After this past week’s incredible storms, I’ve been thinking a lot about comfort foods. Luckily we weren’t directly in the path of a tornado, but seeing the sky turn green, rumble constantly is definitely unnerving. The first think both Tim and I thought included two things: 1. make sure the sheep have enough water, and 2. fill the tub so we can use the toilet!
Making sure the sheep always have water available can actually be a challenge when on an electric well. If the power goes out, then we don’t have any water beyond what the well pressure tank will hold - which, when talking about 50 sheep, isn’t that much. In addition, during the summer we try and encourage the sheep to use the automatic waterer’s instead of their large stock tank, which is used mostly in winter. Often this isn’t well received by the sheep, as they really like their stock tank, they don’t have to go AAAALLLLL the way outside to that pesky waterer to get a drink. They can just get up, take two steps over to the stock tank, and then lie back down - lazy sheep…..
This was some of the damage not far from us in Mount Forest. Luckily we had nothing this serious happen. We got off very lightly.
Anyway, as the storm blew in, I ran down to the barn to fill that stock tank. I also placed other stock tubs beneath anything that dripped. You never know how long power will be out. It;s usually not a matter of if, but when out here. I also checked to make sure the gate was closed to the pasture (don’t want the sheep, or dogs learning that the fence is no longer electrified either - that’s a WHOLE other headache) and that they’d be okay in the pitch black. Then up to the store to move around freezer stock. Not all freezers hold the cold, and glass front uprights are some of the worst. SO we spent the next 3 hours moving stock around, getting the generator (well, Tim did this) set up to run said freezers and fridges, and generally ensuring that for the next few hours we could keep our meat and dairy cold. TIm brilliantly made sure everything was kept at temperature, by plugging and unplugging various fridges and freezers. My main job was moving the stock, and keeping many candles going in the house. It's time to buy better tea lights, as the ones we have, frankly, suck. The beeswax ones are so much better. Need to have more of those on hand.
Thankfully the power came back on around 11:30 pm. Not long, once again, we got off lightly. Wednesday was spent putting things back to normal and then getting to our regular processing and packing.
I know that this weekend will feature easy comfort food for dinners. The storm, and the yearly chimney cleaning on Wednesday, is a reminder that we really need to make time to get the wood storage areas cleared out, and wood ordered from our wood-guy Jeff. It's only a matter of a couple of weeks before we will be back to making and keeping fires going 24/7.
At this point in the year, after months of milking, I have to say. At least the fires can't pee on me the way the sheep do....