Winter Snows

I awoke at 2:30 this morning to the deep hush that you only get when the Earth is blanketed in new fallen snow. It started yesterday and has been snowing lightly ever since. It's not a lot yet, maybe five inches or 13cm. It's hard to tell looking from my window. But it's enough that everything is well covered in a layer of white and it's reflecting the starlight and waning moon so that it appears much brighter outside than it has in months. I always find the darkest winter nights are those with no snow to reflect the light back. This means that it's officially the end of gardening season and the beginning of planning season, although we are still hopeful that if it warms up a little we might get some turnips out of the garden that are buried under the snow right now. The snow will actually insulate them from the cold drying winds that cause so much damage to plants. Having a layer of snow is actually good for your perennials. 

Planning for a CSA and market garden happens on an ongoing basis. Rotations, sunlight, pests, soil characteristics and fertility, all these facrors and more go into our decisions on which crops to grow and where the following year. We also have the considerations of the tunnels and greenhouse for starting early crops and seedlings too. It's becoming quite a complex thing to manage it all. So I'm writing it all up on paper initially but it will soon be transferred to a series of spreadsheets so that we can plan and monitor our progress and production. The week that it will take me to get it all sorted out will be worth it in efficiency in the growing season. It also means I can order seed ahead of time and that's important for crops that we grow a lot of and for our grafted tomatoes to ensure we get the rootstocks and varieties we want. Popular items sell out fast and I don't want to be left in April scrambling for seeds. 

Just because it's winter doesn't mean there's nothing going on here except paperwork. We are growing wheatgrass for a new customer. Lenna of In The Raw Sprouting Centre in Porters Lake has ordered a weekly supply of 10 pounds of fresh wheat grass for her business and we're happy to do that for her. As you know it's something we've done before and so as we speak the seeds (sometimes called wheat berries) are putting out little roots as they germinate. Once they've had another rinse in the morning they'll be ready to transfer to the soil trays for growth. Lenna is expecting the usual New Years rush of people who want to improve their health so we will be starting with a larger initial batch and then settling into a regular delivery schedule that will continue year round. Wheatgrass is pretty easy to grow indoors so we have space set up that's got the right temperature for the most part and we use clean food grade plastic trays and organic potting soil. Lots of other growers don't use soil, but wheatgrass is one plant that really does well in a soil medium. I'll take some pics of our methods once it's light outside. 

The rush of kids visits and dinners is over now and we're eating turkey leftovers. Yum! It's a good way to load the kids all up with root veggies we have stored for winter. Meghan is going to stay with her brother in the city for a few days which will be a nice break for her. She's leaving today. And Steve is back to work as usual. I think he's home again on Thursday and we're going to friends for New Year's Eve. Other than that it's just a quieter time at the farm. Having said that, it's 3:49 am right now and one of the roosters out at the hen house just started crowing. It wasn't a one off either, he's regularly warbling away every twenty seconds or so. And I can hear the ducks gently chattering too. Oh, now one of the Roos in the greenhouse beside my bedroom is joining in. With any luck they'll realize that dawn is hours away yet and go back to sleep. If I'm awake in the middle of the night like I am now, I always keep my bedside lamp off so as to not wake the Roos. I don't mind the noise and in fact I'm so used to it that I'll sleep through the pre-dawn racket. But the sound carries down the hill and along the river somehow and spreads over the neighbourhood. Our rooster named Gargle was famous for miles for his distinctive crow. Oh, the ducks are muttering curses at the moment and heading for their favourite spot under the house. That means either there's a predator about or Jordan's let the dog out to pee and she's scared them. Either way the yard is now quiet again and all I can hear is the gentle breathing of my sleeping family and the occasional crackle of the fire in the kitchen. I put a couple of logs on at 3 to keep the stove warm so that when Steve gets up at five to get ready for work the house will still be warm. The wood stove is our only source of heat and since its small it requires more regular filling than a larger stove does. But it's the perfect size for our little trailer and with good dry wood and a box fan that blows up the narrow hallway, it keeps the house warm. Our woodshed is now moved to be outside the back door and is expanded in capacity. We could probably get 6 cords of wood in there and still have a wide walkway but we burned less than 3 last winter and we  aren't expecting to burn more than that this winter. I let the fire burn low when it's just me at home and overnight so unlike a modern house the temperature fluctuates quite a bit. But that's okay with me. It just means warming the oven if I want to rise bread or planning ahead and warming the kitchen. 

Well I'm going to try and get some sleep. The roosters are all quiet again so it seems like a good time. Sleep well my friends!  

Here's a pic of the unfinished side of the woodshed. The other two sides have recycled metal sheets we salvaged from our friends shed that got some damage in the hurricane last year. 

