Today's snow started around noontime. A little later I brought out the chickens/ducks/rabbits afternoon snack and the snow was starting to come down fairly hard. As for the turkeys, we have had 4 visiting all through summer and fall but suddenly a big group has appeared just like last winter.
We have had some very cold temperatures and a couple of snowstorms then suddenly a warm up. I noticed my hose was useable (not frozen) and set about filling pools for the ducks. Not as easy as it sounds because there was THICK ice build up in their pools. It took some serious effort and will power to get these huge ice chunks out of the pools so I could clean and refill for them. The ducks were very happy that I succeeded in this.
It's a happy duck pool party day!
Bean seeds are one of the easiest to save. Just leave some beans on the pole or bush to dry out and then take the beans out of the pod when they are all dried out. We grew quite a variety of beans this year and I have saved a nice selection of seeds. I love looking at bean seeds, so many colors, sizes, shapes and varieties. Another thing that grew well for us this year is Lemon Balm. I dried some out to save, it smells amazing! Rufus was "helping" with the seed saving and herb preserving this morning.
I woke up Thursday morning to rather heavier than expected snow. WE only got a couple inches but it came heavy during the morning commute hours. I called out of work and used the time instead to catch up a bit on farm chores and housework. KitKat enjoyed playing in the snow. The chickens were not too happy. They ducks had a grand time.
I tried "planting" a couple of lettuce and greens plants with roots in the bearded dragon cage for winter. This one was a big head of lettuce to start. Of course they didn't gently munch leaves off as it continues to grow. They tore that thing out of the soil and ate the lot in a day. Totally messed up their cage too, dirt everywhere. Ah well they had fun. They get to go outside nearly every day from late spring through early fall. Winter is a bit boring for them. These beardies rarely brumate (like hibernation) since we have them in a warm room and they have an open air cage. They engage much more with their world in an open air cage than they ever did in a glass terrarium. So glad we made this switch many years ago now Saphira and Kilgharrah enjoy their lives this way.
Good thing we did all that getting ready for snow because it's here. A bit late this year but I'm glad for that. I'm sure there will be more where this came from.
The chickens will live with it. The ducks don't mind. The "wild" turkeys (and I use the word wild quite loosely with this gang) say FEED ME. They love when we fill bird feeders in winter and of course plenty spills to the ground for them. They beg when I bring out food or scratch for the chickens and ducks. Sometimes they fly over the fence and join our birds. This has gone on for a few years now and everyone gets along. No dread diseases have occurred in our flock from the turkeys. It al works out and I enjoy having them around as do others living in the area. They totally make the rounds up and down our rural road.
I'm thankful for the 5 days off work for Thanksgiving. There's still much to be done around the house and farm to get ready for winter. One job today was moving a large waterer and it's brick base from out in the farmyard to under the covered run. The large bricks that the waterer sits on had frozen to the ground and had frozen dirt stuck to them. I was able to get the bricks loose and the frozen ice and dirt off with a hose. The ducks enjoyed the spray from the hose, even on this very chilly day.
