The Winter Quarters

There comes a time in the year when I must accept that winter is coming and I have to start getting The Farmy prepared.  Not that I am giving up on summer quite yet you understand. 

But the cold winters here are deeply unforgiving of a casual attitude.  It was a beautiful late summer day yesterday. The harvesters are humming in the fields, new birds are appearing in the trees as they pass through.  The animals spent most of the day slumbering gently in the fields. Even Bobby Blanc came out for a wee stroll and seemed to be a little improved. Instead of dragging his hoof he was lifting it and limping on it. I think this is a good sign.  So after a tiny walk, back to bed rest he went. 

The tiniest bit of colour is creeping into the garden.. 

and finally they are fixing our road. As you will remember they have shut off the high way on both sides of our road,  so there have been and still are streams  of construction trucks racing up and down our little side road and it is ruined. The Cooking Oil car has to drive on the grass to get around some of the pot holes. 

So yesterday morning they ground the road up.  Which was fine, Eldest son and I had nowhere to go anyway! The Old Codger was alerted to my absence. I will see him today. 

We were doing firewood. John collects all the dunnage, or packing timber from his work and brings it home for firewood. We don’t cut down trees to heat our house in winter.   There are enough people doing that already. But we do heat our house with firewood in a very efficient wood stove. Not only does it heat our house but I cook on it all winter too.  So we  collect burnable wood and fallen trees anywhere we can find them.  And yesterday Logan got busy  with the chainsaw. 

While I stacked. Like the hay I prefer to stack the wood myself. I like the piles of wood to be stable (my grandfather was very particular about how he stacked his wood too) and also if I stack it myself I know where all the different weights of wood are. Some woods are for the night time when the fire is low and some are for starting the fire or heating it up fast for cooking,  so there has to be a logic to the wood shed. When it is very cold I have to work fast. Also we burn carefully so there is a minimum of smoke, often no smoke at all if I get it right, and for this you need the right wood, cut to the right size, properly dried and burned correctly.

In the afternoon yesterday the men working on the road, took all the tarmac they had lifted and ground up and relaid it onto the road as a base. Recyling at its best. Tomorrow we will get gravel I hope.

The Shush sisters were invited in to inspect their almost finished winter quarters. There is still a wee bit to do. Pigs will eat anything if they are hungry and bored and that does include their walls. Though they will only be locked in when it is very cold and blowing, I still don’t want them to get up to No Good and eat their house! 

So there is still a bit to do, that chipboard wall will be boxed out and lined in wire pig fence, etc. Most importantly though, they will have a draft free space in there. Somewhere to cuddle up on cold stormy days. See how Sheila always keeps her eye on me.  I love that pig.

Good morning.  Today we will finish the Winter Quarters, then finish cutting and stacking the dry firewood. Then start the green wood. This will be stacked outside to dry for next winter.

Eldest son goes back to Canada and the ski fields tomorrow. I think he will be going back to work for a rest!

Have a lovely day.

celi

On this day a year ago.  A Little Story.  This is a lovely little story from the house in the orchard. I hope you will like this one. It is definitely one of The Stories. In fact it is from the same period as  The Boy and The Fence though this one is a laugh! No crying today!! It is Friday!