snow on the farm
February 1, 2026
Wow, that was some snow. I don’t recall the last time I saw this much snow, it almost harkens back to an older idea of winter, when seasons were less mild and the elements were more pronounced. With all our modern trappings of snow blowers and all-wheel-drive cars and snow plows, etc. we have been able to celebrate the overwhelming blanket and see it with a perspective of awe and beauty more than one of life altering adversity. Despite it taking a couple days to fully shovel out, things are mostly back to normal at the farm for us. Our animals, on the other hand…
This season we decided to overwinter a number of animals–4 goats and 150 chickens to be specific. Experiencing the winter world through their lens is less idealized than the summer months when they are free ranging on a diversity of natures bounty, basking in the sun, immensely entertained by the variety. Despite our best efforts, winter for them is stale, boring and hard. Our chickens dislike the snow, even when we clear it enough for them to walk on and are limited to the paths they can traverse around their run. The goats, although plenty warm and well fed, are confined to the barn, with their pasture all inaccessible. As curious, adventurous animals, the limited stimulus represents a special kind of hardship for them - we take them out on walks each day but we know they can’t wait to be back out again.
Just outside of our reach, though, are scores of other animals who lack even a covered roof or a dedicated person to feed them. It is amazing to consider how the various creatures of the wild are accommodating. I see coyote tracks at the edge of the field and know how hard it is for them to get around as evidenced by bearclaws inability to navigate the snow depths. There is a racoon, too, who had sheltered in a tree at the forest’s edge and has been stuck there ever since. These moments bring the benefit of causing pause, prompting us to attempt to see the world from a different vantage point.
It also carries with it perhaps a lesson–for us and the creatures we co-habitate with, domestic and wild alike. This amount of snow truly limits activity and mobility. It forces us to live on stores of calories and imagination as we slow down our metabolisms and rest a bit more. Some of us are better at resting and slowing down than others (personally, I score a failing grade in this category), but nature has its way of imposing upon us a natural rhythm that we might do well to follow.
In other news, we are excited to have formally opened this year’s CSA shares (of eggs, herbs/flowers and meat) and are excited to start to put our brains towards the spring and summer months, when the snow will exist just as a passing memory.