Frigid Weekend, Snow Fun, Wilburn Waters

This week on the farm…

The weekend temperatures touched down below zero. It stopped snowing last Friday, but the white blanket hung around most of this week. The kids made the most of snow fun while it lasted. We tied a sled to the back of the 4-wheeler and pulled them around, seeing who could stay on the longest. Hasten won.

The later part of the week temps climbed back up into the 50’s. Wednesday morning the ground was still mostly covered in snow. By Wednesday afternoon, the snow was mostly gone. The snow’s melting turned the ground from frozen to sloppy. Then the rains came and made it even more so. All the animals weathered the cold spell just fine. Now hopefully they can weather the mud. 

I delivered meat to Chilhowie and Marion early in the week, so Amy could get caught up on doings around the house. On top of homeschooling our kids, she’s been teaching an emailing class through Barn2Door once a week for a few weeks. She’s also been keeping the cabins cleaned as they have thankfully continued to be booked somewhat steadily through the winter months. Hopefully the renters enjoyed the snow. I can’t think of a better place to spend a cold snowy day than in one of the cabins with a hot tub right outside.

With last week’s trip to Knoxville getting derailed by the weather, Amy and the kids delivered meat down that way yesterday afternoon. Abingdon and Marion deliveries tomorrow. Amy is looking forward to getting back to the farmer’s market. Wrestling season continues. One tractor out of the shop but the other one back in. 

I listen to audiobooks a lot while farming, but I usually don’t sit down and read very many hard copies of books. With the frigid weekend and ample time indoors, I grabbed a book off the shelf that one of our herd share members gave me a while back, “The Life and Adventures of Wilburn Waters” by Charles B. Cole. It was actually written as a bunch of newspaper articles that were later compiled into a book about Wilburn Waters’ hunting and trapping stories. 

Here’s a little bit about Wilburn Waters:

“But here we must go back a little and bring up the history of Wilburn’s religious convictions, experience and conversion, which will doubtless be dry and uninteresting to some… Finding his own efforts of no avail, he at last made a full surrender, and came to the conclusion that he would cast himself unreservedly and helplessly upon the great and abounding mercy of the Lord, who had promised to save all who called upon Him in sincerity, truth and faith. This he determined to do, if he died and perished in the attempt… From that day to this - more than forty-four years - he has never faltered or doubted, though, like all others, he has had his seasons of depression and refreshing.” 

The later part of the book is not so much about Wilburn Waters as it is about the history Southwest Virginia, including a story about “General William Campbell, who was a very prominent patriot in this part of Virginia before and during the Revolution.” General Campbell’s wife was the sister of Patrick Henry.

Here’s a couple quotes from the book about Southwest Virginia:

“Southwestern Virginia, except in climate and fruits, is also an empire of smaller dimensions - an empire in all the natural resources that any people could or ought to desire to make them independent, prosperous and happy… No country under the sun is blessed with a more genial summer climate, purer water or grander scenery.”

“but great changes have taken place, although most of the farmers are still behind the march of improvement and try to cultivate too much land. Were they to limit themselves to half the usual quantity, they would very nearly double the yield with half the labor, and improve instead of exhaust their lands.” 

“a country where fruits and flowers grow spontaneously, where the people are honest, intelligent and generous, where contagious epidemics and malarias never come, and where all who choose may always have enough to eat and to wear.” 

Have a good week.

Will