Winter at the Farm with Bonnie
The farm in winter is a different kind of beautiful. It's not the in-your face dazzle of grazing cattle on green hills, orchards in full flower, cornfields tasseling and humming with bees. It is not when nature is on tour, performing to a sold out house every night.
In our January farm video we are honest about the mud. A bright yellow extension cord trails through it for all to see, connecting the heated water troughs to the nearest power supply. Cords are cluttering to be sure, but they'd better be visible to the snow plow, or else!
Who cares? The most beautiful thing has just happened to Rock Wall Garden, and it's right smack in the first manure pit near the entrance. No it's not manure. (The" beauty" of manure is a story for another time). It's MULCH! The tree trimmers have obligingly dumped their chipper shredder on the property after removing the branches around the power lines.
Follow me on my trek around the farm, and we will see what all the todo is about, regarding this mulch. You will observe I am in no hurry. I have to stop and greet all the animals I meet on the way. They are not my friends just because I love animals, but because these animals, especially the cows, weathered the winter of 2022-23 together with my son and me. Adversity forms strong bonds among survivors.
I don't know how much cattle remember in general, but I do know they have tremendous emotional intelligence. It can break your heart to see them depressed, and there is nothing more delightful in farming than sharing a moment of pure joy with a mother cow. The cows are one happy place for me, and the greenhouse is also one of the happiest places I know!
Even though the greenhouse is dormant here and there, I am using this window of time to finish overhauling the raised beds, a project that has been ongoing since last winter. It is close to being finished, but many of the raised beds are empty. That is why I am ecstatic about this big load of wood chips to use as a base for the new topsoil going into the raised beds. Microorganisms go to work on the wood, enriching the soil, and making it porous.
The beauty of winter is that nature is doing her deep work, solitary and focused, like a composer intent on her music. We don't get to observe that during the high energy summer months. Cows are making new calves as they calmly chew their cud. The orchard is making new fruit. The gardens are making new soil. Everything is making something. Maybe that is why it is fun to do craft events in winter. Come and join us!
