This week's nor’easter delivered plenty of snow — and one delightful surprise for a Peterborough farm.
Elsbeth Pendleton-Wheeler and her partner Jasen Woodworth, owners of Nubi River Farm in Peterborough, ordered 200 baby chicks from Minnesota in the fall.
They intend to raise them for eggs alongside the organic vegetables they grow, something new they hoped to offer this year.
When they put their order in during the fall, they expected the worst of the winter weather to be done by the time the chicks arrived in March. But the delivery date happened to be the same day as Tuesday’s nor'easter that blanketed much of New Hampshire with snow.
“We were really worried about when the chicks would arrive if we’d have power,” Pendleton-Wheeler said.
The chicks were to be delivered by USPS on Tuesday as the storm rolled in. Pendleton-Wheeler said they weren’t sure if the postal company had to hold the chicks overnight or if they got stuck in the snow as they weren’t able to actually pick up the chicks until Thursday.
Meanwhile, the storm caused power outages in towns like Peterborough that got up to 3 feet of snow. Pendleton-Wheeler and Woodworth were among those who suffered outages.
But, while their house lost electricity, Pendleton-Wheeler says the farm luckily has back up solar power that they used to heat a lamp for the chicks. The clear skies were on her side.
“But if it's not sunny... that's why I posted on the Peterborough group,” Pendleton-Wheeler said.
Pendleton-Wheeler said she was able to get a backup generator from another member of the Peterborough Facebook group — and the 200 chicks survived their first nor'easter.
