Hey y'all!! Bracing for our first real snow of the year! And it could be a REALLY big one! 12" on the low side, 24"+ on the high side. We got a dusting yesterday, which made the roads slick and resulted in school closing today. Big snow starts tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday, so no doubt school will be closed tomorrow. I have all the groceries we will need to be house bound for a while. I also have the fixin's for a new cinnamon roll recipe that I want to try for the boys. Pretty excited about that.
The grocery store was pretty busy yesterday, but they still had almost everything in stock. That is, except for snowman noses. I either had to get tiny snowman noses or pay extra for organic. Organic it was, then. You can't build a proper snowman without a carrot for his nose.
New coop is not quite done yet, but close. If we get a warmer dry spell, it could be done pretty quickly. I hope it is done by spring, because I just placed my order for new chicks!!! Yup, I did it again… mailed in my order to Sandhill Preservation. 10 welsummers, 10 mottled javas, and 5 delawares. All straight run, so fingers crossed for lots of girls!!! This is my move to get some true heritage chickens here. Both the welsummers and javas are good foragers, so they should be super happy here on the homestead.
The flock here is doing well, all 18 of them. Two of the three pullets are laying, Esmerelda is a free loader and doesn't look anywhere close to laying! I am up to about a half dozen a day, if I make it out there before they freeze and crack.
I'm taking a bee keeping class and wow, I am just mind blown. So much INTERESTING information! I hope to start keeping bees next summer for honey and pollination, as well as do my part to help save the bees. We just have too much planned for this summer. Besides getting new chicks in the spring, we will be putting in our big garden. I have a long list of stuff to grow for fresh eating and canning. Big year for us! We also need to put up fencing and get my horse, Valentine, here. He's getting old, turning 25 this year. We will also tear down our small barn and rebuild a bigger barn in it's place. We thought about adding on, but that would be more work than taking it down and putting up new. We will reuse almost all the material. I am excited to have more weathered barn wood to use for my rustic signs!!
Anyhow, things are good here. Bundled up and cozy by the fire.
