Winter Is Coming

Thanksgiving is behind us and the wonderful Christmas season has begun. We have two plans for the winter: Plan A is what we do when it is below 32 degrees and Plan B is what we do when it is above 32 degrees. Keeping the animal water flowing is a challenge. Plan B is haul it in buckets and plan B is use the hose system for the goats and Daisy. So these are big questions in the morning and in the evening: Is it going to freeze tonight? We really like Plan B best - easier, quicker and more pleasant.

Yesterday I saw a young bald eagle fly by as I was sitting in my office. Still hear the pileated woodpecker in the mornings.

Two days ago, one chicken got loose and two goats got loose, unrelated events. Took a while to get everything back under control. Third goat got tangled in the electric fence (juice was not flowing at the time). Today I repaired the fence so that it will be harder to get tangled. Also got the juice flowing.

Chickens not laying eggs yet and we hope it is still due to the molting --- otherwise we'll have a big problem --- not feeding chickens that don't do eggs for long. It's been 6 weeks now.

Bought Christmas tree last Friday, erected it in the stand last night and will finish decorating it this Friday. This is pretty good for us.  

Garden is growing winter crops but slow to get to harvest. Amazing how they hunker down in the mornings when it is so cold and then rebound as it warms up. God really knew what he was doing, didn't he? We get mint, cilantro, and some other herbs from the yard as we need them for dinner. Susan still is creative in using what we have for the meals. We eat fresh stuff most of the time.

The field is cut for the winter and on heavy frost mornings it looks like a nice dusting of snow.

Beautiful moon these past few nights with Venus and Jupiter hanging close by.

So a little slow these days on the farm, but that's the way it is ... and should be.

Come see us.

Dwight