Northstar Livestock
8 hours ago
STORY TIME -HopeWe had a long hard winter a few years ago. It started early and stayed late. The snow was up over the fence tops so we couldn’t let most of the horses out for exercise because they couldn’t get through the deep snow, or if they did happen to they could walk right over the fences without even knowing they were there. From there we went to ice and then to mud. It was bitter cold as well to go along with all the snow. A friend of ours said it was so cold that he would go out to throw his horses their hay and that he would be back in the house by the stove before the hay hit the ground. I was blowing snow two and three times a day to keep open so we could get around and in or out our lane and I couldn’t help but feel I was going to freeze every time I got on that tractor. The real icing on the cake was when the water pipes to our barns froze. We were three months with no running water to the barns. We had to run hoses from the house to the barns to water 50 horses. After watering we had to unhook and drain all the hoses and haul them into the basement (or otherwise they’d freeze too). I guess it’s human nature to crab about the weather even though I don’t think anyone really wants to hear about it anyway. But it sometimes seems like you have to crab to someone. We were talking about the rough winter and I was reminded of another bad winter we endured in PEI. It was extremely cold and windy with heavy snowfall and we would often have a big snow drift built up between the house and the barn. Sometimes it was so deep that we had a job to get to the barn to do chores. It seemed that that winter would last forever. Everyone had cabin fever and was kind of depressed. One day all that changed. The wind stopped blowing, and the sun came out and was strong enough to melt a little snow. It shone in our kitchen windows and warmed the room right up. It was sure great to see that sun but that wasn’t all. A big box of oranges and grapefruit arrived from Florida, sent to us by my mother and dad who had gone to Florida on a holiday to escape some of the winter - it was a real treat. And when we called for the mail after lunch, low and behold, there was the new spring seed catalog showing off all the vegetables and flowers. We knew that winter wasn’t over by a long shot but between those three things that day it changed our whole attitude and outlook on life. We felt that Spring was going to come after all and that we could survive the rest of the winter. There was new hope it the air and it was a great day. ... See MoreSee Less
Photo
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email
2 days ago
Our grand daughter (Bill & Brenda), niece (Jason & Adam) featured in the 2025 Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture calendar. ... See MoreSee Less
1 week ago
There are just a couple spots left in the liberty clinic that Jason will be teaching at Angel Rock Farm (near Ottawa) this coming weekend. ... See MoreSee Less
