Ice was clinging to the trees as I went out to milk yesterday morning.
Not a lot though and only a little snow. 
No-one minded. 
There was just enough ice in the trees to fill the air with the noise of … cracking and sliding and slipping as the ice melted slightly and released its grip on the trees to come crashing down on unsuspecting heads below, who should know better. All the little pieces of fallen ice have reassembled as a bobbly solid frozen floor on the ground making night time lamb feeds interesting.
The Daily View reflects the bleakness of the last few days, in fact this winter is officially the most dreary winter on record. We shall call it The Winter of Extreme Dreariness.
But that is only the weather. 
Sorry, snow plough, no work for you this year. You may blame the Winter of Extreme Dreariness.
Plenty of excellent work for us though. It is not dreary in the barn. It is alive and mobile and busy. Mama is busy too. Daisy is giving her usual 3 gallons of tasty healthy raw milk a day, shared between the calf, the pig, the two lambs and the house. I am still feeding the calf milk because we are getting so low on hay and this way I know for sure he is still getting his protein. The bigger animals are pushy and certainly getting their share and I hate to pen him up all by himself and Queenie and Hairy have no interest in stealing his milk.
Yesterday I made my second loaf of kefir bread. It is an excellent starter, the bread is easy to make, much more forgiving than sourdough. Once I am sure I have the recipe right I shall share it with you. I wish I could share the kefir grains too but most of you are so far away.
It is 27F (only -2) that is not too bad. Cloudy though. No sun again today. It’s Dreary darlings. But thats OK. We cleaned out the barn yesterday so today I can focus on writing.
I can hear Triple T (The Tall Teenager)and his friends murmuring in deep boys voices upstairs, soon they will go out running. (I told them they will need rugby boots to get some purchase on the ice). Then they will bring their young mens laughter back into the house and eat piles of toast and eggs before disappearing back into the loft to work on teenage things. Time I got out to do the chores.
Have a lovely day. I really mean that.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “The Winter Weather of Extreme Dreariness”
The daily photo of the farmy is so pretty, even if tje sky is a tad dreary.
Dreariness is the worst enemy. I have a feeling that February maybe one, or both, of Dreariness’ parents.
Ah, i can tell that you know exactly what i mean! c
dear C you make dreariness beautiful today and I have enjoyed this post. Also I have kefir from a friend and it took over and I got a bit scared of it, so would welcome your take on kefir management and am really looking forward to your bread post. We have had so little sun this winter that I long to flap my mon existent wings and go off somewhere just a little brighter, never mind. xx
You must have very active grains. maybe I should do a full post. but just quickly, I strain mine every morning and pop the grains into fresh milk. I make small amounts at a time. I only ever drink half a cup at a time once a day, the rest is made into bread, or used instead of buttermilk or yoghurt in baking. If it is getting away from you cool it down. Sometimes if I don’t want it too thick I put it in the fridge for half the day. I am making the bread today so hopefully we will have the recipe for tomorrow..! Have a lovely day out there, I am glad spring is coming for you.. c
I have parked them in the freezer, surrounded with milk powder, I am going to get them out of cryo and see if they survived:)