Blue is one of my favorite colors, which is why I enjoy winter. There are days ~ crispy cold, still days ~ when the very air is blue. This past winter, we saw far too few of these types of days. Mostly, we saw sunless, windy cold days, and so far, the wind and cold is continuing well into March!  But today, it’s officially Spring and a great time to reflect back on the winter, thinking about what successes we saw and what I want to carry forward to next year, as well as what’s definitely being left behind! 

Successes

Betsie is still with us and still definitely engaged with life. She still rises every morning for her peanut butter and meloxicam, still munches hay with Wilma, and still loves her re-hydrated beets and molasses. She comes to us when she wants affection, and almost always head-butts a cat or two out of her way.  She doesn’t move far during the days, but she’s not ready to say good-bye.

All four cats have now bonded into one colony. They’ve staked out their places in the fleece-lined straw throughout the Little Barn, and on the worst of days, they’ve been happy to play and sleep inside, even tucked up together on the really bad days! Echo still sneaks as much sheep grain as Betsie will allow him to, and Steve, Tiger, and Miracle have fallen in love with Betsie’s peanut butter. 

What to Carry Forward

The greatest structural success in the Little Barn was the horse trough that John outfitted with a hinged lid and a heating element. It held 6 days worth of water, and I never had to carry buckets from the house to the barn ~ it was always liquid right in the barn! It did take a while for me to figure out how to use a 75 foot garden hose in the middle of winter, but by the time the really cold temperatures hit in early February, we were rollin’ with the water! We will definitely carry this forward!

Another success involved the bedding I had decided to use. Because the stall floors are cement, I first covered them with rubber stall mats. Then, I spread pine shavings on top of the mats. The shavings were easy to shovel up every morning and replace, and the resin in the pine has helped neutralize the ammonia order in the barn. Betsie always had a bed of deep straw to burrow into, but on really cold days, I would put straw down in both stalls, so everyone could burrow into it for warmth ~ including Tiger and Echo! 

Losses, Failures, and What to Leave Behind

In the deep of mid-winter, we said good-bye to one of our hens, Billy Ray. John did all he could think of to do, but she died anyway. We’re still not sure why she didn’t thrive with the other hens, but he keeps working and learning about helping chickens live their best possible life. And I’ve got to say, our other 5 hens never stopped laying eggs this winter! 

 As some of you know who have read recent blog posts, we lost an incredible amount of hay this winter.  This is absolutely not financially sustainable, and so I keep working to solve the interesting puzzle of why my sheep waste so much hay when they eat. I think I’ve found another piece to this puzzle, though: it seems that sheep become very used to one type of food ~ the grass in these pastures, the hay from this source ~ and they don’t like variety. So I’ve narrowed down the place and cutting of the hay I feed them to one, very reliable, source. They’ll only get that first cutting hay and the grass that’s in our pasture. I’ll keep you all posted!

There’s one other thing I’d love to leave behind me: using a wheelbarrow to haul used pine shavings and trampled straw from one barn through another barn and out to the compost pile. I did this every day ~ except for two or three sub-zero, windy days when I was pretty impressed I even made it to the Little Barn at all! John has already built me a permanent ramp leading out of the Little Barn, and that has helped, but I can’t help but think that there’s got to be an easier way to keep the stalls clean in winter!! I’m definitely giving this puzzle major attention over the summer. 

And so we move into Spring. Everyone is ready for the ice to melt, for the grass to green up, and for warmer breezes to blow. We’re hoping to welcome a new ewe to the Sanctuary the first week in May, and John is already measuring for the new pasture and building the next outdoor hay rack. I’m trying to figure out how to move really heavy stall mats, so I can scrub them clean, and I have a rather large compost pile behind the big barn to deal with! It will be a welcome change doing the work without mittens, hats, and scarves!  Although now that I’m reflecting, I think my mud boots have a hole in them. 

Happy Spring, Everyone!