February Afternoon and Woodstove Chores/Set Up

We have several places we store firewood. The stack for immediate use is by the back door under a roof. It works out pretty well, even when it snows or rains sideways. We also store the dog and cat food in this area.

One of the chores the girls do is bring the wood in and stack it in the box near the stove. The suit up and work together. Working together gets it done faster and makes it more fun, according to them.

One of our concerns with Zap's mobility is the wood stove burning him. It was never really a problem with Holly and I can say for sure why. Our pediatrician was worried too. So, I found this metal hinged baby gate on a swap for $20. It fits and the tile keeps it in line. We secure it with a bungee that doubles as a mitten/sock drying line. The door from the spare room opens into the space and I have a butcher block inside the space too so I can cook and stir and chop without lots of trips to the kitchen.

Once they are suited up and warm from choring, the girls take off running outside. They tend to play for an hour, hour and a half before coming back inside.

They build. They run. They play. Today the snow was slushy and sticky.

This is an emerging snowman. They said he's not melting, he's growing up from the ground!

Love.

Toot and Puddle

Saturday we added a new element to our farm: breeding sows. This was not really a planned level up, but our trusted breeder decided to close shop and there are not a whole lot of AWA Berkeshire breeding farms, and no others in Iowa.

So basically we had to level up or close shop ourselves. That was the biggest facet of this decision- do we really love what we are doing? Can we be successful at this? Can we afford to do this or can we afford not to?

So we settled on taking two breeding sows, Toot and Puddle, and not taking the scheduled piglets so we could focus on the sows. This means no May/June pork. It may also mean a huge drop in production at first too.

We are optimistic though, and happy with our decision.

Cheers!

Iowa City Children's Museum

Winter thaw, wordless Wednesday