Seasons of change

I like winter well enough, it's just that some years it seems to drag on. This was one of those years. Our youngest seems to have spent a fair bit of it sick. Between colds, the fifth desease and finally a bout of strep throat, requiring for the first time in his 11 years antibiotics.  Thanksfully the temperature is rising and the sun is shining! Time to think Spring.

Heading to cut some firewood for next year.

When you live on a Farmstead as much as you enjoy one Season you're always thinking about and preparing for the next. Spring maybe on its way that means time to head back to the bush to find dead or fallen trees to cut and split so they'll be seasoned for next years firewood, Late winter is the time most gardeners look to their gardens, yes they maybe covered under snow but it doesn't stop us from thinking ahead. Time to buy seeds and start plants. I have to remind myself not to be too eager and start too many seeds too soon, like eveything else I learned this the hard way.

Cool season crops

Apple pie from storage

This is the first year we've had keeping any sort of luck keeping apples over the winter. We have yet to build a proper root celler. Living in an 100 yr + farm house we do have a celler that we keep the jars of food we preserve as well as potatoes but it's too moist or too dry for most other vegetables. I've been keeping a bushel of apples in the coldest room in our house, which could be any number of room depending on the wind and it's paid off, local apples in February!

These apples look great after months in storage.

Hopefully by next fall we'll have a proper root cellar full of pumpkins, squash, apples, onions, carrots, beets and potatoes. We'll just add building one to the never ending to do list, maybe if we remember how good homemade apple pie tastes in February we'll move it higher on the list.

Here's to hoping for a root celler.