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Hi Everyone,

                When I came to the computer to send out our Larder email (what we have available for sale this week), and to write this journal I had a nice cup of hot tea. Now 45 minutes later I have finished my cup of tea—but the house is so cold that it was not a cup of hot tea very long. I have always said that the season changes start on the first of the month—so Tuesday, December 1st was officially winter, and may I say that it arrived on the frigid side. The weather man said that the high on Monday would be in the 60’s—let’s just say that it was in the 60’s when we woke up, but it was no longer in the 60’s after lunch. Our whole day was spent protecting everything that we wanted to stay green. It was also a full moon, so I harvested some plantain, comfrey, and oregano. I need to harvest more than I did last year, because I ran out. In the garden Steve and Mom worked to finish the framework for the West Tunnel. Then after lunch we all pitched in and got the plastic over the top of the framework and our new tunnel was in working condition. Then I put the sides down on the East Tunnel. I also dug up 4 cayenne pepper plants that are loaded with peppers and potted them up and put them in the greenhouse. Since the greenhouse is open on the north and south sides we covered them with tarps and plastic.

 On Tuesday I washed my bed so that I could add my wool blanket to help stay warm that night. I planned on heading to the garden when I was done—but I decided to change the season décor on my dresser. It was time to put away the fall décor and pull out my little Fontanini nativity set that my Great-grandparents gave me when I was 13. When I found my nativity set in the attic I also found four pieces of two brass candelabras that Mom told me we had—but I swore I had never seen. Papa had bought them in Turkey when he was in the navy—and I promise you that they spent 2/3 of my life in the attic. The large candlesticks that the “extra arms” attach too I have used as paper weights to hold my pattern pieces on the material when I cut it out. A lot of the accents in my bedroom are brass, and I had been looking for some brass candlesticks, and I was glad to have found these beautiful candelabras. Once my nativity was displayed, and the candlesticks put together I was ready to head to the garden—but the dryer was done and the clothes needed to be folded. To my dismay though—the clothes were still damp. The heating element on the dryer had broken! At least it was a nice sunny day—even though it was a cold 48 degree day. We have a nice big clothesline in the back yard, but most of the time it is quicker to throw the clothes in the dryer. Now I desperately needed to use it—BUT—the wires all needed to be washed down, and the grass needed to be mowed all around it. The tall grass really wasn’t the problem, but the weeds that were mixed in had hitch-hiker seeds and the last time I decided to hang some clothes on the clothesline my socks and dress got covered. So I headed to the barn to get the riding lawn mower, and once I had the area all mowed I raked it all up. Our lawn mower hasn’t worked right most of the summer, so once again the grass was pretty thick. Now that I could safely walk around the clothesline without picking up any hitch-hikers I washed down the wires and the pipes. When Mom and Steve came in for lunch around 1:30 I had just finished getting the clothesline all prepped and I was now ready to hang the clothes out. We were able to get the dryer fixed the next day.

When we went to bed Tuesday night everything was green! We knew we were in trouble though when the temperature dropped to 32 at 9:00 that night. When we woke up at 6:00 Wednesday morning it was 24 degrees outside—and everything was white and frozen. I had transplanted some basil from the garden to the greenhouse—but I should have brought them inside for they froze even in a heated greenhouse. The cayenne pepper plants don’t look too good either. The saddest loss to me was found in the East Garden Tunnel. I was trying to grow marigolds all winter—but just as they were starting to bloom, they froze! Right now you can walk around the garden and know what likes cold weather and what doesn’t. Pigweed and Spanish needle killed over dead, but Carolina geranium, Henbit, and the dreaded Florida Betony are all still green and growing. Back in October we weeded the summer weeds out of the wildflower beds so that I could plant some fresh wildflower seeds. Then to my dismay a few weeks after I seeded the beds they sprouted into a solid carpet of Spanish needle baby plants. I was really discouraged for the wildflowers had also sprouted and it would not be possible to weed out one and leave the other. To my delight the freeze weeded the wildflower beds for me—the entire crop of Spanish needle is gone. On Tuesday the cows and sheep were eating green grass—come Wednesday they were eating hay! Our fields are all brown now—except the ones that Papa planted with oats and barley. The winter green fields are up and growing, but they will not be lush enough until the first week of January.

