Nature simply has no respect for a person’s plans. Just a week ago it was all systems go for 2017. Then last Tuesday a winter storm named Stella hit, bringing us about 3 feet of snow. Ron, being a government worker was lucky as he got to stay home. He decided, while the Stella was still raging that a trip out to THF was needed. Unfortunately that plan didn’t work. Someone driving a pickup jackknifed and blocked the road. All he could do was turn around and head home.
It snowed a bit more on Wednesday and when Ron got home we packed up and headed out to the farm. Ron was anxious to see how our work tent had fared. After all, it was not really designed for winter use.

We tried 3 different ways of getting through the snow with no luck. Finally even Ron had to admit defeat and we headed for home.

Now the plan was to try again on Saturday.  I borrowed a pair of snowshoes from my friend Josi and Ron, a pair from his friend Jim.  I haven’t used them before, so it will be interesting to see how I do on them. Layers needed again even though it was not as cold as it had been last Saturday. This time I made sure camera battery was charged. I have not yet figured out how to take pictures on my iPhone and then use them on the blog.
We could not see the tent from the road, which worried Ron. Snowshoes on and we headed down our path. The level of snow had settled and a slight crust had formed. This was hard work, especially as neither of us were spring chickens.
The closer we got to our work area, the more certain Ron was that the tent had gone down.

Sadly, he was right. Our wonderful tent had taken the brunt of the storm.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The weight of snow had broken all the support poles but left the canopy intact. So no damage to any of our equipment. Shovels, rakes, tables, racks, etc. were all safe and sound.
Now we just had to figure out how to get the snow off the roof. All we needed to make the job easy was maybe 6 more people and a conveyor belt to whisk the snow away.

We started at the back shoveling the snow that we could reach off the roof. A few minutes in and we were already tired. Snow is so damn heavy. But then the hard work started. Ron used a flat rack inside the tent to break up and knock down the snow. I used first a shop broom to drag the snow off the roof. We had tried to toss the snow out of the way, but that was too much work. So it just started to pile up outside the tent. That made it easier for me to reach further out onto the tent roof, but also harder to stand without sliding off my growing hill.

The perfect tool turned out to be a 4 tined cultivator.  Who know you could not only use it to dig potatoes and pick rocks, but also pull snow and ice chunks off a tent roof.

It took us a good 4 hours to get 90 percent of the snow off.  You see the hill I built up, which we get to deal with tomorrow.  Cannot leave it there as it will only create a huge mud field as it melts.  We also need to see what the final damage is.   All we know for sure is that we have to replace the tent with a stronger one and our shiitake inoculation event is going to be postponed.  Stella has also messed with Peter and Christine’s plans to have our 400 bolts ready before April 1st.  We are now shooting for April 15th.  As long as the weather does not slam us again, those extra two weeks should be just enough time for us to everything ready.   As long as we both live through the night.   The things that man gets me into.

All further updates will be posted on Tiny House Farm Augusta New York