What we do all winter? It's a question we get quite often this time of year. Winter is still a very busy time for us. Here is a list of some of the jobs we've been working on:
1. The first job on our list was for Larry and Caleb to make sure we have enough firewood for next year. We are fortunate that other local farmers allow us to cut up some of the apple trees they have pushed out to make room for new plantings. We love to burn apple wood!
2. Larry has also been cutting back some fence rows so the trees are not shading our fields.
3. Normally we get one good cold week a winter, but the rest of the winter isn't as bad. Not this year! With temperatures in the single digits or even -4 on the coldest morning, for most of January, we had to work to keep fresh water to our chickens. Larry would go to the hen house at 5:00 am to gather any eggs so they wouldn't freeze, then Caleb would check them again at 7:00 am before heading to catch the bus for school.
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| Of the 25 eggs gathered this particular morning, 13 were frozen and cracked open. This encouraged an earlier egg gathering time. |
3. About once a week, Larry and Caleb bring a gator load of wood to the porch. They had to time the deliveries to work around the many snow and ice storms we had.
4. Larry thought he would put the chains on our John Deere 60. This is the tractor that was my Uncle Mike's, and we bought it at his farm sale after he passed away a couple of years ago. More on that story another time, but at the sale we were also able to buy the set of tire chains for this tractor. It's amazing how much more traction it has in the snow!
5. Our biggest winter job is pruning the black raspberries. With the firewood job getting done mid-January, Larry decided it was time to start pruning. We both enjoy pruning.... you can really see how much you've accomplished when you look back over the row where you've already pruned.
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| black raspberry bushes ready for pruning. |
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| after pruning |
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| several rows to work through yet |
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| Larry tried something new this year ... using hedge shearers for the initial cuts. |
6. Shoveling, shoveling, shoveling! We were snow-covered most of January. Most of our snow storms only delivered a few inches at a time, but we still scraped it off the driveway so it wouldn't be icy.
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| The snow created some beautiful scenery. |
7. Getting absorbed in seed catalogs and placing orders for this year.
8. Winter is also a good time to do some maintenance on our equipment.
9. FUN! Even with all the jobs that need done in the winter, we still try to take some time for fun.
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| Larry & Caleb making ice cream |
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| Jennifer walking in the snow |
