The last couple days have been warm and sunny – way too warm and sunny for February – but you won’t find many people complaining.  On the farm, however, there’s a flip side to all this sunshine and warmth: MUD. Every time we get a serious thaw and the snow cover disappears, the ground turns to mud. As the snow recedes, poop piles that have been frozen and covered with snow start to emerge. And turn to mud. The roads turn to mud. And this time of year, we know things will freeze up again and then we’ll have rutted, frozen mud. I, for one, prefer a cold winter with no thaw and an early, dry spring.

The other factor in dealing with a muddy farmyard is the fact that our first alpaca show of the season is in early April. Keeping the alpacas clean for a show this time of year is nearly impossible without locking them in the barns – something we are not inclined to do. We’re thankful that alpaca shows look for animals in “pasture condition” and not clean, groomed alpacas.

Sounds like we have snow on the way tonight. Winter’s back!