It’s a problem to some degree on every farm I’ve ever seen or visited. Some people are better at keeping up with it than others, and some people label it differently, but all farms have it.

Farm junk.

It’s not really junk. It’s useful stuff that you need around and it’s usually the stuff you actually use the most! But you find yourself in a rush, or in a temper, or distracted, or you just don’t know exactly where to store it even though you know you should keep it, or it gets blown around in a storm…and suddenly you look around and it’s everywhere!

We usually spend part of every weekend walking around picking up odd buckets and pans and scrub brushes and tubs and baling twine (oh the baling twine!) and re-positioning water buckets and feeders and shelters…and just generally cleaning up.

It tends to get particularly bad in the winter or bad weather because everyone is in a hurry to get back inside and the kiddos are bad about just dropping something when they are done and hustling in the house for some hot chocolate. Mr. Fix-It and I are constantly riding them about putting stuff away when they are done so we all know where it is next time it’s needed.

If you ever wonder how we spend our weekends, well cleaning up the “junk” is part of it. {smile}

Winter is certainly here this year. We’ve had frozen troughs and frozen water lines and crunchy frozen grass…but no snow so far. Just rain, rain, rain.

I’ll take cold sunshine over cold rain any day!

We’re feeding grain twice a day now to help everyone maintain weight through the cold. It’s really important for the animals to have a regular feeding routine so their bodies can maintain a regular energy level, so we try to feed within an hour of the same time every morning and every evening. On the weekends we feed at sunrise and just before dark so we can take time to look everyone over while we’re out there.  During the week it’s o’dark’thirty AM and PM and we’re wearing the flashlight batteries out. {smile}

Everyone seems to be doing fine and we’re still expecting another calf from Annabelle this winter, as well as lambs in a few months. Tag, our new ram from the zoo, is doing fine. He seems to have adjusted to the flock and most of his allergies and that icky nasal discharge seem to have cleared up on their own with some fresh farm air.

We picked up a load of feed the other day. A ton. Literally a ton. 40 bags at 50 lbs each. I told Mr. Fix-It it doesn’t look like much, and “a ton” is supposed to mean “a whole lot” so I’m going to have to come up with a new expression. It’s only about 5 weeks of feed.

We love watching Alaska the Last Frontier and any time I start thinking we’ve got it tough, I just start thinking about only have 3-4 months of the year to be outside and the rest of the year as winter–with an outhouse! Whew! We’re doing just fine! We’ll be lucky to get any snow at all–although I do get tired of the ice. And I’d take snow over freezing rain any day. But we’re all hunkered down and sipping hot chocolate and doing just fine. You?

How’s your place looking? Were you ready for winter or did the recent storms surprise you?

See where I’m sharing this week…