A Belated Bo-Valentine

Roses are red,
Is there milk on my face?
You’re perfect just as you are,
And we love you to the depths of deep space.
— Gimlet

Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm
This week has been pretty demoralizing. On Tuesday we got socked with the ice storm that hit Texas. It started as rain, but quickly froze on the trees and, well everywhere. We decided to bring the cows into the barn due to the fact it was going to be very wet and then bitter cold. By Tuesday night, the darkness was punctuated by the horrible thuds and pops of trees bursting at the seams. A maple that hangs over the walkway to our barn soon got nicknamed “The murder maple” because it would cast off branches just as you were about to try and pass under it. Of course, pretty soon we were without power.

We spent the night trying to sleep in a cold house while worrying that a tree would take down something vital. Outside it was so cold that we had to bust ice off the tops of water buckets every 2-3 hours. We got our power back late Wednesday only to lose it again Thursday when another snowstorm rolled through. It’s back on now, and boy am I grateful to have coffee in a warm home this morning.

The cows have enjoyed bedding down in thick hay and pine shavings in the comfy stalls we built for them this fall. One upside of having them indoors is being able to start Gimlet and Pete (Julia’s baby) on halter training and leading lessons. Gimlet will hopefully someday be our little family milk cow, so knowing how to stand quietly while tied is a crucial skill. She clearly has her mother’s temperament and has been easy and fun to train. Pete…is more of a challenge—just like his mother. Here’s hoping they can go back out into the pasture tomorrow. Keeping those stalls clean is a LOT of work!

We hope you are all safe and warm with enough to eat. Hang in there, spring is coming!

Here’s What I Loved This Week

Last year, I gave Chris a subscription to a couple of online courses from Family Handyman Magazine. One of them was for learning the basics of solar power. Over the summer he got really into building solar setups, including a solar generator. At the time, I was a bit annoyed with how much time he was spending on building this giant black box of a thing I never thought we’d use. We had so many other farm projects that desperately needed doing! Guess who changed her tune this week when we pulled it out to charge up cell phones and computers??? If you’ve ever been interested in the basics of solar power, these classes are a great place to start.