Winter Arrives!

We have our first shot of winter '14-'15 on the Hoosier Country Homestead!  This first round is just a bit of snow, maybe an inch or so.  This is far less than our neighbors 40 miles to the west who catch a lot more of the Lake Michigan lake-effect snow: They got over a foot over the course of an evening and night. After the snow dropped in, the temperature dropped down and we spent the better part of a week in the low teens, which is rare for this early in the season here.  Today it warmed up enough to rain for an hour or so and melt most of what we had.

The chickens are still figuring out what do with winter.  On the coldest days (11-14F) they never left the coop but they do enjoy getting out when it warms up a bit.  We've chosen not to push the egg production by adding lights to the coop on the theory that producing a few fewer eggs during week will help them stay a little healthier. We still get at least 8 eggs a day out of the 13 hens and usually more.

They do enjoy getting out and about.  They also really enjoy the chicken compost box.

My grand plans for a 30 gallon, heated chicken waterer came not to fruition, so we have fallen back on the local favorite for small flocks:  A heated dog bowl.  It actually works really well!  We take a gallon of water down every morning when we let the ladies out and everybody stays happy and hydrated.  I still have hopes for the fancy waterer, but likely not this winter.

The blue heated  dog bowl has worked out great.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty the garden is done, done, done!  There's nothing like an inch of snow the day before the temperatures are due to plummet to motivate you to get it all done.

Well... This is embarrassing...

So here I am, digging the last 15 pounds of potatoes out of the garden.  They were actually just fine.  The only issue was figuring out where to dig.  I ended up turning over a 4 foot wide swath of garden to locate the two wide rows.  Still all good!

I will try to be a little better about getting posts up more often.  Though I am working more hours, things have settled out a bit here on the homestead and I should be able spend more time after work on the computer. 

Take care all,  Col. 1:9-12,

Mark