Jack Frost

Sometimes we get excited about the idea of producing vegetables to compliment our meat sales, but then we are reminded of the forces of nature that are stacked up against vegetable plants.  We only have a small garden for ourselves which is mostly cold hearty greens, garlic and onions.  We were able to protect our more delicate plants, but if we had rows and rows to protect we would be in trouble.  One of the nice things about sheep is that they have their own frost protection built in, and little extra care is required the night of a freeze.

Cool season grasses survive frosts, so our sheep always have something green to eat.

We do grow a lot of food for sheep.  Most of it is very freeze resistant this time of year, however we do see some transformations from living forage to “stock-piled” forage.  Even though a frost may knock back some grasses, the leaves dry and remain for future grazing.

Warm season grasses begin to slumber for the winter, their dried leaves will provide sustenance for our flock through the winter.

Life is present even in dead or dormant plants.  Life is present in the frost that halts the over growth of certain weeds, and life is definitely present in the coolness that alerts winter plants to grow.  We are constantly amazed at all the miracles of farming.

-a+s