Snowy Days

In preparation for the Super Bowl, I hit the grocery store and spent some time preparing snacks.  Despite not being a big football fan, I enjoy getting together with friends and family or just hanging out with my daughter to watch the big game.

This year, we experienced a blizzard warning during the game, which gave me another reason to head to the grocery store.  Blizzard shopping is a tradition on the prairie.  Of course, I live in town now, so there’s was not as much reason for me to make an emergency trip to the grocery store anymore.  But I still did it out of habit.  I’ll always be a farm girl no matter where I live.

A snowy day on the Willis Family Hog Farm.

So I headed out to beat the storm.  While driving to the store, I reflected about how hard these winter blizzards hit the rural countryside.  Preparation is so important when you live there since you don’t know how long you may be stranded.  Often, you are isolated on the farm until the county snow plows make their way to the gravel roads.    We’ve experienced losing our electricity during one of these blizzards, which also meant losing our water since the well pump uses electricity too.

Blizzards blow snow into the most inconvenient places, like this barn at the Willis Family Hog Farm.

Needless to say, neighbors can be a lifesaver during a blizzard!  We never had a back-up generator but our neighbors did.  Once we were without electricity for three days and our neighbors invited us over to their house to shower and regroup.  In these difficult times we do whatever we can to help each other out.  I loved that about growing up on the farm.

Sarah Willis making snow angels in between chores on the farm.

At night we played cards by candlelight. During the day we layered on our overalls, socks, mittens and hats and headed out to do the chores.  There are no snow days for farmers and ranchers.  The farm animals rely on us during the harsh weather more than usual to ensure their drinking water is still flowing and not frozen, and they have enough feed and extra bedding to keep them warm.

Hope you are enjoying your snow days and are grateful for our farmers who work hard to bring the food to us every day!