Winter Days

Work on the homestead is 24/7 yearlong, but that work is also seasonal in the sense that you are not doing the same chores and tasks year 'round. In the spring you are tilling, adding` to the soil, erecting greenhouses and planting. In the summer you are gathering firewood, foraging, growing and keeping gardens watered and weeded, fishing and making repairs where needed. In the fall you are hunting, canning, harvesting, foraging, splitting, stacking and gathering firewood and getting your homestead ready for winter. During the winter, you'd think you'd have more free time. You'd be wrong.

Winter days are short and outside chores must be done during the brief daylight hours. Firewood must be split and brought in to dry before burning. The animals must still be cared for. Chicken coops must be periodically cleaned and new litter laid down, ashes spread in nest boxes and dusting areas, food and water tended to. Snow must be shoveled from walkways, the front porch and the driveway must be plowed. Many days the chicken yard must be dug out and snow removed from rooves of outbuildings and the home.

Christmas is another story. That is extra work. Presents made or purchased and wrapped and special items and food prepared. It never sounds like much, but it always turns out to be more tiring than one would think.

By the time the sun is down, your outside work must be done. After tending to dogs and cats a couple more times through the night, it is time to get some writing done. Unfortunately, my schedule has been off this winter. If you've been following my blog, you know that I volunteer to take care of stray cats and dogs and that I was bitten by a cat on the hand in late November. The bite became infected and I have been having problems. I am able to type again, but for a long time I was relegated to using only my left hand to perform chores, which left me far behind on getting things done this year and made it very difficult to type out an entire article. I just can't write left handed, so I have a lot to catch up for my writing as well. My hand has come a long way, but is still not back to one hundred percent and I am not able to swing my hammer yet, so I have not been at the forge either. I am hoping for a couple more weeks at most, then my forge will be firing up again. You never know, but, at least, the hand is healing.

As healing is the priority for now, there is nothing new to report at http://northwoodstraders.ecrater.com/  Check in by the middle of next month. Given enough healing, we are sure to have some new products up and new information about some neat projects.