Winter time on the Farm

 Although the winter in Nova Scotia is relatively short compared to other places in Canada, winter has a huge impact on the farm. When living in Calgary, AB, we often found winter started in October and ended in late March/early April. In Nova Scotia, we often have weather that isn't extra cold or snowy until early to mid January and ends mid to late March on average. Those two or three months however, have a big impact on how the farm operates. 

The biggest impact is how the weather impacts operations and equipment. Generally, through the year there is no issue with running water to the cattle and chickens but in the winter we are always dealing with frozen water. When I had the barn renovated last year, the biggest expense was running new pipes with electric heat wrap on all the pipes so they wouldn't freeze in the dead of winter. Since we've had some nighttime temperatures this winter go down to -25 degrees celsius in some cases, the heat tape keeps 99% of the barn thawed out with the exception of the spouts on the water bowel I heat with a heat gun by hand. This is hard for all farms and no matter how well you are set up, it still creates more work.

The next impact is on equipment. I've learned over the last few years that running equipment in the winter is much less productive then in the other 3 seasons. Not only do you have to drive them in the snow and make them work hard, and burn more fuel, but you have more repairs. When equipment is running in colder temperatures, it's hard on the batteries, components that need fluid (like hydraulics), and parts of the machine that have plastic components. Because it takes such a toll on the farm equipment, I've started to park all the equipment for the winter except for the one farm tractor for clearing snow. 

A very positive impact is possibly the only good part of winter on a farm, which is the ability to rest. As any home owner knows, there is always a list of things to do but multiply that by a hundred on a farm. During the non-winter months, we are very limited to basic farm chores when the weather is poor or there is a lot of snow. This allows us to actually take weekends to rest and enjoy things like napping and reading that we never do in the other months. I often joke with my friends that the winter is the time I catch up with my Netflix shows that everyone talks about all year since I don't watch much TV when I can be doing farm work. 

Another small winter enjoyment is the use of goods that we have harvested or produced during the rest of the year. Starting in December we start to use more of the preserves and vegetables we have stored from harvests through the year. We also cook the chickens we raised and had processed in the spring as well as the beef from the previous cow we have had butchered. It's an enjoyable and rewarding part of winter to know the summer and fall harvests will sustain us through the winter.

Overall the winter presents unique aspects to farm life that we don't see in other seasons. Some we enjoy and some we don't but overall it makes us thankful to be living in this part of the world and on this wonderful farm.