A Week of Extremes

Spring has been of late arrival this year, with temps registered at negative four degrees just a couple of nights before it appeared that a switch was thrown and everything changed. Then, a few days later, it all changed again!

In the north, springtime is moody and fickle, running hot and then cold. Warm sunshine, biting frosty wind, and fluctuations in the extreme. This week was a remarkable moment of such extremes on the farm.

It was certainly an epic winter for snow. Shoulder-high banks and waist-high accumulation abounded. Raked-down piles were right up to eaves of roofs, and life had reduced to narrow trails scooped out of the piles of white. Some settling had occurred as days drifted into the 40’s for temperatures, and the sun shone brightly. The feeling of springtime wouldn’t last long, however, as a blizzard came on its heels and replenished whatever had managed to melt.
Then, suddenly, we rocketed into days in the mid-70’s, with night still above freezing. Within one week, all the major migrating birds returned, and the snow sank and shrank and melted at a furious rate. We braced ourselves, in fear that we might be up against epic flooding.

Fortunately, all the water was able to percolate straight down, as the deep blanket of snow had prevented the frost from penetrating deeply into the earth. But it didn’t stop there. Our farm’s sandy soils mean that water makes quite a bit of movement under the surface, often with a two-day lag as it percolates into the wetlands and feeds the creek that runs between the barnyard and Farmstead Creamery.

The creek is so small, it doesn’t have an official name—serving as a tributary to Hay Creek. Usually, it flows lazily along, and sometimes in a dry spell in August, it doesn’t flow at all. This spring, however, as all that sudden snowmelt came trickling into the swamplands that feed the creek, the levels began rising quickly. The frozen waterway soon began running and fast! Thank goodness we had replaced the culvert two autumns ago with a tube that allowed for faster flow, as it was gushing. I can hear the water roaring through the culvert when I step out the back door of Farmstead Creamery.

And then, just as suddenly, the tides turned once more, and we plunged back into winter. The forecast said we could get up to 10 inches in this system, and it’s still coming down, so we’ll see! Usually, in April, the snows are wet and heavy, but not this time. Icy, biting dry flakes pelt past, forced by a northern wind, and the flakes are light enough to be drifting. It looks like February outside all over again!

The creek this morning is still flowing strong, but not quite as angrily as the halt in melting is allowing the system a little catch-up time. It’s a busy time at the bird feeder this morning, as the recently exposed wild food options for the birds and squirrels are covered up once more. Even the black-eyed Juncos, who normally feed on the ground, are vying with each other for places at the feeder.

Kara’s had to creatively navigate these extreme swings in conditions as she continues to prepare for our spring lambing season. She would plan her major barn cleaning mornings right after the cold snap, so the ground was firm for driving the skid steer. Then she’d plan her jug panel scrubbing days for when it was warm, so her hands didn’t freeze. Our first due date for lambs is the 19th, so just around the corner. Hopefully this winter storm will be moved out before the first deliveries.

Thank goodness for good barns and coops that we can close up and shelter our animals from this sudden change. I feel for all the wild animals as they try to find food and places to shelter just after trying to adjust to summertime temperatures.

Hopefully, the weather will settle out for a bit from here, but a world of extremes is certainly becoming a new normal as climate change unsettles what we’ve become accustomed to experiencing for seasons and storms. Hoping the flooding is staying manageable where you are, and here’s to eventual (and hopefully calmer) arrival of spring! See you down on the farm sometime.