Buttoning up for Winter 2016

I've been MIA the past couple Sundays, if y'all hadn't noticed. Our videos have been sparse too. We've just been too busy and exhausted buttoning up the homestead preparing for winter. I say that with a sheepish smile because daytime temperatures are close to 80 here.

We've been picking up kindling from around the property after a "big" wind storm blew dead branches from the trees. Mel says it's a normal occurrence around here in the fall. All the leaves are putting on their brightest hues and dropping their leaves. The nights are cooler, in the high 40s-low 50s. Cool enough for me to don a sweater, turn on my little heater, and utter a BRR! Remember, I'm a south Georgia gal. For me, these night time temperatures are my old winter. I'll adjust in a couple of winters. I hope.

We have also planned the new chicken run and coop area. All of our previous plans were rethought out. The gifting of a stack of pallets was a godsend. I've temporarily run low on cash, but that's a long story. Suffice to say, that running two households for 6 months will do that on a limited income. Mel has been out of work for two months now.

Mel has built the wood shed out of these pallets and will be building the new coop out of the rest. All it will cost us is a few sheets of plywood and tin for the roof. We start on it this weekend with the help of a wwoffer (world wide opportunities on organic farms). Amy, while not associated with the organization, is one of our YouTube subscribers who eagerly wants to learn organic homesteading and how to live more self sufficiently. She works from home via the internet, a single mother, and she's living in an apartment 30 minutes away. On the weekends her ex has their son, she comes here and learns. She also has two good arms and legs. Who knows, maybe we've found another person for our community one day. Now, we just have to get her over being so camera shy.

We've reskinned the greenhouse. Built a better door for it. The old one wouldn't close all the way. Of course, Mel couldn't find her staple gun so we ended up using nails to hold the plastic on. We've already planted some of our cold weather crops in it. I've loped off the tops of some our tomato plants, they are still flowering and producing! I've had these stems sitting in a weak rabbit poo tea to generate new roots. I'll plant them in buckets this weekend. When I checked them yesterday, quite a web of roots have formed. I had left the five gallon bucket on our screened porch to root. The chickens got in and had a nice snack so out of the twenty cuttings, I now have five. I've also potted some of my herbs and moved the raspberry bushes into the greenhouse. It's actually getting quite full. With the addition of three rabbit cages (for the meat rabbits), it will be a packed space. We may do two double cages for the babies and my Buddy. She hasn't been an outdoor rabbit until we came here.

We've now filled the wood shed with a cord and a half of splits that will fit in our coal burner/wood stove. We've also laid in gathered kindling and medium sized branches (less than 3" in diameter) to see us through the winter. We may gather some more with Amy's help from the creek area. I just can't do the 100 ft slope to be much help. Maybe one day, we'll install a zip line down there. That is, if I can be brave enough to get on it. But, I can see it being helpful for pulling up stuff from the bottom with a basket attachment.There's a small ton of fallen trees and tires down there.

So this weekend is the hen house and run. I'm sure it will take a couple of weeks to do. Of course, we'll video the progress. I'm making marinara sauce also and doggy treats that will also be vlogs. That's it for this week.

Y'all have a blessed day.