Muddy Farms

We have entered April. That means we are in the last stretch of winter season here on our farm. Yes, it is still winter according to us. Mother Nature is expected to send us another 6 inches of snow tonight. Last year, we celebrated Earth Day (April 22) with about ten inches of snow on the ground.

But unlike January or February, this “season” of winter also involves a lot of mud. Icky, sticky, gooey, stinky mud.

It is one of those nessecary evils of life on the farm. If we want lush green grasses, we need to accept the fact that moisture rich snow will melt and turn the dirt and soil to mud.

This is not the best time of the year to visit our farm. Ironically, Amelia from Eating Made Easy is visiting us tomorrow.  There are no cows on pasture. Our calves have out grown their calf hutches (but we cannot move them because they are frozen down). Our compost pile is bigger than two houses. It just doesn’t look nice.

Our cow yard also looks like a mess. The cows drag mud with them on their feet when they come to eat on the cow yard. We clean this up and add it to our compost pile daily, but it still looks yucky for the few hours they are there.

There are some fun advantages to all the water. The kids love making boats and floating them down the “river” that forms in the farm yard and pastures. The water is also fun to splash in.

Soon the water will soak into the ground, replenshing our underground reserves. Then the mud will dry up, the grass will grow and our farm will once again look like this.

Do you have a lot of mud in your yard right now?