So You Want to be a Farmer or Rancher: Incoming Storm

Welcome back dear readers!!  Ready for more life on the farm?

Hello to the new subscribers, we are glad to have you along!  The sheep are anxious to meet you, and they hope you brought them treats!  Pull up a bucket and visit a while! Watch out for Mr Tally, he’s being a pushy dude lately.

That is Mr. Tally, packing his emotional support hay.

I want to take a moment to thank all of my subscribers who come back every week to read about my journey here on the farm.  I am grateful that you support my writing.  It makes me feel not so very alone on this walk thru life to share it with you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As you can tell by the title, we have a storm coming in.  Our first winter storm of the season.  Fall flew by and this taste of winter is probably here to stay for a while.  Unfortunately, we did not get as many fall projects done as we wanted too. I was hoping for another week or two, but alas, that is not to be.  I’m starting out the cold times behind the curve. 

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to modern weather forecasting.  It gives me so many more days to get all the work done to be ready.  Considering that I move at the pace of a snail, this is a good thing!!

This storm should be mostly rain, however they have put snow in and out of it all week.  And cold.  Friday night they are forecasting temps down to 25 degrees. 

First!!!! Animal sorting.

Which animals need to be in the barn.  That would be the Miss’s Lucy and Brandy.  Lucy can handle the cold if she is dry, so in she will go.  Her arthritis has her really gimpy at the moment, poor old girl. Brandy has not put on any winter fuzz yet, and she will be a shivering mass if she gets wet, and in she will go.  I have my Nicky’s blanket ready if she needs it while in the barn. That might just turn into a rodeo, I don’t think she has ever had a blanket on. Fingers crossed she will behave if I need to put it on her and she doesn’t stomp me into a mud hole.

Now, is the barn ready?

Well, heck no.  Why would that be ready? 

Mostly cus my life has taken so many other turns this summer that getting it cleaned out has been on the back burner.  I’m a bad farmer.

Michael did get the floor raked up and in a pile for removal.  And he sorted out the various pieces of his construction project he has been working on, and that is about ¾’s done so far.  He is replacing the roof on the loafing shed.

Consequently, there is scrap wood, scrap metal, good wood, and roof tin scattered in various areas of the barn.  Besides, the skirting table is still set up from shearing. 

That’s ok, there is enough room for the two Miss’s who will be in residence for the next few days. 

I got some of the piles moved out of the way.  Michael moved the roof tin last night.  I really don’t need these ladies slicing a leg on that stuff. 

Buckets and feed pans are washed out, I did that yesterday.  Today I got a 6 panel pen set up for Brandy.  That way she won’t push Lucy off of her hay.  Brought in a few days worth of hay, and got the water buckets filled.

I just need to bring those two in later today and they will be nice and cozy, residing in luxury while the rest of the flock deals with the rain and cold.  But, hey, rumen’s!!  The built-in sheep heaters.

I have a wonderful across the street neighbor who lets us borrow his skid steer on occasion so that I can get stuff cleaned out.  Saturday’s chores will be the barn pile, scoop out some of the corral crud, and bring in some bentonite to fill in the holes the wolf pack has dug.  Mako has one hole so deep the fence post is about to fall out. 

Second.  Stock tanks.

Got them filled up so even if it gets as cold as they are predicting, the volume won’t let them freeze up too much.  We will have a layer of ice I’m sure, but that will be easily broken with our ice chopper.  Sorry but it’s way to early to put tank heaters in, since I’m stingy with the electricity. They are a great invention, but dang they suck down the electricity!

And I got the hose hung in the tree and drained, so it won’t develop those ice chunks that come flying out as high-speed ice rockets when you turn the water on.  I’ve taken one or two of them to the face and it’s not fun. 

Third.  The diesel truck.

Last winter, the block heater on the diesel exploded with a blast of sparks and smoke.  That was lots of fun!  Thought the whole dang truck was on fire at first.  The mechanic was out last week to finally replace that for me.  He showed it to me and the whole thing was FUBAR.  Burned and twisted in manners that those should not be burned and twisted in.

Now, it’s all happy, currently outside, and plugged in so I can get to work tomorrow morning.  I will go out in a bit and pour some diesel treat in so that the fuel doesn’t turn into diesel jello. 

Fourth.  The farmer clothes.

Dug them out, give them a wash, and they are now all ready to be worn again.  Oh, and I did put my little adjustable wrench and knife back in the pockets. 

If you are curious about what I wear around here to stay warm in the winter, you can read all about it here.  So sexy!!

Fifth.  The house.

Still don’t have the heat on, so Michael will be down on the floor lighting the pilot this evening.  I could use the wood stove, but since we are both going to be away from the place, I won’t leave a fire going when nobody is home.  It won’t work out so well for this storm.  Furnace it is. 

All the laundry is done.  Dishes are all washed and put away.  Dinner is in the crock pot.  One of our cold weather favorites, loaded baked potato soup!  Enjoy!

The container with the green lid in the back is my sourdough starter getting all happy and stuff.

One 32 oz bag of diced frozen potatoes.  I’ve used both the plain and the O’Brian variety for this.

2 Cans cream of bacon soup.  You can use any of the cream soups to your taste.

2C half and half

16oz cheese of your choice.  I used cheddar and Colby jack as that was what I had in the house.

Seasoning to your taste.  I put in some onion and garlic powder, salt, pepper. 

Chopped onion if you have one on hand.  I did not.  My bad.

Sour cream.  I put in 2-3 healthy splops.  (that is a technical term BTW)

Cooked bacon, sour cream, and cheese to garnish.

Put into your crock pot everything except the sour cream, cooked bacon and cheese garnish.

Mix it well.  Turn your pot on low.  You will need to stir this every hour and it should be done in 4-5 hours. Add the sour cream during your last 30 mins of cook time. I’m going to be making some sourdough popovers to have with it.

EAT!

Sourdough popover recipe: Pantry Mama Sourdough Popovers

Other house things I did.  Got the flannel sheets on the bed yesterday.  They were nice and cozy last night.  And boy did they smell good after drying outside in that chill air that was blowing around. I also got the snuggly chair blankets washed, hung outside and smelling so yummy.

I think I’m about as ready as I can be.  One great positive about this storm is that it is hitting the areas of the big wildfires around Sheridan and is already making a difference.  Yahoo!!  Thank you for dancing nekked around a fire for this moisture!

Right now, every arthritic joint in my body is screaming at me.  Think I’ll sit down and let the advil kick in. 

Blessed Be!