Ouch!

Found this in the barn last night. Hopefully the little hen is feeling fully recovered. All looked well this morning.

There is no way it will fit into an egg carton, so it looks like the boys will be enjoying it!

Winter Storm

I awoke in the middle of the night to a beam of light moving back and forth in my room. What on earth? Then I hear Anthony whisper, "Mom guess what? The power's out." 

"Okay Honey, go back to bed"

"Oh,okay"

Very cute.

So of course that woke me up. 

I look out the window to find a ton of snow has fallen and the wind is whipping through the trees. Immediately I'm worried about the greenhouse. NS Power says the outage is expected to be fixed by 9:30am which is good, except it's only 4am now. Assessing my options I realize there's not much I can do. Hopefully the inflation in the greenhouse walls stays secure. Going outside leaving the kids alone in the house is not an option. Plus, I have no idea what I could do. So, the next couple hours were spent trying to sleep but were actually spent, thinking up back up plans for if the greenhouse plastic was destroyed. Stay positive girl, everything will be fine!

When the sun finally came up the wind died down. I got a fire going in the wood stove and thankfully the power came back on. I made my way up to the barn to first quickly check on the chickens who looked out at the snow and weren't impressed.

Crossing the yard I see the greenhouse looked decent, it's normal shape but snow covered. I shoveled my way into the front door and had a peek inside. Completely dark. Having a look at the outside I see I can't even brush it off as the snow melted and stuck to the plastic as ice crystals. Now I don't know what to do. I don't want to risk ripping the plastic. Finally I decide to check it later, hoping the sun will help. Wish I had someone here to bounce ideas back and forth with.

Time to cook the boys a special breakfast of waffles and fruit, then it's time for us to shovel. Thank goodness I don't have to plow the driveway, with this much snow it's well worth the money to pay my friend Mark. The boys are wonderful helpers. I need to upsize their shovels as "Mommy, these kid ones are too small. We need big ones!"

This afternoon I am happy and relieved to say the greenhouse is back to normal. The sun melted off almost all of the snow and it is full of light once again. 

Sitting here writing, looking out at the winter windswept day, I'm listening to my boys laughing. Life is good.

Snowshoeing with the Boys

This past week the kids and I finally broke out our snowshoes. I'm shocked at how much their feet have grown since last year. They will most likely be wearing adult sizes next year.

The first day we were all completely excited. It was like releasing a spring. As soon as I had their snowshoes on, the boys were off! Snow flying up behind them, giggling like crazy, screaming with laughter. I love it!
I caught up to the two rascals at the barn and we set off for the fields. About a quarter of the way around the garden they were exhausted. Too cute. So it became snow angel time and then back down to the house for board games.

The next day we all had more energy. We were able to explore all of the field finding many different prints in the snow and even some bunny holes.
Each of us are looking forward to a fresh snowfall but are hoping the last of the ice will be gone beforehand. Tons of fun.

Winter Morning

With the boys back in school my winter morning routine has begun. Chickens get first priority with warm water, more feed and a dressing of sawdust in their coops. Yesterday was quite cold so I wasn't surprised to only find two eggs. The little cuties are still figuring out what all the white stuff is.

Next it's time to build a fire in the wood stove. The German wood stove we have is one where you build two huge fires each day, in the morning and at night. It's a great idea but with so much insulating still remaining to be done, a regular wood stove would probably work better. It's located in the dining room under the boys room, so I'm happy that they are warm with the "in floor heating". Slippers, cosy sweaters and warm beverages are the ticket here.

As for renovations, I have about 2 more months to finish as much as possible before gardening starts. The month before Christmas was a whirlwind of gyprock dust and cheers as we finally got upper kitchen cabinets installed and now have some rooms up to prime. Awesome!
Now that the Christmas decorations are down I can get back at it. I'm hoping to have the upstairs bathroom ready to install the tub in a few weeks. Plus, I would love to have the living room primed. It will be so nice to come in from the fields this year and relax in a finished room. I say relax but we all know its really collapse on the couch after the boys are in bed.

Running this farm on my own is a handful and I am extremely thankful for all the support I receive. Each year we continue to grow and improve. This year is going to be even better.