Brrrr!

Happy and Blue 2 posted today that winter has officially started in Canada. It feels like winter here in northern Iowa, too. Two days ago it was 90 degrees (I was SO glad we didn’t still have chickens on pasture) and the kids went to school in shorts and t-shirts. Today it’s barely 40 degrees and we were scrambling to find hats and mittens this morning.

It’s supposed to drop into the 20’s tonight, so we’ll be digging potatoes and onions and cutting brussel sprouts after work today. Last night I canned 14 pints of salsa. Want to do another batch this weekend, and also can a couple dozen pints of plain tomatoes. The soldier bean plants need to be pulled and hung up somewhere to dry, but it won’t hurt them to freeze so that can wait.

Then it will be time to pull the bean & pea trellises, and the chicken wire that surrounds the garden, mow off the remaining plants/weeds, and mulch the strawberries. My dad usually brings his plow over after he’s done with his own fieldwork and turns everything under for us.

We also need to rent a posthole digger and get the backyard fenced, fix up the chicken coop for winter and bring home the new pullets we’re buying, wean the calves, and mow the grass one more time. I said to Matt one day last week, “Guess it’s been awhile since we mowed. There’s a stalk of corn growing by the kids’ trampoline.” We’ve been so focused on getting paint on the new porch that the lawn has been neglected. As soon as I can get my computer to stop acting up I’ll get a picture posted of the new porch and paint job.

Once all of the outside winterizing is done we’ll finally get to start in the house on fall cleaning and window washing. At this rate I won’t be done with that before Thanksgiving, but I do have in mind a “fall cleaning reward challenge” that may help garner some help from the girls. We’ll see how that goes!