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Our woodpile is dwindling.

What is a man to do?   I guess that means we Mike needs to get started splitting and stacking next year’s wood.  Thanks to the dear farmer who farms the ground around our little homestead, we have A LOT of oak sitting ready to be turned into to firewood to heat us next year.

Spring is coming and things are starting to buzz with anticipation here at the farmhouse.  Mike and I have been busy doing all those things we put off doing last fall (remember we were busy having our 5th baby in 7 years! LOL!?).  Anyhow, now that the warm up is right around the corner (isn’t it?) we are getting everything in order for the laying chickens, meat birds, pigs and the garden.  We have even toyed with the idea of a goat for clearing some additional garden space and potentially for milk (and meat).  We’ll see on that one.  It might be shelved till next year.  We will also be getting a hive of bees this year as long as money allows for it.  Since Mike will be working on getting his business up and running (and profitable), the bees may not come to fruition this year either, but it is all in His timing, and He is good.

For now we have been enjoying our mud-pit-of-a-yard on the days above freezing.  It is nice to be able to be outside without gearing up in Car hart bibs and winter boots.  Mike has completed setting the posts and installing the livestock gate on the pig pen.  The chicken coop has also been cleaned out and a few repairs that need to be done have been scribbled on the short list.  I have started planning the garden and have put together a light station for starting my heirloom tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and other early starts.  Our “scrap wood pile” has been sorted, organized and cleaned in preparation for spring building.  Mike is currently (currently as in I hear hammering and circular saws right now!) working on building the pig hut from scrap material.

I am getting almost giddy about the size of my garden this year.  I am mixing some different gardening techniques that I have tried/read about for the last several years.  The book I most agreed with was Mini Farming (it is in my book carousel to the right).  It is a mix of bio-intensive gardening and square-foot gardening.  My plan is to create 5-6 four foot beds that are about 50-70 foot long and use them as you would a raised bed (but they won’t be raised or contained) and have grass walk paths in between them.  This allows me to space the produce more closely and still be able to reach in and easily harvest it, even the stuff in the middle of the bed.  I am planning on growing all of our garden in  1200-1600 square feet of beds, but our yield will be comparable to what you could get out of almost twice that amount of space.   I will post pictures when we start tilling it up.

Our woodpile is dwindling, but I do think it will last until the warm up.  I am so thrilled to announce that we heated ENTIRELY with wood this year.  Aside from the occasional weekend at the cabin (where no one was here to keep the fire burning), our woodstove provided heating for the entire house ALL THE TIME.  We were also warmer than we ever were before.  The house rarely dropped below 70!  SOOO nice to be warm, comfortable AND frugal!

We can add a new chore to AJ's list: building a fire in the woodstove!  He built this fire all by himself, with supervision of course.  He brought in the wood and kindling, wadded the newspaper, placed the logs, opened the bypass door to the stove, pulled out the air intake and lit his masterpiece.  He even knew to crack the doors slightly to naturally billow the fire while it was starting.  Oh boy, I have a BOY! (a big boy, at that!)  Lessons from Daddy 101!

Living in the midwest, you just never know what the weather is going to do!  Six weeks ago I had out the kiddie pool and this weekend it is suppose to be almost 90 - but today - cold, damp and yucky!  So what did I do with these four ingredients:

1. Some wood (my hot, lumberjack husband lovingly split by hand)
2. Some sticks my kids gathered
3. My beautiful, wonderful, lovely woodstove
   
4. And a leftover cardboard beer container

Yep - we had us a little fire in the woodstove today!  I am beginning to get really spoiled having this wonderful radiant heat that is so even and comfy!  Forced air heat just isn't the same and I wonder why it has become the norm.  If I had known then what I know now - I would have put in a boiler and those wonderful old fashion radiators to heat our house!  Oh well, thank goodness for the woodstove - FREE HEAT (free RADIANT heat!) - Did I mention our yearly gas bill was cut in half from the previous year AND this year colder and longer than last year by FAR!  Yes, I think my woodstove has a special place in my heart!