Once the orders were all packed on Wednesday and Papa was on his way to Jacksonville I sat down to teach piano lessons. I think that we were on our first song when Steve came inside to tell us that the milk cows were in the yard! My piano student was more eager to go help round up cows than she was to continue her lessons—so off we went to be cowgirls. When animals are moved to a new field the first thing they do is run to the other end to see how big their new area is. Well—at the other end of this field they found some hotwires down. Half the herd escaped and then they found the gate to the yard opened in the second field that they entered. With four people herding cows it really didn’t take long before we had them back in their rightful field, and my student and I could go back to piano lessons.

Later that afternoon Mom looked out the window and saw that the sheep had escaped from their field and entered one of the winter green fields. If they stayed in that field too long they would eat all of the grass and ruin the field. So around 5:00 I headed outside to do the evening chores (feed the two dogs and lock up the chickens and the ducks)—the first thing I wanted to do was to get the sheep back into their right field. Last winter Papa bought two hotwire fences to keep the sheep contained during the winter—and it was time to put them to use. One fence was in the sheep barn—because our calves ate holes in the wall and now we cannot contain the sheep in the barn. As I gathered up the fence I was challenged to persevere though I wanted to give up. The fence got heavy—though it is just stakes and wire, it is 160 ft. long. I kept getting my boots caught in the fence, or I would get the fence caught on something. When I wanted to give up I would remind myself that Justin Rhodes 10 year old son can move the hotwire fences all by himself. Once I got the fence out of the barn, I then headed across the lane and into the field and put up the fence across the western north to south opening. I wanted the second fence to go across the eastern north to south opening but I had no idea where it was and it was getting dark. I decided to check out the wires that were already there. I found them not “hot,” and the sheep had run right through them. I decided to move the three strands of wire up closer—but I did it all wrong. I do not deal with hotwire very often so it is pretty hard to remember all the little details on how to do it properly. After I had moved the wire—I realized I had done it all wrong. I had unhooked the two ends from the fence and took the stakes out of the ground and laid them down. Then I grabbed the handles from one end and began to drag the wires to their new location. When I went to hook the handles up to the fence the wires didn’t reach. To my horror the stakes had flipped a million times as I drug them and it took me a good thirty minutes to untwist them. Before I finished I went ahead and called the sheep into the pasture—for it was getting to dark to see. Thankfully they all came! I finished up the wires and then it was really dark—but I still had to feed the dogs and lock up the chickens and ducks. It was after 7:00 by the time I arrived back inside.

Thursday was a slow day and I took advantage of it to work with 3 young heifers that need to be tamed to come into the milking parlor to eat so that we can milk them when they calve. All three of them used to come into the milking parlor with no problem—and then one day I put a board behind them so that they couldn’t back out. They didn’t like being controlled, they wanted to come and go as they pleased—but when you are milking a cow they cannot leave when they want to. Now those three heifers will not come into the stalls at all. I am bound and determined to tame them—but finding the time is not very easy. Mom said that they need halters on them, but that would require taking them down to the panel pens and getting Papa’s help. When we are done milking, he is usually still doing his chores. I didn’t want to wait, so Thursday I was determined to get all of them into a milking stall and get halters on them. It probably took 20 or more minutes per cow, but I did it. I started with Jam, and then I did Anita, and I finished with Sundae. Many times I was tempted to give up—but I was determined to win the battle. After I coaxed each one into the stall with a bucket of alfalfa, I put the board behind them, put a halter on them, and then while they ate I brushed them down. I was one happy camper when I went inside over an hour later. We processed chickens on Friday, so I didn’t have time to work with them. I did give Jam a chance to come in—but she played fraidy cat. So come Saturday I was going to work with them, but I never could get them into the stall. I am going to have to recruit Papa to help because they come to the stall, put their front feet in—but they will not put their back feet in. That is where Papa will come in handy. Since they have halters on, we can pull them in—but I am not strong enough for that. I have about six weeks to get Anita trained before she calves.

I have a tendency to hibernate when it gets cold—but this week I must head to the garden for we have got to get a few rows ready to transplant the beets, onions and leeks.

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare