Winter Homesteading

So, January already!
January is one of my favorite 12 months. Because it's easy. And pretty outside, and COLD!!
So what do you do on the homestead when it's COLD??
You cut wood. Yesterday was a blistering 12 degrees, but there was no wind and the sun was divine. (In the winter, up here, the sun is a precious commodity, so when it makes it's appearance, you want to go out and worship it, such that is possible in parka, flannel lined jeans, mittens, hats and heavy boots...)
And you might have asked before I got diverted with my sun worshipping, why wasn't the wood already cut?
Well, I'll tell you!
Winter is an easy time on the homestead. Spring planting, Summer maintenance, and Autumn Harvest, but Winter is easy. Pretty much all you have to do is survive the COLD! (And we've come up with some pretty creative ways to do that).
Back to the wood pile. Winter is easy because there's not as much to be done, so that's when we cut wood. Plus the fact that you get really warm cutting and stacking wood, so it's best done when the temps are cold. Some might argue, that's ok, that's just the way we do it.
So yesterday we took the opportunity to cut and stack 4 loads of wood. And restack the current woodpile. See, depending on time of day, whether you'll be home or not and how cold it is determines what type of wood you feed the stove. And seeing as how it the woodpile had become a total mess on the deck I took an hour or so to restack it. Slabs in one place and roundwood in another.
Today will be more of the same, get the deck stacked all back up and that chore will be done for another couple of weeks.

Chickens continue to lay between 8 and 9 eggs a day. This is likely because I took the time to run an extension cord out to the chicken house and hook up The Light (to simulate longer days). The Light doesn't work, but I guess just the threat of The Light is enough to keep them going. Currently I have close to 26 dozen eggs in my fridge. I just know that once they (the chickens) start to molt, the egg production will cease.

Still working on a shrug pattern from some orange/gold yarn that was given to me. I'm liking it more and more. It's quite coarse but the lace pattern is really easy to memorize and very pretty. I'm past the lace pattern now, now I'm doing 9 miles of stockinette stitch. No matter, when hubby wants to go somewhere, we jump in the truck and I get another couple of yards done!

Also, just started a shop sample also for kayewood.com called Wolf Song . The designer is an engineer and the pattern reflects her ability to over explain every step (in this case that's a good thing!)
In my version it's an elk, done in shades of winter blues and flannel. The pattern only sizes up to a Twin size, so I'll have to get creative and add some more borders for my queen size bed.

Today, after stacking more wood, maybe I'll work on my quilt, maybe I'll clean the house (probably not gonna happen) and maybe I'll upload some more items to ebay.

Life is Good!