Like a walk through the country side living on a small farm is full of daily surprises, sometimes wonderful and amazing, and other times puzzling and sad. I hope you will walk with me as I live out my dream of living on this tiny farm. You will come to know the dogs, cats, Shetland sheep and chickens that make up this farm and what goes into keeping them happy and healthy. Come and join the journey with me.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Winter Cometh

After a little bit of a warm spell, we got some rain and the weather has now cleared off, cool and crisp. It won't be long before fire in the wood stove will feel nice. Before that can happen though, there has to be some cleaning and preparation. First it was the wood stove itself---every bit of ash moved out, doors and outside scrubbed. For now this scented candle is the only 'fire' needed. (and there are my stubby bare feet reflected in the door--you can tell it was still warm!)I've been gathering up kindling for the last several weeks, before we got the rain. I cleaned out my kindling bucket, and it's filled with nice dry bits of wood to help get the fire started. The kindling in the white container is what I've gathered after the rain and needs to dry out.

Filling the wood box that sets in the hall took top priority, before the rains moved in . This box holds almost two weeks worth of fuel. See the kitty in the 'cage' behind the wood? That is Tibby, but she isn't really shut in a cage. This will be her winter house, and she can come and go out this end. I'll put plastic around the open sides and stuff it full of wool and blankets and her heated disc on really cold nights.


Here is the woodpile (what's left of it) after I got it all re stacked and covered. I've gotten a bigger tarp to put over it though, since this one is really too small to keep the wood dry on all ends. I have another, smaller wood pile over to the side as well, and quite a bit more that needs to be hauled up to the house.

And lastly here is the chimney---there were some Virginia Creeper vines that had escaped my notice and climbed the sides, so those were all torn down, plus cleaned out the trap at the bottom.

I'm getting closer all the time to being 'ready', at least physically for winter! The temps are nice and warm again, but it can change fast this time of year.

4 comments:

Gone2theDawgs said...

We've had a fire going in the woodstove for the last two evenings, and then this morning I woke up to our first frost (W. WA) I guess winter is truly on it's way!

Pat in east TN said...

Our temperatures are milder and quite nice here in the mountains of east TN, but that can change in an instant.

Sounds like you were really busy on your vacation ... guess you'll go back to work to rest up! LOL

Michelle said...

A fire would have felt good here last night as well, but Rick stayed late at the church after practice talking, and I'm not as cold-blooded as he is (he turned the thermostat up this morning; I had it set at 60). At least we're enjoying sunshine right now with the cool temps!

Jennifer said...

With the high cost of propane we have been considering a wood stove, one thing we do have plenty of is hedge trees. We are having a warm spell now but winter is on the way, summer went by so fast and it seems like fall is going to as well. Nice pictures!