Sunday was bright and sunny and a walkabout with camera in hand was a must. All along the edges of the meadow, copper coloured willow branches hold up little balls of snow like Christmas tree ornaments. Snow sculptures everywhere!
David spotted 'our' mink at the culvert (without his camera) and with that heads up, I approached as quietly as possible (difficult to be quiet with the crunching snow underfoot) and actually had a few minutes of conversation and some nice photo ops with a very relaxed mink. The pics aren't great but the encounter was a delight!
Below is our rescued and treasured piece of meadow history, now under the cover of snow; Jenny Barlow's dairy cow shelter. This tiny cabin is a daily reminder of how good we have it ~ thanks in large part to those who came before us. Hopefully our children's children will be able to say the same of us.
And with winter, come stacks of firewood
We use our own Beetle killed pine for our firewood ~ the blue gray stain on the logs is courtesy of the Pine Beetle. We use our blow down and sustainably harvested pine for all sorts of things. It's really very pretty and we're especially grateful for the warmth it provides at this time of year.
The kitchen wood stove is pressed into service all hours of the day now. A cozy place to gather.
That's one of those great little Eco Fans on the stove top. Quiet and zero cost to run; it distributes the warmth of the wood stove right into the next room.
Lee Valley describes them as having "a thermoelectric module that generates electricity based on a thermocouple, which exploits the difference in temperature between the stove top and the ambient air, a phenomenon known as the Seebeck effect. "
So, yes, winter has most assuredly arrived on the meadow. The quiet blanket of white falls gently over us and we dig out our winter boots and our warmest slippers.
Till next time ~ may your trails be all sparkly and full of wonder.
Sunday was bright and sunny and a walkabout with camera in hand was a must. All along the edges of the meadow, copper coloured willow branches hold up little balls of snow like Christmas tree ornaments. Snow sculptures everywhere!
David spotted 'our' mink at the culvert (without his camera) and with that heads up, I approached as quietly as possible (difficult to be quiet with the crunching snow underfoot) and actually had a few minutes of conversation and some nice photo ops with a very relaxed mink. The pics aren't great but the encounter was a delight!
Below is our rescued and treasured piece of meadow history, now under the cover of snow; Jenny Barlow's dairy cow shelter. This tiny cabin is a daily reminder of how good we have it ~ thanks in large part to those who came before us. Hopefully our children's children will be able to say the same of us.
And with winter, come stacks of firewood
We use our own Beetle killed pine for our firewood ~ the blue gray stain on the logs is courtesy of the Pine Beetle. We use our blow down and sustainably harvested pine for all sorts of things. It's really very pretty and we're especially grateful for the warmth it provides at this time of year.
The kitchen wood stove is pressed into service all hours of the day now. A cozy place to gather.
That's one of those great little Eco Fans on the stove top. Quiet and zero cost to run; it distributes the warmth of the wood stove right into the next room. Lee Valley describes them as having "a thermoelectric module that generates electricity based on a thermocouple, which exploits the difference in temperature between the stove top and the ambient air, a phenomenon known as the Seebeck effect. "
So, yes, winter has most assuredly arrived on the meadow. The quiet blanket of white falls gently over us and we dig out our winter boots and our warmest slippers.
Till next time ~ may your trails be all sparkly and full of wonder.
