monday's mountain musings- break is over

busy bees on New Year's Day

Happy New Year! It has been a little while since my last post but all is well around the homestead. I decided that I needed a little break from life with the exception of my darn math class for a few weeks (translated to, math moron trying to keep an A) and then decided that my winter break was going to be a break from everything except the essentials of homestead life. It was a much needed break after having such a busy spell of folks coming through over the last couple months.

Our first big dose of winter has finally arrived. Yesterday it was in the 60's and today it is 34 and VERY windy. Tonight will be the first night we get into the teens or single digits. I am going to either be really brave or really stupid and not cover any of the outdoor veggies that are growing. An old local farmer last summer told us to just leavum and they will be ok. In reality, I don't have much choice as row covers would not stay on the beds with this wind. The green house stuff will all be covered with an inside layer to keep things alive. I have about a 100 cabbage and broccoli plants in there that I thought bugs killed last fall as seedlings that have all come back to life as well as peas that are just starting to produce, greens, lettuce and asparagus seedlings.

Not much has been going on around the place in the way of improvements or changes. Manthing has been working steadily this winter (not complaining) so project time is limited for him. I have been a lazy slacker with most everything but school. Wood for next year is being cut when time permits and a clearing is being made for an eventual raised bed, hoop house. Seed catalogs are arriving so soon I will be sorting and deciding what and where stuff will be planted. Seeds will be started in a week or two for the early crops and before ya know it spring will have arrived.