Crow’s Nest: Winter mowing of meadows

We’re about 90% finished our annual mowing of meadows at Crow’s Nest. A couple small ones remain to be mowed, and a couple are set aside to have prescribed fire this year. It took some weekend and holiday mornings, starting before first light, to get this done—but the benefit is seeing the distant hills light up as the rising sun hits them. The meadows need to be mowed when the ground is frozen, so typically days 25 degrees or less, preferably below 20 degrees F. And once the sun hits the fields the ground begins to soften and the tractor would make ruts. We never know how many more cold mornings we’ll get this winter so we try to make use of every one we can. Riding around on the tractor in the cold is, well, cold. You’re not moving around much except to shift and steer, so it’s a bit like sitting in a lawn chair reading a book in the middle of winter.

Posted by Daniel Barringer on February 24, 2013.