Foggy days between freezes.

Another misty rainy day after a day of hard freeze, and before the expected light snow on Sunday. It'll be interesting to see if this is the kind of winter that just doesn't let up once it starts. That's what I'm starting to expect after the weather we've been having up to this point. I won't lie, I wouldn't mind a milder winter this year, but I don't expect one. This weekend the Lady of the House is going to be out and busy with selling at a convention, and I'm going to be home. I hope to spend part of the weekend relaxing, but at least some of it is going to working on the kitchen where I'm going to be building the counter top. I hope to be able to show that off within the month.

Outside the poultry actually seem to be enjoying the light drizzle. It's interesting to me to look back at how I viewed chickens just 4 years ago. I looked at chickens and at that point I thought they were fragile creatures, and that there was no way they could handle cold weather comfortably. Knowing the truth of how well they handle cold and heat is fascinating. The fact is that they are fragile in their own ways. The ways chickens are fragile though is that their survival instincts aren't great, they tend to have vulnerability to parasites, and their lungs can't handle high concentrations of air contamination. Then again, no one does particularly well in confinement with their own waste. The thing that does fit from my expectations to reality is just how devastating foxes and other predators are. It is just interesting how much we've learned over the years doing this.
While we've learned a lot actively by searching for information by talking to people, and reading, we've probably learned more just by doing things and witnessing things. I think the highest amount of learning through experience is in the livestock side of things because of how much personality animals have, and how individual care can be. The areas that the most learning has come from others and from books is in gardening. Gardening is so specific in how things need to be done to have things work out, learning from others is vital before gaining experience. It's like baking, it's more science than art, more precision than feeling.

Speaking of gardening, the Seed Exchange for the Hilltown Seed Saving Network is coming up this weekend. If you have time and an interest in gardening and seed saving I'd come on out. It's an interesting time.