Both Sides of the Fork

The Iowa weather machine has struck again. Last week this time I was writing about how cold it was (it was -20 a few nights) – now it currently is resting at a balmy 45 degrees! Anomalous weather patterns are not uncommon for Iowa; a few examples include an inch of rain on Christmas and snow in May. Despite the climate, things are getting back to normal after a hectic holiday season. (Here is a picture from the summer to remind you how warm it will be in a few months.)  The Christmas decorations are all packed away for the year and my two brothers have returned to their academic duties. Basketball games, speech practices, and meetings have resumed their control of the schedule. I personally do not have to start classes until the 16 th , so I’m still doing my part on the farm as well as helping mom whenever she needs a hand with the wedding business. I must say it is quite it less difficult preparing to go back to Dordt for my final semester than any other one before it. La...

Happy New Year everybody! To celebrate, may I interest you in some incredibly cold weather? For those of you that haven’t been around the Midwest the past week, temperatures have hung around in the negatives for a majority of the time. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining – it did get to 18 degrees yesterday. So with an expected wind chill of -18 tonight, you’re probably wondering how we keep everything running smoothly on the farm with such cold temperatures. Well, similar to the steamy highs of the summer, it isn’t easy. Fortunately for us, all of our pigs live inside. This means they are not exposed to the cold for any prolonged period of time. In the buildings they are able to generate enough body heat to keep the entire herd warm through the winter months. One of our farrowing buildings has a sensor system that automatically adjusts vents to control air flow and temperature (it’s pretty cool). The difficultly of keeping things warm doesn’t lie in the buildings, howev...