Canadian Weather Rants and Videos

Yes, it's March, and Spring is supposedly just around the corner but in true Nova Scotia style we're in for another bout of -15 degree weather. Tomorrow's going to be a nice day and then cold and snowing for a few more days. I'm sure I speak for all Nova Scotians when I say "Winter, your work here is done. Now get lost!!" It's common for March to swing between cold and warm weather and it's not all bad because it does slow down the thaw and help to prevent too much flooding. In years where we get a lot of snow it's never good to have it all melt at once as our flooded basement in January could attest to. But I'm happily staying warm at home and just waiting for the warmer weather to come now :) Every time it snows again I go to check the weather because even if it snowed 3 feet tonight I'm going to hope that tomorrow it's warm so I don't have to shovel!



There's an old saying that I've quoted here before, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing choices" so I'll go grab another sweater and head for bed with my laptop and Netflix. Hope you're all staying warm and have a nice weekend. Here are a few videos of the beloved and very funny Rick Mercer to make you see how much a part of Canadian life Winter is, lol. The ocean temperature at the moment has cooled down to a nice chilly 31 degrees farenheight, that's -1 celcius so yes, the water is colder than freezing. it's a bit warmer usually when we do the polar bear dip though. Anyways, enjoy some colder weather videos.

It's snowing

School (and exams) were cancelled today ahead of this snow that's currently falling. It looks pretty but with my lovely tyres I've decided to not chance it on the roads. Better to wait for it to melt in the next few days. It's still coming down in fat while flakes and the kids have had a good time outside tobogganing down the neighbours back lawn. We're keeping warm with our supply of firewood, and so far now we've figured that we've used up about 1 cord this winter...all of it free. The stuff we paid for is still stacked in the garage. But the basement is fairly empty of firewood now so we'll move some more inside to dry out a little bit more ready for burning. Perhaps the boys can do that tomorrow if they're home from school again. We won't know if school is closed until the morning so there's no point in worrying about it.

I do have to get the sidewalks shoveled out and maybe get the snowblower onto the driveway but if I get really lucky, it'll warm up and melt. It looks like it's going to remain cold and snowy for a few days yet but that's ok. It's normal for this time of year. These 2 pics show the road beside our house as seen from the back bedroom window and the front of the house looking towards the driveway as seen from my porch. It's pretty isn't it? It's certainly not the 17 inches we got back in November but it's enough to make everything look fantastic. I can also hear the plow in the background so I'm guessing the roads will be drivable pretty soon which will be nice. Hopefully he doesn't plow a huge pile of snow across my driveway again...it's a pet peeve of all Canadians I'm sure. In fact I remember a funny comedy skit about it...I wonder if I can find it for you to look at. Nope, can't find it...sorry.

Well, I should go put some wood in the furnace and tend to my little kinderlings. Getting them packed just in case school is actually going tomorrow. I imagine classes will be in and Chris has an exam so I need to go pick him up again about 11am. By then the roads should be ok if it stops snowing. Hope you're all staying warm, must be nice for our friends reading this who live in warm climates or the southern hemisphere. Some day I will take a mid-winter vacation...some day. But not today. Today I'm making baked perogies with cheese and onions and some roasted yams on the side. Delicious! And then I'm going to take a couple of pain killers and head to bed with a hot water bottle...I love being a girl...NOT!!

Snow Day!!

We're under a snowfall warning and the whole valley is going to get over a foot of snow apparently. So Steve is staying home today and we can go pay bills, open a bank account and other great stuff we don't ever get to do. It's starting to snow quite a bit so we should get going.



Hi again. Well, actually we did manage to get both out and back again on our bald tyres thanks to the fact the the only hill is right at the end of our driveway and with a run at it, Steve got the van into the driveway again. There is currently 14 inches of snow in most places with some drifts upto 3 feet. But it's not cold, just below freezing. This is the first major snowfall of the year and so I imagine there will be a big line-up for snow tyres now. I'm still waiting for Canadian Tire to get mine in that I ordered 2 weeks ago. I did manage to get some boots though which will be nice seeing as how I spent today walking around in my sandals.

The kids are thrilled of course because there was no school today and probably won't be any tomorrow either so they have nothing to do but play and toboggan... it's such a hard life! lol

It's been quiet today, people seem to be hunkered down enjoying their warm houses. The mall was quiet and so were the roads. We did get to finally open a bank account which was nice. Right now the sky is orangey from the reflected street lights and the snow is muffling all the sounds of people and cars. It' makes me want to turn on the Christmas lights and get some hot apple cider brewing while I sing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". I've got my nativity sets up already but we're going to get a fresh Christmas tree this year so we'll hold off on that for a few weeks yet I think. It depends on how much the kids nag me. Since we didn't bring any ornaments we're opting for edible decorations again. They're yummy and you don't have to pack them.

If you want to see the traffic cameras for Nova Scotia look here. One thing though, most of the intersections are not lit so at night they're useless.

Hope you are all snug and warm. I've got some interesting things to post tomorrow but for right now I'm going to hang out with my honey and watch a movie on Netflix.