Hello Official Start to Winter

Today is the official first day of winter. In South Dakota, winter normally comes much earlier. We've had storms barrel through as early as mid October so the phenomena that we are experiencing this year is unreal.


We've been experiencing beautiful weather, 30-40 degree weather. It's unheard of but it makes doing chores oh, so much easier. But today, on the first official day of winter, we are to get snow. And quite frankly, I'm exited for it. Not so that we'd have a white Christmas, but so that we'd have some moisture and protection for our pastures. If we would have had an extra couple of days, we could have possibly added some new seed to the pasture but that didn't happen. Maybe this spring.


Why do I care if we have snow for our pastures? I remember not too long ago a Christmas that was warm with no snow. It was a continued trend and with little rain. We ended up going into a severe drought. The only thing that saved us was our neighbor letting us use his pasture. We've since learned to divide the pasture but when you have an additional 20 acres to graze for a month, it makes a difference. So why am I worried? We don't have that neighbor any more so the grazing opportunity is gone. If we go into another drought, we will be dealing with a shortage of hay. I desperately want to buy hay from our hay guy. Had we known that the hay ground would get rain in the fall, we would have held off in buying unknown hay that isn't as high quality (it's good but I'm a hay snob).


So this weather leaves me to sit and stew. I worry. There's nothing I can do about it except plan. But to plan, we need to be prepared and I am not prepared for yet another year of no rain. So I am excited to see the snow even though it means a lot of extra work for me. However, I am not excited for the cold. I worry for the horses. Of course they've all lived through much colder spells. It's not even going to be that cold but I've been spoiled. I forgot what it was like to walk out the door and have your nose freeze instantly. It's all fun and games until someone's nose freezes.


I haven't been watching the weather as of late. I used to watch it like a hawk. But now, there's too many other things to worry about. The paying job has me so busy I don't have time to even think about the weather. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. I wish I was more prepared though. I'll be swamped with the paying job until the first of March. Mike's paying job is going to ramp up as well starting next month. It's going to make life/work/sanctuary balance a lot more difficult.  We'll manage but if you don't see us online as much, it's because we're swamped.