Farm News

Buff Orpington

It is still cold here. I think I have to resolve myself to the fact that my 50 F winter days are just not going to happen here. On a warm day, we might get up to freezing, but mostly we stay in the 20's. No new snow either...just the same old snow from way back in November.

But, the chickens are laying pretty good again. The light in their coop must have done it. We have more eggs than we know what to do with in our fridge, backing up. Sometimes we trade eggs with folks in town for other things we might need, but we are only getting to Taos once every two weeks now, so the egg supply is building.

The three ducks have been living with the rabbits and turkeys in the passive solar coop for a couple of weeks now. One less light in one less coop. Richard has been storing hay in the old chicken coop. It's the one that was here when we moved in. I think they had pigs in the building. It's really drafty, but with the new roof Richard put on way back when we got here, it doesn't leak. A rat had moved under the tarped hay behind the turkey house, so Richard moved the hay, hoping the rat would move on.

And, Richard finished the milking parlor in the goat barn, and put in a section for the chickens who like to lay eggs in the barn. He put up nest boxes too, but they won't have anything to do with them. They either lay in their little coop, the middle of the barn floor, or in the milking parlor behind the feed storage can. One silly old hen was back there, trying desperately to roll a stuck egg back into the nest under her. Except the "egg" was a rock, half buried in the ground. I removed the rock. I hope she's not out in the field, trying to figure out how to roll that rock all the way back to the nest. There are a lot of rocks out there.

The poultry on our farmstead does not appear to be big in the brains department. The turkeys are so freaked out when anyone enters their coop, they fly into the walls and rabbit cages, trying to escape. Richard has a method to get in and out, which involves stopping and playing statue with each step he takes, so the crazy birds can maneuver around him without breaking their necks. I don't know that game.

We are trying to downsize our goat herd too. Those girls eat a lot of hay. Plus the billy, Molet, just creeps me out. I guess he's okay for a male goat, but still, he can move on to greener pastures now. We think we can get ample milk from four goats, and are trying to re-home three....Pinky, her daughter, Aspen, and Jewell, the large Alpine. Plus Molet. That's a nice size goat herd for anyone wanting to get started in milk goats. Plus, those girls may all be pregnant, and if not, Molet can take care of it.

Found out Alfonso, the white alpaca, is really Alonzo, but still the same white alpaca. No wonder he won't come when we call. Actually, all of the camelids avoid human contact if at all possible, so Alonzo is in keeping with his character. He did find offense when we let Molet out to visit with the female goats, and chased him, trying to bite at his ears. I thought he was protecting his herd, and maybe he is, but it turns out he might be a little too fond of the female goats. Now, when Molet is out, Alonzo is in Molet's pen.

The male rabbit chewed through his plastic water bottle. (What is it with males?) We have been trying to find glass bottles that will fit the tops of the rabbit water bottles.

And, we are still searching for a warmer place to go, but my hopes diminish with each passing cold day. Winter sure brings on a depressive mood for me. I feel like I just have to get away from this cold! I feel trapped in it. But, is there any safe, clean, warm, affordable place to go? I feel the sticky fingers of doubt reaching for my warm fantasies of land and a bigger house. I am so done with winter. Only 3 and a half months to go.

Holidays and cold days

We made it past the consumerist holidays...almost. New Years is still on the way, but I look forward to leaving this cold year behind and moving into the next. Spring will be coming with the new year, and warmth with it.

I think it is getting easier each year to not participate in Christmas. I have less guilt now, which I believe is just a carry over from cultural programming. Of course most of my extended family is still not happy with our decision not to participate in a holiday we don't believe in. I'm not sure why, but that's how it is. Our little kids are young enough, it doesn't seem to matter anyway. It's just another day. Of course, when you don't participate, you realize just how much the nonsense has saturated the American culture. As if everyone in the country has to be a part of it, by default. It's on the radio, on Pandora commercials, I get ads from my banks, not to mention the decorations everywhere. Silliness really. All (mostly) in support of a consumerist culture. Funny, my family and I spend time together every day, showing each other how much we love each other with our words and actions. Every day is about sharing the love, isn't it?

We didn't do anything alternative to celebrate. The Solstice came and went with a subtle acknowledgement of longer days to come. It is just too cold here to be motivated to do much of anything. It's too cold to process a turkey outside. I don't want to go out into the woods to look for sticks, or build a pyramid in the yard, I just want to stay warm and have the temperature rise enough for the snow to melt. Being warm is all that matters.

The animals are hanging in there. The goats wander out in the yard to stand in the sun during the day. The chickens are laying again, thanks to the light we put in their coop and the few days of above freezing temps we got. Mostly our highs hover around the high 20's. When we get up in the morning the temperature is always nearer to 0 than not.

We did find a home for our older hens. A nice man came up from Hondo to pick them up. It might be just enough warmer down that way that the chickens will lay some eggs for him.

I was looking toward Las Vegas, NM as a possible relocation, but it turns out there is no water there and the wells are drying up. There are beautiful trees close in, which means more potential for forest fires, plus, they have a recorded lowest temp of -28 F. That isn't any better than here, is it?

Fowler, CO is warmer, has a bit more water in the way of annual precipitation, and is closer to a big city. And, come to find out, they are on a fast track to becoming sustainable, removing themselves from the grid, as a town, and working hard to make their community resilient in the face of things to come. Interesting, and fits most of the criteria Richard has outlined for a better place to relocate. Of course we still have to find a suitable place and a way to finance it. That doesn't change, no matter where we look.

