Winter is definitely here!

Wow! What a sudden change! Winter is definitely here!

It is -24F at my house this morning. Cold enough that I have the water trickling in the bathroom sinks so that the pipes don't freeze. Every time I think about getting chickens, this is the one drawback I come up with. What about in the middle of winter? I know that they can survive quite comfortably with the right setup, but am I really going to want to go collect eggs at 40 below? The answer, of course, is no, but I would do it anyway! I just need to think about this when I determine how far from the house I decide to locate the coop.

Stephen has expressed an interest in vegetable gardening and raising chickens, so I recently requested some information from our local 4-H folks. The packet just got here, so I need to read and see what they have to offer. We wouldn't be joining until summer at the earliest, but I think this will be more of a next-year project. At any rate, I'm glad he's interested. That means that he is listening to what I am trying to teach him!

Now that there is real snow on the ground, I am really starting to think about Christmas. I have about half of my gifts made, and I need to decide what type of preserves to make. I want it to be something festive, so maybe something like pear/pomegranate jelly? I'll have to start flipping through my canning cookbooks for ideas.

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner with some close friends of ours last weekend. Today I am making turkey soup with the leftovers. The house will soon be smelling warm and delicious, which is perfect for a cold day like today. I love turkey leftovers!