A present for the bearded dragons, of course they destroy it!

 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. 

Snow

 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. 

Snow's Coming. Getting Ready For Winter-Cozy Cats

 

More Getting Ready For Winter

 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. 

Getting Ready For Winter- garden prep

 The gardens are done for the year for the most part. Time to let the chickens and ducks into these normally forbidden areas so they can work the soil for us. This is done by rearranging some fencing. 

Getting Ready For Winter- Late Fall Harvest and Planting

 The Sunchokes/ Jerusalem Artichokes were ready for harvest in early November. The plants are tall and strong and have a sunflower type bloom at the trop. When the plants die off they're ready for harvest. We have sunchokes in a few spots and they did very well this year. I harvested quite a lot and replanted some in new spots to try. I also planted quite a few varieties or both hard and soft neck garlic. I planted some in the raised bed and some in the ground. Harvested some more potatoes too, about 10 pounds this time. 

Guess I didn't take many pictures of the garlic planting, this is an area of garlic in a raised bed. I mulched with leaves. 

Sunchoke Harvest

                                                                           Potatoes

Animals enjoying fall before the snow moves in to stay.