Winter on the Homestead

For the most part, I've always loved the snow.  I am not a fan of the cold, though.  I mean, I can handle relatively chilly temperatures, but when it starts dropping to -25 celsius, I get a little miserable.

But...this IS Canada, afterall.

In recent years, in my part of Canada we have not had the snowy, freezing winters I grew up having.  Actually, two years ago my Facebook feed was filled with pictures of people out in T-shirts and shorts on Christmas Day!  In Canada that just doesn't happen.  I happened to be in Myrtle Beach that year with temperatures not much higher than my fellow Canadians were experiencing.

However, this year we have been HIT with an extreme winter.  I am talking, snowfall upon snowfall upon snowfall.

And as I experience my first winter on homestead, I have never experienced such a magical winter as I have now.

When I stand outside and feel the snow gently falling over me, without hearing a single sound, it is like I am in another world.

The chickens, on the other hand, hate the snow.  They rarely come out of their coop.  The though of putting their  little bird foot in the snow is just too much for them I guess.

We decided now that we had the space that it was time to teach our two youngest kids to skate by putting in a rink.  And because we are cheap frugal we decided to do it the old fashioned way.  No tarp, no boards, just snow and water.  People told us not to do it that way because our winters have been so unpredictable over the past few years, but since I am stubborn and didn't want to buy a tarp, I did it anyways.  And mother nature decided to work with me this year.

Every parent uses an upside down garbage can to teach their child to skate, right?

So, while I am dreaming about all the things our first Spring here will entail, like planting my first garden (more on that to come!), I am soaking up the beautiful snowfalls, the sights of deer and turkey in the snowy fields, and the coziness of the woodstove as much as I can.

I would, however, like to trade in our shovels for a snowblower.