February Farm Diary: Day 7

Thankfully, the ice slid off the high tunnel not long after the storm.  It doesn't appear to have done much damage.  

Saturday dawned bright, and the sun made our little corner of the world seem warmer than it actually was.  

But what a difference the sunshine makes in my outlook and just the appearance of the landscape.  It illuminates, sparkles and shines, especially when there's a snow on the ground.  

My hubby worked again (propane is still a hot commodity right now), so I thought I'd get out and enjoy the scenery.  One of the best places to do that is on Jake's Heavenly Hwy.  

I drove to Dad's and had coffee with him and my brother while they ate breakfast. (I'd already eaten.)  

I enjoyed their company for a couple of hours, then I stopped by Daughter's house to see how she was liking her new grain mill.  

She'd milled some fresh flours and made banana chocolate chip muffins that were delicious! Moist, with a tender crumb but about as wholesome as a baked good could be.  

Did you know that milled wheat loses much of it's nutritional value within a very short time?  Days? Even hours?  

Standard white flour from the grocery is basically empty calories.  

But that's a whole other story.  

After I got back home and did a few things--cleaned out the fridge, etc.--I suited up in my grungy overalls and went out to help feed and get some more fresh air.  

The sun was still bedazzling, although the wind was sharp.  I moseyed around and snapped a few pictures.  

Ice is such a novelty, despite it being a nuisance to walk or drive on.  I'm forever amazed at the way it forms during the freezing/thawing cycle.  

Note to self: It's not only underfoot; it's hanging overhead! 

Hopefully, we'll see the last of it for winter 2026 this week.  A thaw is coming, the weatherman says! 

"From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?,"  God asks Job in chapter 38.  "The waters harden like stone,  and the surface of the deep is frozen." 

Psalm 147: 16-18 says: "He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?  He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow."

February Farm Diary: Day 6

Winter just doesn't want to quit around here.  Despite a slight warm-up, the ice hasn't melted much,  and we keep getting fresh dustings of snow.  

So yesterday, with fluffy flakes big as quarters falling, I sat down with a stack of seed catalogs and made my final selections for the upcoming growing season.  

Looking at seed catalogs is a lot like eating at a large restaurant buffet.  Our eyes tend to be bigger than our bellies, if you know what I mean.  

Just as it's easy to indulge at a food bar, it's easy to get carried away with a seed catalog--order too much, plant too much...then when it's 95 degrees out and we need to harvest some of that,  we wonder what in the world we were thinking. 

But I'll do it anyway.  

There are sooooo many beautiful varieties of tomatoes, and lettuces, and cucumbers...green beans...pumpkins!  

I couldn't get them all, of course, so I settled on our long-time favorite "Big Beef," a large red beefsteak variety, and our favorite cherry variety, "Chocolate Sprinkle."  

I have seeds saved from our favorite heirlooms:  oxheart, yellow stripey, and a Barnes Mountain yellow, said to have been saved by Glendon Mays for many decades.  

Last year, I tried a "Russian Purple" plum tomato that was delicious for eating and is also suitable for salsa and sauce, so I intend to plant that too. 

I ordered a new lettuce variety, as well as some mini-cukes; the rest of the seeds I'll buy locally, I suppose.  

I'm glad we live in an area with distinct seasons.  Looking out the window now, it's hard to believe how lush and green our landscape will be in a few short months.  

But we know it's coming! 

I can't wait.  

February Farm Diary: Day 5

There's not much to tell about today-my life is pretty boring at times! 

I ran some errands, got a haircut, did my chores and some cooking and cleaning.   

After the dishes were done, I settled into my chair with the book I bought a couple of days ago.  

Then I got a notification--you know that compelling "ding" that says we must check NOW to see who's calling/texting/sharing. 

Before I knew it, I had spent hours spiraling down the internet's many rabbit holes.  

From political filth, to funny AI-generated cat videos (they crack me up!), to reels of overnight sensation Hannah Harper, now a contestant on American Idol, to Super Bowl snack ideas, I took it all in.  

Then, listening to the news this morning while I ate breakfast, I thought how interesting and bizarre our American lives are.  (I'm sure it's this way everywhere.)  

There's the disturbing news segments delivered in somber tones, then seconds later, the anchors are chipper as bluebirds in spring as they talk about football and entertainment.  

The opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics are tonight.  This weekend, there's the Super Bowl, and all the surrounding buzz.  The interwebs will be hummin' with commentary on the game, the half-time show, the commercials--all part of the good ol' American way of life.  

I love it!  While at the same time, I hate it. Most of it is just noise.  

I don't really care who wins the Super Bowl or the Olympics.  I really don't even care who is in political power--as long as they are people of integrity.  But it's not that simple.  People are enormously complicated and hard to figure out. 

While sports themselves aren't of great importance to me, I do love the stories. There promises to be some doozies coming out of both the Olympics and the Super Bowl.  

For example, Sea Hawks linebacker Derick Hall is said to have been born 4 months prematurely, without a heartbeat at first, weighing only a couple of pounds, and he had only a one percent chance of survival. Look at him now! Incredible.  

