This week has brought about a change on the farm - we have entered mud season. This fact would not be out of the ordinary, except that it is winter time in upstate New York and mud season is not supposed to happen until spring time. Due to some warmer-than-average temperatures and lots of rain, mud has come early to our farm. If you are a fellow farmer, those words will conjure up all sorts of images and feelings for you. Probably not very pleasant feelings and thoughts, but nonetheless, your brain will automatically supply you with some vivid pictures of what mud season means to you and your farm (perhaps those pictures contain stuck tractors, messy animals, you landing knee deep or even face first in a mud pile, ruts in the fields and pastures, etc). For me, right now, mud season means the sound of the ewes slopping through thick mud to get to their feeding bins, messy bottom coats on all the sheep, difficulty getting round bales to the girls since the field is so sloppy, squishy footsteps as I walk through the yard, soft ground in the chicken run, little divots left behind by sheep hooves all over the field, pastures and even the yard because, yes, the girls are coming through the electric fence looking for drier and greener grass. I won't say that I am enjoying this winter mud season (one mud season a year, in spring, is enough for me!) but I decided to try to take a different look at it. So now, winter mud season means my pond is fuller than normal at this time of the year (which is a good thing because the water level was low), the little divots left behind by hooves might just help aerate the yard and pasture for better growth later on, the girls continue to get good exercise by walking through the mud, we are not in danger of a drought, the typically long winter season is not feeling as long because we don't have endless snow, and I don't need to worry about the sheep getting too cold! When I try to look at mud season in a different light, it doesn't seem as bad. How about you? Are there some situations you could look at in a different light? What does mud season mean to you and what images pop into your head when you hear those words? Here's to finishing out this winter mud season, hoping for some actual winter and then preparing for spring mud!