Today, another weird weather reminder, and something I haven’t really noticed or thought about in years: slush. Road slush, in particular. Today’s sudden warmth—it’s near 50°F (10°C)—melted water into the abundant snow (snowbanks help), and there you have it: heavy, wet, cold, and sludgy slush! Ready to splatter! On the roads, it’s an unappetizing brownish-gray as the road dirt is churned in by traffic—this is a nice example at the top of the village hill. If you’ve lived in a snowy northern city, where drainage is only as good as the sewage system and cars are everywhere, you’ll know slush build-up as quite the little menace. Getting properly splattered by speeding vehicles is so much more…thorough than the average puddle splashing. Especially when you get it in the face… Here in farm country, cars and trucks are way more respectful of the people walking down the road (as I do every day)—at least, they are on the side roads—and with the shrinking winters (this one so far excepted) and full ditch drainage, you just don’t notice slush too often. We haven’t had slushable amounts of snow in a while. The next few days ought to be interesting. As predicted (this time, they were right), the days AND nights are WARM until, it seems, Friday. Two winters in one?
Weather
Barn, Milkhouse, snow load
Not a big concern, but part of my rounds is keeping an eye on the snow load on the Milkhouse roof. It’s that shallow angle. This pic makes the potential problem clear: big, steep upper roof, unloading onto not-so-sloped lower roof. Luckily, with the wind and angle, there is seldom upper roof build-up. Although the weather’s been relatively warm recently (it did drop drastically last night), and there’s melt-off, it’s also been snowing in regular spurts, dumping an inch or so at a time. So, I keep an eye out… (If not for apparent global warming—shorter, less snowy winters in general, for whatever reason—we might have gone steeper when building last year. It seems we’re already casually adapting to visions of a freakish weather future, which IS human nature but still…weird!)
Temperature gadget
This wireless remote temperature and humidity sensor sits outside, beside the side door to the Milkhouse. Here, it’s reading 0.3°C. Precise! I’m not overly thrilled by technology, but some gadgets I like. Like digital weather stations! They’ve become really CHEAP in the last couple of years. A local hardware chain just stocked a house brand, indoor/outdoor (dual measurements), min/max (stores highs and lows until reset) thermometer/hygrometer (humidity) for 10 bucks! I started tiny farming with a plain old analog min/max thermometer, until the digital ones got cheap about three years ago. Plus they had humidity. I got one, but it soon broke (didn’t like the greenhouse heat and humidity, I guess). The next generation of cheap weather stations had outdoor sensors. Cool! I got two for the greenhouse, one for the seedling room, and they’ve lasted. But, the remote sensor (a bonus!) is on the end of a long wire that I never got round to running… Now, there’s cheap and WIRELESS. That’s REALLY cool. More units, more batteries, but it’s WIRELESS. I banged in a nail and hung it out there in three minutes. It sends temp and humidity to a neat little unit sitting by my computer. It doesn’t store min/max wirelessly, that one’s not as cheap until probably next year. Instead, I glance at it quite often. The remote isn’t protected from direct sunlight, so the highs are too high when the sun hits it, but here it’s on the east side of the barn, so only the morning reading is off… Why do I need real-time outdoor temperature for tiny farming? Hmmm… It’s been just above zero days and most nights lately, and THAT’s interesting? You mightn’t have noticed otherwise that everything is slowly MELTING… Though really, watching the temperature through the day is kinda like watching the balls spin on a lottery draw: it DOESN’T REALLY MATTER! So maybe this wireless thing is yet another clever, largely unnecessary…gadget. I still like it: it’s 32.6°F outside the door, three days to the New Year, and seeds start soon! :)
Brussels sprouts for Christmas?
Got the idea this morning to get something REALLY FRESH onto the Christmas dinner menu. A fat local turkey, plus squash, potatoes, carrots, beets and onions from storage (in addition to a ham and industrial veggies from the supermarket) didn’t seem quite enough. But what could I find? The bed of Brussels sprouts left standing when the snow hit was…still there, not fully buried, and possibly perfectly preserved in a frozen state. Remembering a harvesting lesson of the past, I headed up the field with short, stiff saw in hand and bagged three (once again, the saw did its stuff!). Unfortunately, between the snow and the leaves, the sprouts were too well-mulched and probably never really got frozen solid, or at least, froze and partially thawed a few times. Many were damaged and discolored, but some were definitely…fine (I tasted a few raw on the spot). In the end, between the rather unappetizing, damp mass in a bucket waiting outside the kitchen, and all the other cooking to do, this time around, the good sprouts never got sorted, and it’s on to the frozen compost heap for the lot. But there’s more out there for another try… This is not exactly part of the Professional Market Garden side of tiny farming, more like my personal garden-addicted behavior, but it’s all part of learning!
Puddles on ice
Yesterday, it hovered a little above freezing, today, it rocketed up to nearly 50°F (10°C) and started to rain pretty good. There are puddles on paths where the snow was packed and icy (here, the reflection is Bob’s shed), patches of ground showing through in spots, and the overall snow level is dropping. It’s supposed to freeze up again tomorrow, but today’s 15-day weather forecast says there’ll be a string of warm days in early January that would melt things right down. Two winters in one? That’d shake up the trees and everything else living in the field. Wouldn’t be a surprise…!
First day of winter
Winter: today, it’s official… Every day I head out to the field to take a look, even if it’s only for a few minutes. I check the greenhouse, and…look around. There’s not much to see. The snow is now about 3′ (91cm) high on the sides of the hoophouse. I don’t bother clearing it off, it seems to do fine. It may not be obvious from the pics, but the side walls are double layers of plastic, inflated by electric fan with about six inches of air between (electricity for the fan is run out from the drive shed). You can see the hose for the fan on the inside, right near the curved rib (the fan and hose are on the left of this shot). This keeps the sides rigid enough to stop the snow from pushing in. And the trees are bare… And the days are now getting longer! :)
Snowbanks
A brilliant sunshiny day after our 24 hours of snow. There are deep drifts everywhere, and the snowplow’s been by, leaving 3′ snowbanks along the roads. The farm is on the edge of a village of 300. Here’s a view down one of the two intersections. I’m on my way to pick up the mail from the bank of mail boxes in the convenience store/post office. It IS convenient, a pleasant three-minute stroll down the country lane (well, two-lane secondary road). And open till 9:30 most nights, too!