• Home
  • Furrow Archives (2009-2010)
  • Farmbedded Archives (2008)
  • Photos
THE FURROW: The online newsletter of Howell Living History Farm

The Ice House Waits

1/5/2012

0 Comments

 
Happy New Year!

Howell Farm reopens to the public on January 28 for the ice harvest.

Will there be enough ice on the pond to have the harvest this year? It's still too early to tell, but conditions so far have not been favorable. The forecast for the week ahead calls for highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s. That's not cold enough for ice, and four inches of solid ice on the pond are required for a safe harvest. It usually takes about two weeks of freezing temperatures for 4 inches of ice to form on our pond.

However:

Farmer Jim, a highly-respected weather predictor, has a hunch that the temperature will turn just cold enough starting in mid-January to allow for a minimal 4-inch Howell Farm ice harvest on January 28.

Here's some more information about ice harvesting, gleaned from a blog post I wrote in 2008 as a Howell Farm intern:
  • Ice must be tended like a winter crop. When it snows, the ice needs to be cleared off, or else the snow cover can act as an insulator and prevent the ice from getting any thicker. In other cases, the snow can get trapped under a layer of ice that freezes on top of it, creating ice blocks prone to breaking apart at the weak layer of snow.

  • The ice house at Howell holds about 25 tons. Ice stored properly there -- with sawdusk insulation -- can last three years. (A block of ice will melt about 30 percent each year.)

  • A hundred years ago, if there were a warm winter with no ice on the pond, the farmers would have had to buy northern ice shipped down from Maine.

  • Back in the day, if you wanted a cold drink, you wouldn't drop ice into your glass, you'd put your glass or bottle into the ice bowl. That's because there could be some nasty things in the ice itself (dirt, mud, animal waste, etc.).
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About

    The Furrow is the online newsletter of The Friends of Howell Living History Farm. We will be updating this site about once a week with crop reports and other insights into life on a horse-drawn living history farm.

    Howell Farm is owned by Mercer County and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission.

    Funding for the Howell Living History Farm Furrow is made possible in part by an operating grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. 

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.