Icemageddon

Our "Farmhouse" after the snow 2014

As if our winter storm 2 weeks ago wasn't enough, old man winter just isn't quite finished with us yet and that darned groundhog seems right so far.  If you read my last post you know that Spring is just around the corner though!

I feel like I'm "prepping" for a doomsday.  There is a "significant winter event" bearing down on the farm and I've read where it'll be "one to remember".  This thing is supposed to bring a lot of ice and the last ice storm I "remember" was around 1979. 

Close to how I "remember" the ice storm in '79

 Our house at
the time was surrounded by large pine trees which were bent over touching the ground and covered solid it seemed in ice.  I remember how the landscape just from that looked like you'd imagine a war zone.  We were without power for quite a while I remember as well. 

If this remembering thing holds true I got a feeling we aren't going to want to remember this.

I can deal with the snow, snow is fun.  Everyone enjoys the pure beauty snow brings to the land. 

The girls enjoying some "boogie board" time in the snow!

Ice. 

Ice on the other hand is quite a different story and a beast all its own.  Ice makes everything dangerous and the likelihood of electrical outages is significantly increased.  If you haven't already you need to prepare to be without electricity for a couple of days, hopefully no longer.

Our biggest concern with any prolonged winter power outage is water and heat.  Being on a well means no electricity equals no pump.  No pump equals no water.   Then there is the heat issue.  Thankfully we do have gas fireplace logs which should do a fairly good job of heating well isolated  portion of the house.  We also have a portable kerosene heater as well if needed.

We did get a generator today.  One that should be big enough to run minor appliances, TV, computer and charge phones, etc.  It is just big enough I could probably even use it to power the well pump for use as needed.  We would have to turn off other things using the generator which wouldn't be a problem.  Hot shower (hot water heater is also propane) or the 823rd rerun of Sponge Bob?  Hardly any debate needed there.  I've just got to figure out how to make it happen.

Hopefully we'll have enough food for the duration and can "cook" as needed on the grill.  Of course we have to get the obligatory bread and milk as well.  

Then there are the minor essentials.  Batteries, radio, candles, blankets, flashlights and oil lamps.  Make sure the vehicles we may need are filled up.  Top off the gas, kerosene and diesel containers.  Charge the cell phones and rechargeable batteries tonight and tomorrow before the threat arrives.  Finally I need to rearrange some of the vehicles out from under the trees just in case.

What plans do you have?  Are you prepared?

Phil Smil

The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that "for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing".

Last Sunday Punxsutawney Phil  supposedly doomed us to 6 more week of winter.  You can see the CNN news coverage of this major event right here!

Well I'm here to tell you that assuredly Spring is a coming and I have proof!

Daffodils are peeking through the ground.
















The garden has been turned over in early preparation for April.

Roses are budding (though next week they will be pruned judiciously).  Just remember "Valentine's Day" and you'll always know a great time to prune roses.

The Willow Tree has tiny buds forming for this years leaves.  The Willow always seems to be the first tree to leaf out in the spring.






Finally the best proof is the days are getting longer.  YES!
This photo was taken at 6pm and just a few weeks ago it would've been dark!





Spring is the time of renewal, rejuvenation and hope.  Just as sure as the daffodils, willows, roses and longer days; we will also rise through the cold dark winter of this worldly life.  What a Spring that can be for all of us if only you believe in Him.

Welcome to Our Small Farm

I've tossed the idea of creating a website for the "Bledsoe Farm" for a while.  I've just not been really excited to pull the trigger on the cost involved for something that I may get bored with in 2 months or 2 years.  I know "blogging" has been around for a while but had never experimented with it.  I started recently with another cause that I'm involved in and discovered how relatively easy it is.  So I figured why not start with a free blog and go from there!  Easy enough right?

My grandmothers green thumb

Misc. Old Farm Photos

Cotton Note

Grandparents tending to various crops

 I grew up in a really rural area of South Carolina in a family that had farmed most all of their lives.  I remember watching my grandfather planting a garden every year all the way into his late 70's to early 80's using nothing more than a front tine tiller, push plow and hoe.  I can still see him in his overall's covering a long sleeved flannel shirt, in the middle of summer, side-dressing the corn, beans, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and all of the other vegetables he took care of.  The funny thing is I can not particularly remember eating much of the harvests but I learned much by watching him practically give away most of it to folks who really needed it.  People would always offer money and he would politely decline, yet their persistence would result in his taking a couple of dollars for his baskets of goods and being on his way.  He had long given up raising livestock by this time however the old barns and hog "parlor" remain to this day on that land.  Even though my grandmother passed away when I was young, I do know she had her own "green thumb" for flower gardening as well.  During this time my grandparents raised cattle, swine, chickens, goats and also grew cotton for a period.

Livestock of the old farm

I guess you can say "farming" is in my blood.  After high school I moved away from this community but to this day still think it is some of the most beautiful land you will ever see.  I moved to a suburban area to begin a career and start my family.  There has never been a doubt that I'd end up back in the country and letting that part of me go wild.  My wife never believed she would live in the country and even resisted for a while but I can tell you with no hesitation she would never move back to a "sub-division".

Some Bledsoe Farm harvest

We are a family on 6 small acres in rural Lexington County, SC with a desire to do some small scale farming with a garden, fruit trees, chickens, old school farm dogs known officially as English Shepherds and room to grow.  Many ideas abound, projects are underway and all of it is often interrupted for those atypical "maintenance" issues that always arise such as the recent well pump crisis and typical chores like cutting the grass or raking leaves.

Fence work, chickens, Lady and Ripley

I foresee the day we have some livestock to include horses, a cow or two and swine.


Welcome to our "blog" and we look forward to having you along for our growth.