Checklist

On this rainy day, Kris is embracing the part of the job where you do ... all types of different work.

He went to a distant town to get supplies to turn his golf cart into a calf cart. He was on the phone trying to get more quotes about the calf panels (the panels in between the calves) so he can order them. He talked to the builder, the excavation company, and the well drillers about the frost laws coming off – possibly Monday. He worked in the office paying bills, switching his email address from his decade-old Hotmail address that has inexplicably stopped consistently working. (Mine too! Anyone else?)

And of course, just the regular twice-a-day feeding. In his free time, he's working on adding on to our swingset.

We're really excited about getting started on the barn! It's more interesting than office work, of course. It's even more exciting than the swingset addition. That's if you ask me, though - not our kids.

Law of the frost

I didn’t know about frost laws until . . . well, last month. It’s one of those things I just never thought about before, though obviously many have, since there are laws about it!

The State of Michigan police put it this way: “The term 'frost law' refers to the amount of frost remaining in the ground. The warming and cooling of the ground during the up and down weather of spring causes the pavement to heave and buckle, creating potholes and broken pavement.” March, April, and May are always reduced load months, but the road commission declares when the frost laws are off, and people can start hauling regular big loads again.

So this is a time of waiting here at the farm. It’s super messy, because it doesn’t get cold enough at night. The fields start to thaw, but the frost isn’t out of the ground, so you can’t haul manure or you’ll wreck your fields. Our dirt driveway is a mess, giving you an idea of what a tractor would do to a field. We can’t start the calf barn until the frost laws come off, because they can’t haul the equipment here because it’s too heavy. We can’t dig a well until then either.

You can check with the road commission for when the frost laws come off, but Kris said it happens by word of mouth pretty quickly. People on the road commission often call trucking companies and grain elevators to let them know regular business can commence.

It’ll be a day of celebration here! There’s no sound like a gravel truck barreling down our road at 70 mph to let you know . . . the laws have changed. And get out of the way.