This is the time of year to bring out E.E. Cumming’s perfectly turned phrases “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful”. 

This is mud season on the farm, and we are in the splash zone.  Everything and everyone is spattered with mud.  Receding snow is opening up patches of brown grass.  Within a day of exposure the vegetation begins greening as photosynthesis renews.  South-facing slopes already are bare and the rest of the fields are losing the snow pack rapidly.

Feeding the cattle gets tricky this time of year with sloppy ground.  The tractor wants to sink right down when we’re moving the hay bales.  I have to drive strategically to avoid creating an utter mess of ruts and mud pits.  It is an annoyance, but we’ve come to expect this part of the annual cycle, and we take it in stride.  Spring is coming, and we’ll put up with anything to experience spring again!

This week we began the annual cycle of pre-season chicken projects.  With the snow gone and the roof accessible, I completed roofing the newest brooder.  I have been working with the nutritionist on fine tuning our chicken and turkey feed recipes.  It is time to inspect our chicken feeders, waterers, and other supplies to know which things must be repaired, replaced, or reordered.  The first chicks of the season hatch in less than two weeks, so I am feeling the fire of urgency under me.

Now to put our heads down, to lean into the long pull of the next season of the year when our lives seem to be all poultry, all the time.