An Early Winter?

By all appearances, it seems that winter has arrived on the farm.

From the stories that I see on social media,

I believe that it has arrived for a few of you as well!

Each year I wonder :

Why is it that Autumn usually arrives late,

and Winter usually arrives early... making my favorite season the shortest?

Temperatures were quite cold yesterday

with highs only in the thirties.

(Night-time lows in the teens.)

It's that time of year when we can dispense with grazing muzzles

on these cold days, and the horses are free to stuff themselves.

They happily oblige.

Later in the morning, back in the dry lot,

it's time for a nap.

Moonbeam, Red, and Ollie tell me that muzzle-less grazing is exhausting work!

For Red, nosiness wins over fatigue every time, 

and he heads to the fence to have a chat with me.

He's such a personable little man.

What a great "big" horse he would have made. [whispering]

Shhhhhhh....he thinks he is a big horse!

For the next hour or so, snow flurries fall from grey wintry skies.

A few errands need to be done, so I say goodbye to my friends and take off in the farm truck.

(Still our only functioning vehicle... the deer-scrunched Prius is still in the shop...

 one month later.)

We are lucky to live in a place that allows us to buy local produce.

There's a wonderful produce stand in the next town that grows many of their

crops in hoop houses... making for a much longer growing season.

Fresh local cauliflower and broccoli are abundant,

so I bought enough broccoli for a pot of cream of broccoli soup.

To me, there's nothing better on a cold day than a bowl of hot soup.

I stopped at the feed store in search of a heated bucket for the chickens.

A frozen bucket of water was our clue that their present water bucket was not 

functioning properly.

On the way back through the farm, I stopped at the chicken house to 

install the new water bucket and this happened...

(Link to above video, if needed.)

The countryside has definitely taken on a more wintry look.

Autumn's color is gone now,

with most of the leaves now on the ground,

with the exception of the oak trees which seem to hold on to their leaves the longest.

There is still some green left in the grass, 

but that fades a little with each passing day.

The earth is slowly tucking herself in for a much needed sleep...

sending all of the energy of the plants and trees below ground.

Soon we will be surrounded by the greys and browns of winter...

with color being but a fond memory.

I never tire of these seasonal changes and all that comes with each season.

It's a necessary and miraculous process that we are able to witness.

Thankfully technology gives us the ability to weather these changes quite comfortably.

Now we begin the days of hot fires in the fireplace,

comforting bowls of soup,

and a barn filled with hay to keep our four legged friends cozy as well.

Life is good.