Snow Makes way for Progress

The snow is off the ground and progress is surging forward. This is one of the best times of year to get stuff done on the farm. There a few livestock (no broiler chickens and no turkeys) and the grazing livestock are not being rotated on the pasture yet. The snow melted very rapidly so the rivers are out of the banks. This will only affect us if we loose our primary road into town. We lost the road back in 2008. What would be a 15 minute drive into Pella will become a 50 minute drive if that road gets topped.

I have been getting a lot of help from Jim (a friend in Pella) and that has allowed for a water hydrant to get replaced, and has allowed a section of internal fence to go in. In addition, we built most of a long stretch of boundary fence. The trees have been cleared, the posts have gone in, and the first strand of five is hung. The hard work is done and the rest of it should take a few hours. It is nice to finally get some fence in. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Expect a lot more fence to go in in the coming weeks. Until the baby comes in late April, I will be clearing trees and building fence. 

Stretch of new internal fencing just put in

Replaced a broken hydrant with a brand new one

In other news, I am the board chair of the Iowa Network for Community Agriculture (INCA) and we hosted a gathering on March 13th in Perry. It went well and was well managed, but attendance was a bit lighter then I had hoped. We have new board members and are working through that transition. I have been elected for one last, one year term as board chair. I have a lot I want to get done with the organization so I can pass it on in better shape then I inherited it. 

INCA Gathering in Perry, 2010

Today, I am headed into town to pick-up a skid loader from my wife's work to use for the weekend. It is supposed to snow tomorrow and get cold for several days. I actually wanted a few cold nights. I frost seeded clover into much of my pasture when the snow melted and it just has not gotten below freezing at night. You need those cold night temperatures for the ground to freeze up during the night and thaw during the day. That allows the small round clover seed to slip into the soil enough to germinate. I hope things go well this weekend. Whatever happens, I will let you know.