Sunlight now lengthens!

The morning after the solstice may have been a crisp one with intense low temps, but on the very first day that the sunlight begins to lengthen, it also decided to shine!

​Luckily, before the the temperature plummeted well below zero, the snow piled up high.
This helps insulate the soil and all that live in it from the frigid air temps.
It's also super fluffy and fun to walk through 😝

These temps are nothing to mess with. Some things, like heaters among the pumphouse and pipes, were already going strong to keep out the cold. And the woodstove was cranking to keep me and the kitties comfortable. Awaking at 2am to see the temps already near -30F, I went out to check on the chickens as this is much colder than they have ever dealt with before...

I was able to add an extra heater to their two heat lamps to help them through. Chickens do well with cold in general, but they have their limits and they've gotten frostbite before at much milder temps so I wasn't going to assume they'd be fine. They mainly huddled together in their heated hut covered in snow to keep as warm as possible. The now rain and +40F temps may be frustrating for us to deal with all the slush and compacted snow and ice, but they are just fine with the much warmer temps now.

I might just change the name from the Hen Hut to the Chicken Cavern!

And even thought the cold makes everything a bit harder, it was still so nice to get out in the shortest amount of clear sunshine with a walk down to get the mail.

And, of course, the kitties stayed warm and snuggly inside while it was extra cold outside. They attempted a few times to go out but didn't actually want to step over the threshold once they felt the cold, cold, air on their whiskers. These are the days of cuddle buddies by the fire

Where to find it all?

The next delivery is January 5th to help us all welcome in the New Year with fresh microgreens and hopeful seeds!