Excellent Weather for Toads

Certain animals on the farm love rainy weather when it’s warm—the ducks, the pigs, and the resident amphibians. The ducks love to stand out in the pouring rain, facing the wind, then run to their newly filling kiddy pool to splash hysterically. They quack with delight like there’s an inside joke going around. They prance and frolic, refusing to be tucked into their house at night if they know that rain is coming (well, I do convince them, but they resist heartily).

The pigs love the rain because it means mud. Hot summer days are not a favorite for the pigs because they can’t sweat like we do. Often we run sprinklers, so they can cool off, but when it rains, Mother Nature is on sprinkler duty. The pigs flop and roll into the mud, wriggling through it like it’s the best massage they’ve had in weeks. They hardly care that they come out all caked in brown goo. It helps repel the flies anyway!

I swear that the resident amphibians have a hoedown after a good rain on a warm evening. Everyone seems to have gotten the memo, with frogs and toads of all sizes coming out from their hiding holes to leap about on the gravel lanes. As I drive about doing chores in the utility golf cart I call “the Blueberry” (it’s blue), it becomes an obstacle course not to squish anyone! My family says I need a sign on the back of the cart that says, “Caution: will stop for toads.”

I admit, I love toads. One of my very early childhood memories is at a resort after a rainy afternoon, holding an empty coffee can, catching toads and frogs. There were so many! I didn’t mind if they were slippery or cool. Their leaping was hysterical. And after the festivities, we gently let everyone go, back to freedom.

Frogs and toads are excellent beneficial helpers on the farm. We’ve even built stone toad houses for them to have shelter during the hot part of the day. Later, they can safely emerge to eat all the bugs they can hold. And some of our toads seem to have eaten quite a wondrous amount of bugs, given their size! The biggest of them seem to have staked out their favorite territories—one beneath the barnyard security light, who hides under some old plywood during the day, one by the white-doored shed, and one by the back door to the farmhouse. Kara says she has to be careful at night not to step on the last one, as he commands the stoop as his (or her?) own kingdom.

“You should needle felt a toad!” Steve has suggested multiple times. “You love them so much.” Yes, I do, I admit! When ever I’m feeling down, holding a toad is sure to bring a real smile. I mean, how many wild animals will let you hold them without biting, clawing, or stinging? The toad is like, “Oh, ok, you’re warm. This is cool for a minute, then can I go?”

So, last night as more rain showers came passing through and curious toads again studded my chore-time path, I pulled out my stash of wool and some pipe cleaners and finally made myself a needle felted toad. Now, ironically, I can hold the likeness of a toad even in the depths of winter!

What animals do the rains bring out that you admire? Earthworms? Salamanders? The fish that are biting? Does your dog or child love to splash in the puddles? Sometimes August can be terribly dry, so enjoy the rainy days as they come, and we’ll see you down on the farm sometime.