Snow Day

Today is day three of being stuck at home. We got an inch of ice and last night an inch of snow on top. We live on the top of a hill and I have been unable to get down it, except on foot. The secondary road is still covered in ice. Here in Tennessee, we are ill prepared for such weather and the county we live in apparently only salts the major roads. I would rather be taking my days off work to do things around the farm, but I guess this is mother nature's way of telling me to slow down and rest. The upside is that I have been catching up on some reading and updating the website.

We are expecting a low of zero tonight. This is the lowest temperature I have seen in the ten years that I have lived in the state. I have been worried about the bees and the pigs making it through the next few days. This weekend, Nick and I wrapped the beehives with insulation and also added insulation to the roof of the pig house. I have packed two additional bales of straw in the pig house and half covered the entrance with several old towels to keep the heat in. I have been carting out bottles of warm water for them to drink the last few days. Still, I worry about tonight. I think I'm more upset about them being in the ice and snow than they are. I'm pretty sure that if we had a garage, I'd probably try to herd them into it and lay out sleeping bags for them. I'm sure all the experienced pig farmers out there would laugh hysterically over all of this, but being a first timer, I'm a bit like a nervous mother.