Oh yes, it is here. Our temps have been in the low teens and low 30's for the last few days. That means a lot of extra time is needed to be spent taking care of the animals and the garden.
The first thing on our agenda was to try and save the lettuce. I was not willing to let go just yet. We built small hoop houses out of 3 mil plastic and wooden stakes and crossed our fingers. I did not hold out much hope when it dipped to 13*, but to my great surprise this morning it seemed to be fine. We have two more nights before it levels off for a bit and rains. The temps are expected to drop again next week. I picked about a bushel and a half of spinach and lettuce to hold us for the next few days. I have found if I wash and spin the greens really well and place them in a heavy bread bag they will keep at least 2 weeks.
Next was to get the water pipes ready. Heat tapes were plugged up and all buckets were filled. The hoses have to be drained every night.
Every hay trough is filled daily to over flowing, the rabbit cages are stuffed with hay and shallow water dishes put in the cages for ease of dumping ice daily. None of the gravity fed water buckets work in weather like this. Through it all the critters are doing well~ just eating a lot.
The only bright spot in all of this is that I can now draw an easy breath and put parasite patrol on the back burner for the next few months.
No comments:
Post a Comment