Let me begin by saying you know you’re either completely nUtZ – or – absolutely in love with living a ‘farm-ish’ lifestyle… or perhaps a little of both…to weather thru winter mornings in the cold and darkness…to do chores! Even more so, when your hubby rolls out of a warm cozy bed, still in jammies, to slide into a pair of frozen coveralls in the wee hours of the morning to help feed the critters [before heading off to work]. He’s actually the muscle of the operation and takes care of all the frozen water buckets!
Actually, this morning was a bit warmer [around the upper teens] compared to yesterday morning which hovered around 7 degrees F. Whoa! Heat wave! Katie’s back to class/high school, and since I’m drying-off the last of my two milking goats, I can make her breakfast and help pack her lunch. She’s out the door at 7 a.m. Tonight [every Thursday] is ‘date-nite’!! WOOT WOOT! Katie and three girlfriends formed a study group…study/support group! Enough said… I love my girlz!!
I’m also enjoying the last few days ‘spoiling’ my son before he returns to college. Matt is 21, but, I don’t care. He’ll be on his own soon enough…where did the time go??? Katie and Matt went running at the high school last night. They’re both health conscious; Katie is pre-conditioning for soccer. Oh, how I wish I could bottle-up some of their energy. Now-a-days, it’s an effort for me to stay up much past 9 p.m. on the darkest of these winter nights! hahaha
Yesterday, I spent most of my day housekeeping, laundry, vacuuming, tidying-up after family get-togethers! Much to hubby’s dismay, I got a jump-start on taking down a few of the Christmas decorations. This is normally performed AFTER the Feast of the Three Kings/Epiphany. But, I worked on mostly peripheral decorations…, natural pine branches and garlands, pine cone bowl-fillers, etc. I had a forest of pine needles and berries tinkled everywhere as I gathered!
However, I also managed to knit/machine felt a few RED wooly bowls that I’ll embellish with sheepies [most likely] in preparation for St. Valentine’s Day! I’m such a sappy romantic…and let me just say, hubby is, well —- NOT. (Don’t worry, my secret is safe. Hubs rarely reads my blog.) I’ll try to hold-off decorating the house with little hearts and other heart-felt whimsies strewn everywhere…at least ’til mid-January!
I need to get organized, prioritize and focus. [Cleaning my shop last Fall felt really GOOD!] I want to keep on-track with exploring some new ideas [block printing, doodling with water colors, a few pottery/ceramic ideas – make use of my kiln, weaving(?) and play with handfelted wooly vests too!]. Can you tell I’m chomping at the bit… to get started??!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I got a phone call from a nice lady near Jackson, MI about a new/first time fiber festival in May that she wanted me to demo natural dyeing. Well, we’ll have new goat kids and lambing in May – so, I rarely leave the barnyard, not to mention I don’t have a lot of natural dye stuffs – since mega CLEANING the drying barn. Not to mention, what’s growing, ready-for-harvesting in MAY!!?? It takes mucho picking & gathering natural materials for the dye bath. And, there’s also a ‘DAIRY DAY’ planned at Wolcott Farm Learning Center, June 23, 2013. They want me to spend the day and make/demo at least three batches of cheese…hmmm…that project warrants further discussion????!
Just as soon as Matt and Katie BOTH return to school…and I have some time to MYSELF [is that even a possibility]…before the garden chores beckon me back!
…all in a day’s work!
Sheepy Hollow Farm 
I absolutely love winter and morning chores. So when you are outside on a cold morning doing chores, you can smile because I’m doing the same thing. My dairy goats and mamma sheep are really big. Multiple births this spring. I’ve been weaving alot, trying new weaves and de-junking. I’ve dried off my last milking doe so no more goat milk till March. You have a kiln? 🙂 We are definately Kindred spirits.
Hello Tari! Happy New Year! My two does were bred mid to late November and three of my ewes were put in the ram’s pen December 1st. So, no bellies yet! 😉 I’ll have to wait ’til Late April/May before any babies. I just dried off my last milking doe also… and missing my goat milk & cheese already! It feels good to de-junk! I like that, but I’m sure it’s not junk. I did lots of de-junking last November and still have more to do. Trying to focus on what I’d like to do/explore! I sure wish I could get my loom in working order too! I was given a Leclerc…and it needs parts. Yupper, I have a kiln. That’s another thingy I want to do more of…before the gardens and babies beckon!!!
Stay warm dear friend!
I sure can relate to morning chores on those dark cold mornings. I wonder the whole time why I do this… until it’s all done, then I look back at my little farm and I know why.
Absolutely! Raising a barnyard menagerie, whether for food or as companions, growing food to supplement the larder… is a lot of hard work. It is a lifestyle… and, for the most part, very rewarding! I had a whole new appreciation for dairymen once ‘we’ started raising dairy goats [and milking 2X per day]! 😀