Reflections On The Year
I’m not a big proponent of New Year resolutions, I tend toward more of Past Year reflections. This year that has passed seemed to be a whirlwind of repair, replant, replace and respond to challenges as they appeared rather than planning ahead and being prepared for whatever was to come.
The busy planting season during the dormant winter, both in the riparian zones around the river and the replanting of the forest up on the hill, did well this year and we had little die-off and better retention than the previous five years. There was an epic fail when I tried to dissuade the elk from pulling up the bamboo stakes that were holding the mesh cages around the cedar seedlings. The elk seemed to be enticed by the hot sauce I was dribbling on the tips of the stakes even when I mixed it with dish washing detergent and crankcase oil. For weeks on end, it became a twice daily ritual to check the disturbed mesh cages and replace the pulled out stakes. I probably would have been better off to place a salt lick over on the neighbor’s property to entice the elk to get their spice over there (I must put in a disclaimer here because I only thought about putting a salt lick on someone else’s property and would never actually do such a thing).
I like to be ready for the different seasons, harvests, new calves and uneventful stretches of easy rural life but on the farm it is difficult to be prepared for all situations, things are sure to arise that I wouldn’t have thought would happen. Most notably was getting our end of season logging shut down in September because of mud while we still have even now several log truck loads of timber decked up on the hill waiting to be hauled to the mills. We were fortunate to get the equipment off the farm before the river came up and stranded our logger’s expensive machines over the winter. We will resume getting the timber off the hill when we can get back up there which should be July or so.
We did have had a few rough patches this year, but all in all, most days and seasons went by smoothly. With the addition of the firewood bundle project we have not had much down-time. During the summer when we are not delivering or bundling much wood, we are salvaging and stacking, cutting and drying in preparation for the time when sales will be booming. Even now during the busy delivering time of year, we are cutting, splitting and drying to keep the rotation going.
Our cattle seemed to mostly take care of themselves. No big emergencies for which I am extremely grateful. We did lose a newborn calf a couple of months ago and although we have no proof that the coyote population was to blame, there were some hanging around when the first-calf heifer went off away from the rest of the herd to deliver which could have led to the loss. With a couple of cows now nearing the end of their gestation, we are watching them closely to judge when birthing is near so we can keep an eye on them and the coyotes.
Most of the machinery has held up with only minor repairs over the year as well as the barns, we watch for issues because these items are high value with sometimes high repair costs that can sneak up easily. An unusual squeak or a broken beam could lead to trouble that hits the bank account with a tremendous wallop.
Our usual fence fixing over the last year had fallen down the list of necessary repairs and a quick look around the fields shows that this upcoming year will be generously sprinkled with spurts of T-posts, barb wire, fencing hammers along with bloody scratches and ripped clothing. We should have been working on those darn fences all year long but time got away from us.
By no means is this a list of resolutions, but there some obvious things that need attention. Today is a new day and the beginning of a new year so I will dust off the seed catalog and begin planning the garden that was woefully neglected this last year. It is time to get organized if not to get to work on temporary fence up around the second barnyard across the river so the newly birthed calves and their mothers have a secure area to bond before getting turned out into the nursery field. The rest of the fences will need work as the year goes on. With this winter being as mild as it has been, the fruit trees in the orchard can start getting pruned while they are dormant so they are ready for the spring.
As I think about all that needs to be done, maybe it would be better to be a resolution maker rather than a reflector. But my procrastination has kicked in, so maybe I’ll try that next year. Happy 2020!
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