snow

Snow is in the forecast everyday now as we enter the new year and it is hard to imagine anything that could make livestock work more difficult. Especially is this so when the farm runs, as ours does, with a commitment to minimize confinement of any animals and a real commitment to animal comfort. Snow must always be moved from where ever it lands and after that is done, the wind all too often puts it right back there.

This is the major glitch in our production system. The same approach that works well nine months of the year falters with winter. But in another sense, this is just a description of human life on earth. We don't do perfect, any of us, and that includes our systems here at Pastures A Plenty. Some of it is mostly a matter of living through it. We are now several weeks into increasing day length and are regularly cheering for the sun.

I think with longing of the statement of a Russian immigrant with whom I shared snow shoveling chores five decades ago at the parking services of the Unversity of Minnesota. Igor used to say wistfully "God put it there, why don't we let God take it away?" Amen to that! I wish!

Jim