Fair & Foul Weather

An idea first introduced to me by Helen and Scott Nearing in their book Living the Good Life. The basic concept is that all work on a farm can be divided into two types, fair weather and foul weather work.

Fair weather work is that which can only be undertaken when the current weather will not ruin the materials being worked with. It is not an excuse to stay indoors because of a drizzle of rain.Given the climate of where I live, if I stayed indoors when it was raining I would have less than half a year to get my work done, and if you counted misty drizzle, I would have less than three months of outdoor workdays available to me. Cutting brush or repairing fences can be done in any weather this side of a hurricane or blizzard, but painting the outside of a barn needs reasonable temperatures and clear skies.

Foul weather tasks, on the other hand, are those that you save up for days when the weather really keeps you indoors. When it is raining sideways for the third day in a row and there is little chance I can make progress planting out pepper plants for instance, I can turn to my foul weather task list and do something like sand a tabletop in the workshop or write about farm life on this website…