Ready for Snow, Almost!

I'm writing you from the laundromat while I wait for 4 loads to spin dry. Shannon is home waiting on our second firewood delivery. Soon as it is stacked there will be three cords of good, dry, hardwood here for winter heating. Only one more is needed to be 100% okay but this is a fantastic place to be before Halloween. There are about 80 bales of hay in the barn with another 75 on hold for in reserve to deliver when I am ready for them. I'm a little worried about how tight the barn is for hay storage, but I reckon I'll find out soon. Going through 2 a day for the horses and flock right now, all of which are still grazing while the grazing remains. A few frosts hit the mountain but nothing hard killing, and this week is going to be oddly warm with nights in the 50s and days nearly 80 and I, for one, will be enjoying every minute of that.

It feels like most of winter prep is under control now, if not completed. And this morning I called my bank to make the September mortgage payment. The farm is still technically behind, but owing the payment for the month you are currently living through feels a hell of a lot better than being 3 months behind and just paying to fend off foreclosure. I feel like I'm on ground I can stand on. I am glad I didn't breed the ewes this year or add any new animals before frost besides the stray chicken clutch of eggs hatching. The meat birds are in the freezer. Pigs are in their new homes for freezer camp with new piglets raising for the next lot of owed shares. The horses are growing winter coats already. The humble butternut squash harvest is in and stacked in the kitchen. 

I make no goal to pay the October mortgage before the end of the month. But at least I can earn towards it while stacking firewood and beginning some winter goals like moving the chickens into the meat bird coop and letting the new brood take over the smaller coop near the home. 

This is still my favorite month, most of it flying by with beauty and work. Some high points are the small rabbit and squirrel hunts I have gone on. The work of training Hamish to be a hard working and healthy hunting partner. And the feeling of that first snowfall hitting the farm with a fat pile of wood, hay, and clean blankets like the ones I am bringing home in a few minutes. 

A normal and quiet update today. I wish the same for you all in these odd times.

P.S. Thank you so much for the outpouring of kindness in emails and through social media. I read them all, and I'm happy to report only two people told me I was going to Hell for my homosexuality but even those folks wished me well, so I can't complain about you readers at all. Thank you for the kindness. It meant the world to me. 

Picture of our hand-painted Voting pumpkin by Miriam Romais!