Cold, cold, cold!

Tonight it's supposed to be -35 degrees - record-breaking lows! We're all a little cold up here, and I find myself anxiously anticipating the first lambs and a thawed garden. Here are a few images of how we're staying warm.

The views on a cold night are extra clear. The purple-pink mountains are really hard to capture.

The goats are especially cold this time of year. The boys are tough and keep each other warm. Because Hops is aggressive and Penny's a wimp, the girls don't have anyone to cuddle. Here are the ladies in their fashionable new coats.

Hops in her red coat.

Penny got a blue coat.

Even our house in the village is cold. I shoveled 15 inches of snow off our back deck today. The ground is covered and solid.

This year we got two wood stoves. The first is a Fireview from Woodstock Soapstone in Lebanon, NH. We really love this stove. 

The second stove is an older Scandinavian stove made by Lange. This little stove helps keep our kitchen and dining area extra warm. 

With all this cold weather I've been daydreaming of planting the garden. While we still have squash left over from last year's garden, I can't wait to till the garden and smell the dirt. 

We have several quarts of dilly beans left, but these have to last us until next Thanksgiving when the new batch has been fully flavored. 

  
I couldn't wait any longer. Last weekend I ordered my seeds, and they've already arrived! 

 

Now I just have to wait three months for the ground to thaw. Three months...that's only 1/4 of a year. And I guess I'll have to wait for the temperature to warm by...90 degrees! 

Freezer Food

This fall we filled the freezer with an assortment of meats from the farm. Our pigs, chickens, and our first crop of lambs are filling our 22 cubic foot freezer. After watching Food Inc., we can now sleep at night knowing that our meat was humanly raised, free to roam on pasture and bask in the summer sun. 

Here are some samples of the meat: 

Hams and Lamb Roasts

Rack of Lamb

Lamb Loin Chops

 Bacon!

Smoked Ham

We also slaughtered 60 meat birds in September. We raised Cornish Roasters from Murray McMurray Hatchery. Last year we tried raising White Rock chickens for meat, but the results were disappointing.

Here are TWO birds in a stock pot. Hopefully the book of matches will help tell our story. 

This is why we've chosen to raise Cornish Roasters...

On the left is a whole White Rock chicken, and on the right are two legs (with thighs) from a Cornish Roaster. The White Rocks were raised on pasture for 14 weeks. The Cornish Roasters were also pasture-raised but for 12 weeks. Our White Rocks averaged 3.5 lbs. The Cornish Roasters averaged 9 lbs! 

Gus's New Friends

Gus is such a good dog.

But since we moved into town, away from the farm animals and fun, Gus has been a little under the weather. 
So, in December, we decided to get Gus a few friends. Here's Mea...
and Joan Didion (formerly named Lacy). 

Hey Gus, what's hiding in that bag?

What do you see?

Two kitties!

Gus keeps one eye on the cats to make sure they don't get away. I think he's upset he can't fit inside with them. 

Gus gets along very well with the cats. He even eats breakfast and dinner with them. The cats sometimes eat his food, and he likes to sneak a nibble from their bowls. He is such a social eater. Before we got the cats we had a difficult time getting him to eat regularly, now he eats twice a day with his kitty friends. 

And he takes naps with them too.

Now Gus is a happy puppy.