the paddock. I don’t have to haul water from the kitchen any more.
Bring in the bowls of self-serve mineral supplement. The minerals are no good if they get wet.
Depending on how much snow falls, I’ll be getting up through the night to maintain tracks in the driveway. Our four-wheel drive pickup truck works great in the snow. But when it’s too deep, we tend to slide around and we’re more than 800 feet from the main road. Snug and cozy in the house is fine, but we don’t want to be marooned here. Also, tire tracks down the driveway give me a place to walk as I tend the animals.
At some point, I’ll need to shovel out an area for the chickens around their mobile coop in the orchard. They won’t leave the coop otherwise.
One more thing: we bought a new battery for the Ford station wagon. The old one just didn’t have enough cranking amps in the sub-zero cold anymore to start the car. I’ll need to install that this morning before the car gets covered in snow.
This is our first winter on the farm since moving here from D.C. and we feel like old hands already. Everyone tells us they can’t remember the last time there’s been a winter this harsh. But it could be worse. We could be in Atlanta.
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