Oh baby! It's cold outside!

Up here in the Great North, it is finally turning into more of a winter atmosphere. Yesterday was miserable and cold compared the winter we have been having this year. It began with a gross rain early yesterday morning and by noon it had turned into sleet. For those of you from warmer climates, sleet is just a gross freezing rain, not quite snow (but really almost), falling when it is getting colder. Eww... It eventually turned into snow but it didn't stick.

So what does this mean for my homesteading efforts? Well, my little celery plant is gonna have to stay inside and I'm going to have to keep the heater running in my room to keep the poor little guy happy. That's all that I have growing right now.

However, the chickens that I get my eggs from, (a great neighbor) are going to slow down in production and I may not get many eggs this winter. I will still make bread, and use farm grown potatoes for cooking. I may have to make some more World War II era ration recipes.

The cold weather will, however, give me the chance to work on winter activities like planning the garden for next year and getting some more knitting done. As for gardening plans, I am working on tilling up half of the Mister's yard and planting a big old garden. This will be the first year that I plant the yard more than a few test plants. I do know that the soil has a well balanced PH level, however it also has a very dense root layer from the grass. The grass will and does choke out the plants if they are even close to the grass. I plan on planting corn, green beans, just one half row of onions, a few pumpkin plants for Halloween, some pepper plants (both bell and spicy), and of course lots of potatoes. It isn't a very diverse garden, however, it is what we eat. I don't want to plant something we are not going to eat so it doesn't go to waste. I do know that I could sell the more "exotic" plants like egg plants and okra, I just don't feel like I have the energy to do that this gardening year. I am looking for a little house to rent that will allow me to plant a decent sized garden, but I'm not going to push my luck.

As for knitting, I plan to knit a few more adult sized hats, some simple wrap baby booties, and a few wash clothes. I do not yet have natural wool yarn, and I still get it from Walmart. I know that I am awful and I will deal with that criticism later. My plan is to find someone that sells the yarn as to the fact that we do not have room for goats or sheep or lamas or alpacas or anything that produces trimmings for spinning into yarn. I also plan on making the Mister's little sister a few more dresses for her to play dress up in. It isn't going to be a lot this winter, however I will still keep the Homestead trucking.