Thistle Root Farm

Much of farming is about working with the weather. That’s why I am planning on getting up and outside early tomorrow morning while it is still below freezing.

Most of this week daytime highs have been above 32 degrees and now the forecast calls for overnight lows also above 32 degrees. Tomorrow morning might be my last chance to work outside when it is below freezing.

Ruts in the mud in the spring.

Why am I so eager to work outside when it is below freezing? One word: mud.

Of course, the sun and warm weather is welcome, but the spring thaw also means that it is muddy around our place. I don’t want to make the mud any worse, but I have to use the tractor to move some hay to get ready for lambing next week. And I also need to mow some standing weeds down in the pasture before this year’s pasture growth comes on.

If I get up early and use the tractor while the ground is still frozen, I won’t tear up any more of our grass than we already have. I especially don’t want to tear up the pasture.

Welcome to the website and blog for Thistle Root Farm, a small farm near Lyons, Nebraska. Our farm is just 12 acres, quite small for this part of the country where most people farm about 1,000 times more land.

The farm is a part-time venture, not because you can’t make a full-time job out of 12 acres of intensive production, but because we both have full-time off-farm jobs as well. We purchased the place on the last day of 2009, and in our first year we raised several grass-fed lambs and a small flock of laying hens. In 2011, we plan to add more livestock and fruit and vegetable crops.

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