Frigid cold

Cold, cold, frigid cold. 12 F outside right now. Alamosa is still at -6 F.

Still looking for warmer places. Maybe over by Las Vegas, NM, since Kirkland AFB has contaminated the greater Albuquerque area. Las Vegas has more precipitation per year than where we are now with average temperatures around 6 F warmer. But that is based on an old model of climate comparison, and as we all know, the climate is changing in unpredictable ways, so may be we will get lucky and the weather will be better all around. Or maybe the cold will follow me wherever I go....

The animals are all hanging in there, huddled in their barns. They come out when the sun shines, and thankfully the wind is not blowing today. The wind takes the temperature even lower with the wind chill thrown in.

We haven't had any eggs from our chickens in over a week. Too cold. Lucky we are learning how to bake Vegan for the kids. We did put lights in all the poultry housing, so maybe they will start laying again.

We are surviving the cold, and this week the forecast calls for higher temps, maybe even a few days marginally above freezing. Can't wait.

Still cold

It is still freezing cold! Temps have not gotten above 30 F for so long now. I feel trapped in this horrid cold. Our front door freezes shut every night. Richard found my old hair dryer and uses it to melt the ice on the bottom of the door. But then it refreezes and we struggle to get out of the house again. Our windows ice over every night--1/4 to 1/2 inch, and then melt off through the day (if there is sun). I have used every single towel I have here in the house, trying to mop up the melting water.

Bathroom window

Last night I forgot to put the heater on in the living room. The main part of the house got down to 60 F overnight. Our bedroom/sunroom gets down to 59 F regularly, even with a heater and foam insulation in the windows. Last night it got down to 56 F.

I wonder what will happen in the house when the outside temps get down to -30 F? We may have to figure out how to get the old wood stove up and functioning. This is a task unto itself as we have to clear the room of furniture and other stuff (our buckets of flour...our pantry) if we want to use it. The stove is way too big for the tiny room it's in. Plus we should really get the chimney cleaned, which is another $150. The chimney has never been cleaned, according to the landlords who have owned this house for ten years or so. I'm afraid to use the stove without cleaning the chimney. I have seen the rubble of houses all around the valley---houses that burned. There is no fire department here, but maybe in Costilla or San Luis, some miles away. Too far to make a difference.

I have to move my birds (parrot and dove) out of the sunroom/bedroom because it's getting too cold in there. I guess they will share some space with the kids in their tiny room.

At least the animals outside are still doing okay, even though the goat barn still needs to be closed in better. We have to go to Santa Fe (or Pueblo) to get some clear Lexon panels for the barn siding. This will allow some light and maybe some heat into the barn. The goats would break any glass we try to use, so we are going to try those panels instead. We have to wait for the weather to warm enough that we can leave our dogs outside while we make the trip, which usually takes a full day, and has us getting back after dark. It is way too cold to leave the dogs out for that amount of time, and I don't want to kennel them for so long either.

Sometimes things just seem so hard, don't they? The cold always makes everything worse. And it's a matter of life and death for some of us, so we just have to keep plugging away, doing what we can with the time and money we have. I suppose things might be different if we lived in a decent house and had a heated barn for the critters. But, we don't.

Moving south seems like a great idea every winter. And then the summer comes and I forget how miserable and cold it is during the winter. I suppose we are blessed in the fact that none of the housing choices we were looking at worked out up here in the San Luis Valley. Maybe the Universe knows better than me, and perhaps my urge to move south of Albuquerque means more than I think. Maybe I should listen to my inner urgings. We worry about water down that way as the Southwest dries up. But at least it is warmer and there is no fracking going on (yet). Plus the livestock taxes are disturbing, so we may have to rethink that too.

Today we are headed to Taos to pay our rent while the bank is still open. That was the agreement, to deposit our check in the landlords' account. I wonder what we do if we can't get there? That seems absurd, doesn't it? But, I hate driving on snow/ice packed roads, especially on mountain roads. The forecast for the next week...freezing fog with periods of sunshine.

Cold temps in the forecast

Another couple of inches fell last night, but not enough to fully fill the dug out paths Richard made to the various barns, although it is snowing now and the wind is blowing. Drifting is happening and the paths may soon be gone.

path

The cold is coming fast now. The highs are only reaching about 28 F or so during the day and at night... this Monday it is supposed to get down to 8 F with wind chills down to 0. Richard has been trying to get the billy goats house a little more sheltered. The problem is, he likes to tear up his house. But, the wind is predicted to come from the north, instead of the usual south, and with the wind chills down so low, we have to give Molet more shelter. I think some extra alfalfa for all of them might help them get through the cold. The girls are all getting grain during milking and even Molet gets a little now and then.

Milk stanchion

Fairy Dust

We stacked our new load of hay behind the turkey house, which serves to insulate them and keeps the south wind and weather off the hay.

Hay behind the turkey house

The snow is falling off the roof of the house, and onto the windows of the sunroom/our bedroom. When it falls, it crashes and sounds like the windows are about to come down with it. Horrendous sound. At least that means there is some melting going on. There is a little bit of sun radiating through the mass of clouds that covers our little world now. I haven't seen Ute Mountain for days, just the lower edges, which makes it appear really huge as it fades up into the clouds. Today, when we went out to milk, there was no sign of the mountain at all. The wind is blowing and the snow is coming down again.

There is a slushy cover on the pond. The world is winter white. And cold. This is supposed to last until Tuesday. And then the sun will come back. I miss the sun. It heats my bedroom.

pond