The sun hasn’t woken up yet but the lightening sky is shrouded in fog, the tops of the trees veiled and draped in the weather change and a silver frost. We’ve been craving this. Our too-dry weather looks to be turning, with multiple systems slowly rolling into the area this weekend. Preparations will happen today and tomorrow, after what has been an unbelievably easy calving season due to warm temps and an excellent set of heifers.

This time last year, we were in a cycle of storms, digging out and breaking ice and doing chores multiple times in the day to keep water in front of thirsty animals. Easy tasks were complicated and encumbered by layer after layer of cold weather clothing, knee-high drifts, and an icy crust on the cleared ground. This year, it almost feels as if we have missed winter altogether, with only a handful of snowstorms and cold snaps, and to this date only a single calf loss due to the cold. But we went into March knowing that for the western part of South Dakota, a lot of our snow waits until March and April!

Seeds have been started and little seedlings are flourishing, the chickens are laying almost as well as they ever do, and the chicks are already in their awkward teenage phase and moved down to the barn. The heifers are almost done calving, the cows are well underway, and even Posey is starting to earn her keep with a bum calf on her for the time being. Spring is underway, but winter isn’t through yet.

There is such a mingling of the two this time of year. Crisp mornings turn into barefoot, bare-shouldered days, followed by stretches of winterish, blustery days, before flirting again with springlike weather. One day, it’ll make up its mind, but usually by that point it is almost summer. Yes, indeed, we are on the brink of springtime.