Cold, Cold, Cold

I waited for things to warm up this morning before I went out to milk. It was twenty one degrees below zero Fahrenheit when I did milk.

Milk pails have a have a habit of reminding me of the temperature while I am out there.
At about ten degrees, stainless steel on bare hands gets cold quick.
At about five degrees, there's a momentary adhesion as any surface moisture flash freezes to the pail's handle.
At negative twenty, there's a little epidermis left behind stuck to the handle when the hand is pulled off.

This morning, there was hoar frost in the hair of the goats when they came into the milking parlor. The milk parlor is just an unheated shed off the back of the barn, so it is not like it is warm, though.

The upside of cold weather like this, it's real dry. I can walk around outside in wool socks and my crocks as long as I stick to the packed paths. I think the crocks are just as warm as my rubber boots in this situation. In March, it will warm up and be much too wet and cold for crocks.

It's coming, but it's not here yet

The other day I was brimming with optimism and hope. I haven't lost entirely, but let's just say my cup is no longer running over.



















We went through a spate of warm weather, temps as high as 32. The snow was melting, the walks were clear. Some days we didn't even bother to light a fire in the kitchen. This week, weather came back with a vengence. We got a a pretty good storm that dropped heavy thick snow. Folks were stuck in the driveway, I delayed travel. This morning it was negative 17 outside the kitchen window.



















There was a lot of shoveling to be done. Here's a shot of the aftermath of roof slough comeing down on a freshly shoveled path out the back door. More shoveling to be down. Luckily, I had already shoveled last nights slough. Otherwise there would have been easily three times as much snow to clear.


That's where it falls from, hence all the snow dust in the air...

Negative numbers

Lately, it's been chilly around here. Zero is the day warming up. It was negative nine when we got up and it was negative twenty the other morning.

To combat these temperatures, we use a pretty tried and true approach, a wood stove in living area to give a point source for heat. A large high temperature object in the room warms the air and more importantly gives off radiant heat. With that radiant heat, the air temperature in the room can be a lot lower and still comfortable.


But the woodstove isn't just about comfort heat. That's bread rising on the upper shelf, a molasses wheat. I really enjoy fresh bread and everything that goes with it. We can get the oven on the woostove up to about 450 F. It's a little tricky keeping a steady temperature and given the hot fire box on one side means it is important rotate the bread in the oven.

With a little monitoring, though, they come out even. This batch did.