The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
4-9-2013 column
Lately I have had such a kink in my neck as my head whips around with the recent weather changes. Every day brings a different season and even the same day can shift from spring to winter, winter to spring and back again. The weather just hasn’t decided what it wants to do or what season it wants to be. I’m starting to develop other symptoms with these constant weather changes.
I seem to be having trouble with my memory. I feel like Winnie-the-Pooh as I “think, think, think” trying to remember what I did with my gloves. I find myself having to retrace my steps throughout the day as to where I left my jacket, dropped my gloves, shed my sweatshirt or stored my other pair of dry boots. I’m having a hard time keeping track of my clothes. I try to improvise as I tug on my sweatshirt sleeves trying to create an instant pair of gloves for my cold fingers as I grip the frozen feedcart handles. Every night after chores I wander around the farm gathering my lost articles. I find my sweatshirt in the feed room, my gloves on the tractor floor, my stocking hat on the breeding desk shelf and my coat draped across the trash barrel. I bring them to the house, only to start all over again the next day.
Another symptom of the changing spring weather is the pain in my legs as I use long dormant muscles to move around the farm yard. As the yard starts to become wet and sloppy, I start to walk on the heels of my boots with toes pointed upward in a vain attempt to keep my socks dry. I hop from high spot to high spot of dry ground trying to maneuver across the yard hoping I don’t slip and flop into melting snow and slop. I guess I could alleviate the mobility issue by wearing waterproof rubber boots, but then I couldn’t milk. With very little support, my feet would be sore after milking 10 cows. My rubber boots would also be truly broken in as the rubber would crack at the toe joint where I crouch down to reach the cows. I think I’ll just try to keep track of one pair of boots at a time and endure wet, cold toes for a little while longer.
The only one really enjoying this rollercoaster of weather is Austin. This is perfect maple syrup weather. The swinging temperatures, from freezing at night to above 40 during the day, have sent the maple sap running and Austin out collecting. This past weekend the homemade cooker, a monstrosity of scrap metal in the shape of a brontosaurs, slowly emerged from the back of the machine shed carried by the Bobcat in a ceremonial procession to stand guard in the yard between the house and the barn for the next few weeks. As Austin stoked the belly of the beast into fire, smoke emanated from the converted irrigation pipe/smoke stack and steam rolled off the pans of warming sap. Classmates showed up that evening for the first “bon fire” of the season and roasted old marshmallows as they hung out around the cooker keeping one side toasting warm.
The Easter weekend was busy as lots and sheds were thawed out just enough to start cleaning. Within an hour, the boys had hauled away 5 large loads of frozen slabs of ice and buckets of slushy slop. It is so much easier to pick up water in a solid state than trying to capture it in liquid form. A hot wire stretched down the middle of the feed buck can be removed as the frozen build-up surrounding the bunk is cleared. We string the wire in late winter as the lots build up and the heifers can step into the bunk and stroll out into the yard. In a matter of hours the heifers have shrunk. They are no longer grazing as they eat at the bunk. Instead the feed was at head height.
The lots may be cleared of snow, but my garden is still buried. I won’t be planting anything for quite some time. So much for planting potatoes on Good Friday. A retired neighbor farmer however has earned coffee shop bragging rights. He already has potatoes sprouts poking out of the ground. He was able to plant potatoes on Good Friday and move them to a warm sunny spot. He used 5-gallon buckets as his garden plot and has them sitting in a warm southern window. You have to give credit to Swede for being creative!
It is probably a good thing Swede’s potato patch is mobile as a late winter storm heads across the Dakotas and Minnesota. What form of liquid falls from the sky will be determined by the storm track and temperatures. Many schools in southern Minnesota have called another snow day. Those are a student’s favorite vacation day, until they have to make them up in June when the weather settles into a steady pattern of warm temperatures and they rather be outside than stuck in school with make-up days.
The kink in my neck will work itself out once the weather settles into April showers and May flowers. You know what that means. Field work is just around the snowy corner.
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As their 4 children pursue dairy careers off the farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their Minnesota farm. Natalie grew up in Stronghurst, the daughter of Becky and the late Larry Dowell .
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