in the whirlwind

The wood is down at the house, split and piled, waiting to stack. At least it's now under cover.

The Rice Paddy has it's stock panel cover to keep it warm into the early fall for a little more growing and maturing. We probably won't eat any rice out of it this year, but we will harvest enough seed to start our One Hundred plants for next year. One hundred plants will fill the rice Paddy and that should give us some eating rice for next falls Harvest Festival dinner.

The mill across the way was doing whatever it is they do to produce the premier bedding shavings. Most of the time we get the rough chips from the de-barker, three inch and longer wood fragments. They are usable, but the shavings I got this weekend are a much more palatable option.

Our hay came in this weekend, also. We have a fair amount left from last year still. Good thing, as we can't get any alfalfa this year. And we weren't sure to get any grass hay either. It's been so wet, there's been no cutting going on until the last two weeks. The square bales are in the barn and we are trying out some dry unwrapped round bale this fall. The round bales are new to us and it took a couple of tries. The first two I got were plastic wrapped and too wet for goats. The hay ferments in the wrapped bale and there is too much risk of lysteriosis. The other thing about round bales is we don't have a barn to store them in. They are too big for me to get into the loft like we do the square bales. So we will station them in the back field and put an Arch over them to feed them through the fall. When real winter comes, we'll be bringing the goats closer to the house.

Today was chicken butchering day. We have been saying we wanted to get to it for at least two weeks now. Sometimes the que is that long.

It's been a busy end of summer, making up for lost time while trying get the usual stuff done.

Moderately Snowy Winter

That's a three foot stake I used for laying out a line last summer. That's the top 6 inches or so.

Remnants from buckets left in the goat house overnight. When it is negative twenty over night it is really important to take out fresh liquid water a couple times a day.

On a really snowy winter the snow is continuous from the roof to the ground. We aren't as deep as we were last year, and not as deep as some of the blogs I read. But we do have a good snow cover. I think it is good for the land.

We burned a lot of wood in January. We are a little further through it than I would like. But the weather has started to warm. We haven't bothered to light a fire the last two days. Strong sunlight has kept us warm. If we go down to burning a fire only 4 or 5 days a week, the wood will stretch a lot further.

I think we have enough dry oak and cherry in the back to make it through till warmer weather. Last weekend I did cut a dead birch I've had my eye on, though. It was falling into the path to the upper field, not far from the house and all downhill. I could toboggan it down to the house with a minimum of pulling.

It's a pain burning the birch because it isn't dry. It has to come in and thaw before it goes on the fire. And it needs to be a hot fire already. But if there is a good bed of coals, it seems like the birch gets the oven hotter than usual, not sure why. Maybe the higher moisture content helps transfer the energy to the oven walls? The oven thermometer pegs at 500+ when we are burning the birch.

It will be time to cut next years firewood soon. If it is cut and stacked in the spring and under cover for the summer it will be well dried for next winter. I'll do a lot less damage to the ground cutting while it is frozen. It's a lot easier to see what I am doing while the foliage is off the trees. Wearing my protective gear in the cool spring temps is a lot less irritating than summer heat. It can be annoying to have to go everywhere on snow shoes. But the snow cover also helps lift logs above the dirt and protect the saw. And now is when I have the time. There are other things that can only be done when the earth is thawed and the growing season has begun.