Winter On The Homestead

Winter is my least favorite time of year. I do not care for snow but the cold weather is the real kicker. This has not been a good winter here either. Carbon monoxide filled the house from the woodburners. That ended up with me taking a trip to the hospital.

We are out of wood already. The wood we received was green and wet so I have a huge mess in the office to clean up where the creosote leaked on the pipes. Needless to say the woodburner is down.

The plants in my greenhouse, many of which I had babied for years, froze without any heat. That makes me real unhappy. All my tropical plants, gone. I doubt I will replace them with shipping costs being so much. I don’t even want to walk back there. I just feel like crying when I do.

We lost a few chickens this year. It seems some did not go into the chicken house and froze. Every year we seem to lose a few that get out and don’t make it back, but for the most part all the poultry are doing well.

The sheep, goats, rabbits and Beauty the horse are doing just fine. It is warm in the barn, but I am sure, like the rest of us, they can’t wait to get out and run. Our pasture is very soft and muddy so keeping them up right now is the only way to make sure they do not get hurt. Beauty likes to run full force and she has fallen several times in the past due to the pasture being like it is.

I have a few seedlings started in the house, but not many. I am just so heartbroken over the greenhouse plants it is hard to think about growing anything right now. I am sure, in time, this will pass.

I did make some artisan yarn last night. I used a maroon chenille that I bought at a second hand store, a pretty brown wool I spun and some cashmere/silk that I spun. The three different yarns were spun together to make one and I am quite pleased with the outcome.