Fire and Ice

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that fire
is pretty much the only thing that scares me.

The second half of that statement is...
I am also a little bit of a pyromaniac.  I love building fires....
safe, contained fires.
Bonfires!!


Yesterday was just about the most perfect day.
I know you are going to think that I have lost my mind.
Because...
no, I didn't go on some wild adventure...
I just stayed home and we built a bonfire.
Perfect!!


And, to top it off... it snowed.
The snow should have been enough to throw me right over the edge...
after all, winter just keeps hanging on here.
But, there is nothing more wonderful than a bonfire in the snow.


You're wondering why a bonfire?
Well, we are in the midst of Spring clean-up...
 and in the process, had decided to scrap two wooden chests that had fallen apart on our front deck.
In these chests we kept birdseed (in one) and kindling (in the other).
We replaced the two chests with this one large chest that will hold everything.
Thank you, Wayfair.com... it should last forever!


As for the broken-down wooden chests... perfect fit in our fire pit.
Hence: bonfire.

So... yesterday afternoon, we sat outside in front of a roaring fire
while the snow fell.
And it was magical!
Even the dogs had a blast.
It made the snow squall completely tolerable.


And now, here I sit.. looking out at the snow falling, feeling completely warm and fuzzy.

To make it all even better...
it is supposed to be 70 degrees by the end of the week.
Goodbye Winter!
This bonfire is in your honor...
now pack your bags and hit the road!

Look what popped up in our pasture...


Spring!

Before the fire and snow, I had spent an hour out in the front pasture picking up manure.
An hour may seem excessive... as if I had way too much manure out there.
I wasn't working the entire time, however...


I opened up the gate and let the pigs and sheep come out with me.


At least half of that time was spent just visiting.


There's no nutrition to speak of in that pasture for the time being,
but it was a great opportunity for everyone to get a change of scenery.


It occurred to me that there are a few questions that you asked that I forgot to answer.
Goat questions...
Yes, we have in the past collected the goat cashmere and had it spun into yarn.
It was unbelievably scratchy... perhaps because some of their regular hair was incorporated
into the cashmere.
No, we no longer breed our goats.
We had a particularly rough birthing season several years ago and lost a mother and babies.
After that we couldn't face breeding.


The goats were a joint venture with myself and Dr. Becky...
and so they live in a pasture that is between our farm and Dr. Becky's house.
This makes them a little more remote than the rest of our farm animals.
During breeding seasons, however, they used to live in another pasture at Dr. Becky's...
so she could be available whenever anyone went into labor.

They are all retired now and are living out their days just being goats...
with plenty of room to roam and plenty of fresh hay and shelter.

Comments

Colleen said…
Bonfires are the best! I like building and tending the fire as much as I like watching.
Nice addition to your deck, looks great and so functional too.
Louise Stopford said…
Yes let's hope that it's goodbye to Winter. A great way to see it off by having a roaring bonfire. I loved the last photo - to me it is the perfect scene of a farmyard.
Anonymous said…
I just moved from Tidewater Virginia to DuBois and all of this snow is putting me over the edge!!!! TerriC
jaz@octoberfarm said…
i love bonfires. they are simply one of my most favorite things! we got more snow overnight. another big storm is on the way for this weekend but for us it will just be rain.
This N That said…
What! No Marshmallows?? I love fires too..especially the way they make your clothes and hair smell..Nice that the pigs and sheep had a change of scenery..I'm sure they enjoyed it..Hope you are having a good week..