Oh The Cold

Need batteries for the camera so no pics today but will have some up later after picking up supplies.  With that said, it’s been cold here!  Now I know you all who live in the North are probably laughing at us Southern weaklings down here..hehe, but Austin is not used to these temperatures.  Last night it was in the teens and when I looked at the thermometer this morning it was still only 18 degrees at about 9AM.  CCCoolldd!  Plants have suffered, but I did get a good, thick (6-7″) mulching down the week before this cold front moved in, so I’m hanging on to hope that the roots of most of my garden survived and will spring forth in, well Spring.  I dared to dig down into the mulch in one spot of the garden to see what it looked like and there was green, thank the gods!  So I’ll keep crossing my fingers.

I happen to love the cold myself.  I love bundling up in sweaters, sipping hot coffee in the middle of the day and seeing the ice on the birdbath, animal troughs, etc..  I don’t know how well I’d fare up where there is real cold, but this is a good Winter here and I’m embracing every chilly aspect of it.  I feel like I was really prepared this year in the garden, so that makes it more bearable I think.

My Larkspur sprouts are all doing well, as are the poppies and ranunculus.  I layered leaves on all of them and they are now popping up through those, so I think they will survive.  The animals have all been given extra hay and we buttoned down the coop (which is just hardware cloth on 2 sides normally), so the goats and chickens are all snuggly and warm.  The cats can’t bare to go out, but since we don’t do cat boxes, they are forced out in the morning to do their business and quickly run back to the front door, crying loudly to let us know they need back in..haha!  The ferrets are cocooning in their cave made of an old bath mat and towels…they are toasty indeed.

Yesterday, my dear friend Jeanne and I processed about 30+ pounds of deer sausage, thanks to the hunting capabilities of our sweethearts.  We had so much fun, even though it was a ton of work.   But when we looked at all that we accomplished and the good food we have to feed our family throughout the year, it makes it all that much more worth it.  On top of the sausage we have roasts, steaks and tender loin.  Thankfully my girls love fresh venison, so none of it goes to waste around here.  J will be making jerky this afternoon and cold smoking the links before freezing them.  We made Breakfast sausage, Mild Italian, Hot and Spicey and a Cajun sausage.  Yum!  Throw in a couple glasses of red wine and we had a party yesterday with all our work.  Fun!

Last week was not only my darling J’s birthday, happy birthday love, but also our 10th wedding anniversary.  10 years!  Holy moly!  It’s been quite the ride and I am really looking forward to many more years.  We are a lucky couple to have found each other and to have found true happiness with each other, even on the days I want to wring his neck I just love that man!

Hope everyone is hunkered down, keeping warm and enjoying their New Year.  Don’t forget to check out One Small Change over at Hip Mama Mountain.  There are now over 200 participants from all over the world signed up.  Suzy’s local paper wrote an article, their radio station has it up on their website and Mothering Magazine is promoting it.  Yay!  So far the girls and I have bagged up 2 large bags of toys and clothes to be donated and still have a couple closets to go this month.  It feels good to lighten the load and know that it’s going to bring smiles to faces somewhere else.  Farmgirl told me that she has had fun with some of the stuff for a long time and now she was ready to let some other children know the fun of her things..haha.  That right there is a small change that I hope will ripple out….thank you girls, for your generosity…and thank you all who have found Suzy’s movement through AmLo Farms.  It really doesn’t take much to make a difference, and you all are a part of that difference with each small step we all take!

XOXO.  Peace!