His story and many others are truly inspiring.  

We could use some of that right now.  To restore our faith in humanity.  

But should we have faith in humanity? 

Probably not.  I mean, just look at our history.  Collective humanity's history.  

Mess up after mess up over the millenniums. 

It's easy to become discouraged and disillusioned by all of this.

Yet we, the human race, are capable of a lot of good, a lot of shining moments.  

I do believe God loves His creation still.  And that's it.  Our faith needs to be in Him.  

I've been reading in Isaiah this morning.  Isaiah has some harsh prophecies to direct at God's chosen people, but they are tempered with God's yearning for his people to return to him.  

Isaiah prophesies many woes--downfalls of nations that glory in their own perceived power, to be no more.  

But, in Isaiah 30, we are shown a way out.  "For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength."  

Amid all the promises of judgement are promises of restoration for those who return to him.  

For the Christian, returning needs to be a daily process.  It's so easy to get side-tracked.   I'll admit it.  

Sometimes I pick up an old hymnal and flip through it, and I'll come across a song that lifts my spirits or fits the particular circumstance of the day just right. 

 This song really spoke to me this morning.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?  No light in the darkness you see? There's light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free!  

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.  

There's light for a look at the Savior.   Just think about that. 

And in turning to look at Him, there is life more abundant and free!  

How easy it is to let the noise deafen us to these truths.  

Now, I'm not one who thinks we should not stay informed, that we should stick our heads in the sand and pretend there's no trouble in the world.  

But I do think there's a place for perspective.  

"In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength."  

Amen! 

February Farm Diary: Day 4

How many birds do you see?  

(Just to clarify, these entries are a day behind!) 

My new neighbor (Chelsea) and her kids and myself ventured to Rural King this afternoon after a fresh coating of snow melted off the roads a little.  

The hubby devotedly feeds the birds every day in this weather (year-round, actually), and we were about to run out of black-oil sunflower seeds, so off we went.  The dogs and pig were running low on food also. 

Heck, we all like to eat in the cold weather, don't we? 

It was good to be out and about; the snowy landscape was picturesque on the way to Winchester.  We pondered how fast a sled might go on some of those steep pasture hills along Hwy. 89.  The hubs and I always wonder how in the world people mow them without turning over their tractor!  I wouldn't want to try it.  

Anyway, we stocked up on pizza buffet for ourselves, then browsed Goodwill where I bought a couple of summery clothing items, a novel by Pat Conroy called Beach Music, and a couple small baskets that I imagined would be good-sized for holding napkins and cutlery for outdoor gatherings.  

How do you spell wishful thinking?! 

We made it back home before dark, in time to fill the bird feeders to the brim. 

One of the feeders hangs in the old pear tree that stands right behind the house.  It's fun to look out and see how many birds we can spot.  Sometimes it's easy to see that there are lots of cardinals and blue jays, but other times the better camouflaged female cardinals, juncos, black-capped chickadees, doves, etc., aren't easy to see.  

How many birds can you spot in this photo? I see six, but there might be more.  

February Farm Diary: Day 3

 "Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip." A prayer of David from Psalm 17:5

This verse gave me pause as I was reading this morning.  If ever there was a time to pray that our footsteps not slip, this is it, I mused.  

Now, I'm pretty sure David was speaking figuratively, not literally.  But I'm claiming his prayer both ways! 

I've never heard of sa' much slippin' and slidin'--and fallin'!!  

The ground has been covered with this "snowcrete" for almost two weeks now, and it's still flat-out treacherous outside, no pun intended.  

Early in the snowstorm, my hubby and his coworkers were having trouble standing up as they dragged hoses from propane trucks to customers' tanks.  So their bosses bought them some cleats that slip on over their boots.  

Robin couldn't stop raving about the difference they made, and he ordered a few pairs from a bigbox.com.

After they arrived (poor delivery guy got stuck in our driveway when he brought them) and I had a chance to try them, I was raving about the cleats too.  My steps once again felt secure on the snow and ice. 

But then I fell in the floor by the door!  My legs splayed out like a newborn filly's and I landed in a heap, my knees bent at unnatural angles.  

Fair warning: Ice cleats are for outside, not for smooth floors.  Inside, they become as slippery as, well, walking on ice.

I learned my lesson though, and I warned everyone that we'd gifted cleats to that they'd better take them off by the door.  

In a couple of days, three of the four pairs of our new cleats had broken.  One of my brothers had fallen (again) and hit the ground hard.  

What's a person to do?  Pray Psalm 17 and wait for warm weather, I reckon.  

And shop for better cleats!  They are/can be a game changer! 

February Farm Diary: Day 2

Punxatawny Phil saw his shadow in Philadelphia; I'm pretty sure our local groundhogs didn't see theirs because the sky here was overcast all day.  Therefore, I'm optimistic that we will have an early spring in Kentucky!

Gardeners, they say, are eternal optimists. 

