Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[Callender Girl]

Just heard the weather guy say something amazing and terrifying: "We will see some improvement (in the wind chill) to minus 30" by Monday. Oh, boy!

 

[jvls1942]

those weather guys are not happy until they make us all miserable.
yesterday Annie wanted me to go with her to "warm up" the car. do I look like I am crazy ?? she didn't want to go alone, so the car stayed cold..
we are surrounded by trees and have a nice wind break all along the west side of our property. we get very little drifting..
I am researching box scrapers for my tractor. I was surprised to find out that I have plenty of horse power for a five foot scraper. now I have to scrape up $13oo.oo. no pun intended..
maybe I can rent one
I have all winter to search for one.

 

[lagrange chicks]

My leaf lettuce is growing nice in the basement with -10F outside and 16" of snow .

 

[jvls1942]

My leaf lettuce is growing nice in the basement with -10F outside and 16" of snow .

do you use grow lights ?
My daughter says LED lights work fine.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Barb you remind me of something i saw when I was a kid. We were headed up to Marshfield and it was a very cold year. We drove by a place and at that moment the people were trying to take a horse through the front door. Not sure if they were successful. I think it was the year we had -60 wind chills.

These temperatures and winds show us where out house is lacking. Our bedroom windows are iced over this morning. We aren't as cold as you are, but it's cold enough for me.

Jim we bought our box grader last year at fleet farm. Husband insisted we needed one.

 

[Callender Girl]

A horse?! Having a chicken in the house and formerly having a bottle-baby goat is all the more livestock I ever want to see indoors!! Dinah has now decided she can run outside, but still won't pee there. Hopefully, she changes her mind soon.

Apparently, my entire day will consist of heading outdoors to shovel and clear snow out of coops, replacing frozen waterers, coming inside to thaw out, and repeating the process. The wind ripped a plywood roof off a -- thankfully unused -- duck house and tore the flimsy metal roofing that would have kept one of the coops dry -- if there had been any rain during the summer.

The same openings that provided lovely ventilation during summer's heat allowed more snow inside than I have ever seen before. Once it warms up, I need to do some remodeling.

The geese and ducks happily left their houses and are catching some rays in the first sunshine we've had in days. It's now -10 with 12 mph winds, and sadly, that seems So Much Better.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thankfully my dogs will still go out, although reluctantly. They definitely are quicker at it. On occasion they will go on the deck.

I always wonder what the Amish do in these temperatures.

 

[Callender Girl]

When my Jim and I used to travel to eastern Iowa for Christmas, I always got a kick out of driving past all the Amish farms and seeing laundry hanging outdoors in the frigid weather. I recently watched a TV segment that suggested everyone do that -- it's supposed to freeze dry the clothes.

I am happy to hang laundry outdoors in the summer, but I prefer my dryer in the winter.

We got to know an Amish fellow who would come to visit us. Of course, Neil couldn't have a car or a license, but he had an "English" neighbor who would drive him. I found it interesting that Neil's wife published a "household helper" book. I bought a copy.

So far, three of my pullets have laid eggs today. These girls are serious workers!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Barb In my experiences it takes a few days for the shock of the colder temperatures to affect laying. See if your young hens keep laying or not.

Freeze dry clothes do not sound pleasant. Although the Amish have nice warm wood stoves to warm everything up.

 

[jvls1942]

I can remember helping my mom take frozen sheets and towels off of the clothesline. I was always afraid they would break if I bent them..
it was nice to sit inside and listen to the neighbor's tractor plowing our driveway
I think I can get used to that.
he has a bobcat with crawler tracks on it and a heated cab. He was here and gone in less than fifteen minutes. it takes me and Ollie about an hour..