Follow the Yellow Poop Road

Follow the yellow poop road, follow the yellow poop road. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow poop road."

Yes, that is my yellow poop road and yes, I put it there on purpose.

We reached well into the upper 50s over the weekend, which resulted in a fair bit of melting but when the temperatures dove right back down in the low single digits (and double digits below zero) last night, I knew we would end up with an even bigger lake of ice in the middle of the yard. Nothing really drains here during a mid-winter melt, so we end up with puddles that freeze solid and this winter, we have the biggest and slickest puddles I have ever encountered.

So yesterday I prepared for the re-freeze by spreading dirty, manure-sodden bedding in the most-used paths around the farm. The dampness of the soiled bedding means it holds to the ground as soon as it hits. By this morning, it had perfectly frozen in place, offering great traction on the sheer ice and unlike spreading salt, it is friendly the grass underneath and to the dog paws and hooves that must also cross it. When it thaws again, it will just naturally compost into the soil, leaving no trace behind except some extra fertility!

Everyone wins--the animals and I avoid broken legs, the dogs avoid burned paws from salt and the earthworms and grass have some extra nutrients come spring.