Snow and a Day in the Freezer

'Twas a good day today.  The weather is cold.  Only 6° when I got up this morning.  Very gray with a bit of snow forecast.  (I thought it was too cold to snow.)  And lo and behold, it did start snowing with rather heavy, small flakes that managed to amount to about three inches on the ground as of 7 p.m. tonight.

 

Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Outside and, of course, inside.  I can't remember a year when I've appreciated our inside decorations this much.

 

I do love to eat our evening meal by candlelight and this certainly is the time of year to do so.  It's almost dark by 4:30 p.m. now, and certainly pitch black by 5.  How different it is from a day in mid-summer.  Truly like living in a different world.

 

Today I tackled a job I've been putting off for a couple of months.  When I defrosted our main freezer at the end of the garden's harvest, for some reason I just couldn't fit all the bounty in there in a sensible, convenient order.

 

After weeks of not being able to find things, I finally did a massive rearranging and organization that I'm now very happy with.  And as so often happens, when finished with the task, I found more room in that big white box than I thought there would be.  Plus, while going through the contents I got all kinds of meal ideas and wondered why I haven't been using as much of the bounty as I could/should.  I guess we'll just have to start eating more.

 

One thing I pulled out and defrosted was some good navy bean soup with ham which made a great dinner tonight with garlic cheese bread and coleslaw that I made with red cabbage, grated carrots and some chopped raw cauliflower.  Vanilla pudding with whipped cream for dessert finished off a satisfying winter evening's meal. 

 

More snow to come tomorrow, they say, and I think I'm going to declare Wednesday a low-key, take it easy day with some time devoted to handwork.  After finishing whatever shoveling and snow plowing might be necessary, that is.

 

This is my latest x-stitch piece I finished and framed last weekend.  I'm going to hang it on the outside of my quilt room door.  (Chortle-chortle.) 

 

Here's a peek into a corner of my quilt room.  In order to fit the Christmas tree in our small living room, we have to remove this chair and floor lamp to temporary storage elsewhere . . . which is in my quilt room.  The Christmas wrapping paper has been pulled out of storage and I'll start wrapping presents soon.  I don't like wrapping presents so it's best I do it as the ordered presents come in.  I'm behind already. 

 

The canning jars to the right have been there (got tired of moving them around in the kitchen) since this summer because I still haven't made the batches of haskap, strawberry and blueberry jam yet.  The frozen berries are waiting patiently in the freezer.  Soon.  I'll get to that soon. 

December Is Coming On Fast

Thanksgiving Day has come and gone.  The leftover meat from the turkey is boned and frozen to use in a myriad of yummy dishes in the next month or so.

 

The turkey carcass, skin, bones and l-o-n-g neck have been simmered with vegetables for the past three days, strained and turned into rich broth for the freezer.

 

My weekend just past was spent packing away all the fall decorations and bringing out the ones that will provide color and cheer for the next month.

 

What with the shortened hours of daylight, and many hours of darkness, it's the perfect time to make sure the inside of our homes are filled with extra light and glitter.

 

Even though we have a couple more days in the month of November, December will be here and then exit in the blink of an eye.

 

Why do I always think the summer months are the busy ones when November, December and January each seem to me to be about ten days long?

 

No complaining here, though, as I'm more than grateful and appreciative of a full life and all the blessings it contains.

 

I'm ready to welcome December with open arms! 

A Thanksgiving Wish for You

Sending Thanksgiving wishes 

from our house to yours.

 

I'm hoping your home will be filled with family and friends, laughter and happy companionship or that you have a calm, laid back, relaxing day (which is not bad!).

 

Ours day will be quiet (and easy!) this year along with gratitude and appreciation for all our bountiful blessings.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Mother Nature's Blanket

You've heard the expression "a blanket of snow?"

 

This is our small orchard of dwarf fruit trees

that we've constructed

a net fencing arrangement around

and over the top to keep the birds

from getting at the fruit as it starts to ripen.

 

Our recent heavy snow has built up 

on the netting that forms

the "roof."

 

Looks to me quite like a heavy, white

winter blanket carefully placed

over the enclosure.

 

Mother Nature's blanket. 

I Think We Can Officially Call It Winter

We've gotten a little over a foot of snow since yesterday, and it's still coming down.  Can't remember a year in the last few that we've gotten more than a smattering of snow before Christmas.

 

Papa Pea is happy because as soon as there's enough snow (and there is now!) he banks it up all around the perimeter of the house.  He's sure it keeps the house warmer.   And saves on firewood.

 

My raised beds are quickly going under.  Sure am glad I got the two strawberry patches covered with mulch last week.

 

The log peanut butter feeder for the birds went up just prior to the snow.  Last night I almost got a picture of one of our resident flying squirrels packing his belly full but shy little creatures they are, as I got close enough for the photo he scampered away.

 

We hang the feeder where we can both see it when sitting at our kitchen table.  Lots of chickadees, nuthatches and one downy woodpecker have discovered it.

 

I still need to get a suet ball to hang on the big birch tree right next to the deck.  The made-up balls were getting fairly pricey at the grocery store in town last year so I'm trying to think of what I have to make my own this year.

 

Yep, I do believe it's time to say, "Hello, Winter!"  

Ready for Winter? Sure Hope So.

 To date we've not had much of any winter weather other than one, or was it two?, mornings of a light snow covering on exposed planting areas.  The green grass (which is still in evidence) hasn't even had a coating.  But today is foggy, damp and supposedly, in short order, turning into a few days of rain/snow mix so it should be interesting to see what that actually brings.

 

We're in fairly good shape for the coming winter months which really feels very good to say.

 

The chicken house and the chicken's solarium have been cleaned which will make the chickens (and humans) happy. 

 

The poultry flock will have ample room in the solarium which is attached to the chicken house proper.  It's remarkable how much the temperature heats up in there on even the coldest winter days.

 

You can see on the right where a ramp and door connects to the inside of the chicken house and then there's the door opening to their outside pasture straight ahead in the photo.  For most of the winter, we won't open the little door that gives them access to the outside as they've never been fond of traipsing around in more than an inch of snow.

 

The rack on the north side of the chicken house was built specifically as a place to store some of our bales of straw and hay for quick and easy access in the winter time.  An extra wide overhang was put on the roof in that area to protect the bales.

 

Thinking the strawberry beds might get covered with freezing rain and/or snow by the weekend,  I decided to spread their blanket of winter mulch over them yesterday.  The above is a photo of the new plot planted this past spring.  The straw is held down with cattle panels just in case we get a big wind before a snow cover.  I also spread mulch on the three rows of old strawberries on the west side of the field garden.  Papa Pea talked me into keeping them going for one more year until the new ones were well established.  I've got to admit that the old strawberry plants look as good this fall as they ever have.  I'm crossing my fingers that the berries we get from them next season will be worth the time and effort of caring for them which is no small task.

 

We continue to get pictures of our resident timber wolf population that seems to like traversing through the open area in the back by our wood working area.  They will most likely be around all winter.  Our black bears are still showing up on the camera, also, but we haven't had a good picture of them lately to share.  Unlike the wolves, they really should be heading into winter hibernation especially if we get the predicted cold weather and snow soon.  Time for them to get ready for winter, too.