Well, when it comes to gardening, we are.  We forget the previous season's flops and failures and begin spring with big hopes and dreams for beautiful plots without weeds, bugs or diseases.  We imagine bountiful piles of fresh produce and forget the toil and sweat it takes to produce them.  

Does that stop us? It surely does not.  

Our gardens will not be perfect, but we will still delight in them and enjoy the fruits of our labors.  

On this day, which felt so much nicer out because temperatures rose to a balmy 30+ degrees, Chelsea and the kids and myself hiked to my AirBnB to check on things (make sure the heat is still working and the water lines not frozen).  The only way to get to my cabin right now is on foot, and even that is risky.  

 

I wore my new snow cleats and fared okay.  The kids are younger, more nimble, and don't seem to mind slippin' and slidin'.  In fact, they do it on purpose.  

We stopped by the old family cemetery tucked away in the woods and pondered the weathered headstones of our great-great ancestors.  To think that some of our DNA came from those buried on this hillside is a mystery and a wonder.  

What hardships did those families experience?  I'm sure there were many.  

One headstone is that of "Infant Twins."  I could make out a death date of Jan. 17--I forget the year. 

Were the babies stillborn?  Did they die of flu or cholera?  

I feel grateful to those hardy souls who moved in here when life was so much tougher than we have it...no grocery stores, paved roads, modern medicine, etc.  Just determination and self-reliance, and somehow, they kept a family line alive.  

The woods are peaceful, the ground covered in snow, quiet and still.  We saw what we think was two eagles soar over in the direction of the chicken lot, and we contemplated that they must be hungry too.  It must be hard to catch a field mouse when the fields are iced over.  It must be hard for deer to find food too.  

I think the squirrels are fine.  They still have plenty of black walnuts available to eat. 

Things were fine at the cabin; the kids snacked on icicles, and we robbed my guests' snack basket for an impromptu picnic.  

Life is full of toil and trouble, while it brims with beauty at the same time.  

February Farm Diary: Day 1

More often than I'd like, I'm on the inside looking out.  I am thankful for warmth and shelter though! 

I came across a couple of old issues of Farm and Ranch Living magazine the other day as I continued my annual "poke around in the house" during the cold winter season.  I typically do this in January if it's too yucky to be outdoors for very long at a time.  

When the weather fairs up, I plan to be outta here again, Lord willin'! 

Anyway, the magazine included "ag diaries," where farm men and women kept logs of their daily activities and shared them with their readership.  

So, I thought I'd try that here...just as a creative outlet, and perhaps to spread some hope and cheer. 

February 1, 2026: According to our digital thermometer, the temperature was almost 8 the first time I checked this morning.  I suspect it was colder just before daylight, as it typically is, but I wasn't up that early, lol. 

Church was canceled, because the parking lot is essentially a skating rink, but we have Bibles, and we can read them and pray and sing anytime we want to, at this point in American history. For that, I am thankful. 

Our nation seethes with turmoil and trouble right now, and I find myself alternately sad and angry.  In the Scriptures I see hope that, ultimately, truth and justice will prevail.  I pray it happen "on earth as it is in heaven" too, and that evil be exposed and punished!

Let's get back to life on the farm.  

We made a run to stock up on chicken feed and a few groceries this afternoon.  Although the temperature didn't rise much above 20, it was warm in the truck, and the landscape was beautiful with the sun igniting diamond-like sparkles on the snow.  

Back roads are icy all over Madison and Estill counties; I doubt the kids will be in school for at least another week.  Sounds like our grandkids have been living their best life though, with sledding and sleepovers and such. There's "snow" fun like snow days! 

After gathering up groceries for us and the animals, we headed back home for--you guessed it--feed time! 

This is the time of year farmers worked so hard for last summer in the hot sun, harvesting grass, making hay, stockpiling food for the livestock to eat during the icy winter.  

The herd, thank the good Lord, looks healthy right now, considering they wade icy waters with big chunks of ice clattering against their legs to come and eat supper.  After their daily grain, they stand outside in sleet and snow, weak sunshine, whatever, to munch on hay, and they seem quite content to do it. 

Ah, to have the fortitude of an old cow.  They look complacent as they chew and look around, most of the time appearing placid as can be.  They eyeball their world, keep ruminating, and mostly don't get too excited.  They're patient.  

Lord, help me be more like these ol' heifers in the field, not raucous and squawking all the time like our geese, which are the real reason we have to buy chicken feed so often. ;)  

Maybe the cattle innately know spring is coming.  Maybe they don't, and they just take life as it comes.  

There isn't a lot we can do on the farm right now except feed and make sure the animals can get water (i.e., break ice).  

So I've been giving some thought to creating more flower gardens, and I'm thinking it's time to get those tomato seeds ordered.  

I need to clean out the high tunnel soon, and with February here, my thoughts are turning to planting peas! Last year the chickens repeatedly scratched our pea seeds out of the rows until I finally gave up, but this year I'm determined to outfox them. 

Will we be able to plant peas on Valentine's Day, as is the way of an old Appalachian tradition?  Possibly!  

We'll just have to wait and see!  ;)