Winter Beauty

It's a strange feeling right now... in the middle of what should be our holiday celebration.  It's just a little too quiet for this time of year.  Jack continues to be down and out with the flu.  Thankfully, I feel fine... because someone has to keep things going on the farm.  We cannot share illnesses - it just doesn't work with farm life.

Yesterday morning was a busy one.  I rose, dressed, built a fire in the fireplace to warm the cold house (we turn our heat way back at night) and set out to the barn for morning chores.

I had mixed up several batches of sourdough the previous evening and formed them into loaves before leaving for chores... giving the dough time to proof and the oven time to heat.  Midway through chores, I dashed back to the house to put two of the loaves in to bake and set my watch timer for 30 minutes.

Then the electrician came to fix one of our outdoor GFI outlets (the one the horse troughs are plugged into).  I continued with barn chores until my alarm sounded, then dashed back to the house to take the lids off of the bread and set my timer for another 20 minutes.  During those twenty minutes, I opened the chickens and ducks, cleaned up the night's chicken manure, changed their waters 

and arrived back home just in time to take two multigrain, seeded sourdough loaves out of the oven (after first washing my hands!!)

Next on the list was to cook the batch of sourdough English muffins.  They cook on top of the stove on the griddle (on low) until each side is golden brown and the middle is nice and puffy.

Perfect!

Lastly, I baked a loaf of gateaux de voyage (traveler's [cake] bread)... a home-ground whole wheat loaf packed with dried fruits and nuts... sweetened only by the presence of the fruits.  It's a meal all by itself! 

By afternoon, the dogs and I were in need of an adventure, so we headed on foot to the woods.

There was a time in my life when I was out of touch with the rhythm of the earth, and Winter was more of a nuisance than anything. 

Over these past 16 years of living so close to nature, I have come to love Winter.  A much less colorful season than its counterparts, Winter is ripe with tones and textures.

It's a time for seeds to scatter on the wind...

or relocate by animal - when a prickly burr hitchhikes on a passerby's fur...

Although it might look as though everything is brown or grey, there are subtle hues such as the blue-purple of raspberry canes.

Ground mushrooms are dormant at this time of year, but the saprophytic mushrooms (those that live off of rotting trees) remain active - 

rejuvenated by the moisture of our recent snow.

Seeing all of these jelly ears was a nice surprise!

Auricularia, or wood ears.

A walk in the woods serves two purposes for the dogs.  

Exercise, of course, but also brain stimulation.  

Different sources report that a dogs' sense of smell is anywhere from a thousand to ten million

 times keener than ours.  They have forty times more smell receptors spread over an area the size of a handkerchief than ours which are spread over an area the size of a postage stamp.  It would be fascinating to be able to smell that well (for just a few minutes, please!... longer than that would overwhelm us!)

I walked past this tree and noticed some fluffy dots on its bark...

tiny fungi shaped like popped corn.

Also nestled into the bark was this bug - a lightening bug, I believe.  Do you see the tiny white dot on its back?  That is a tiny bit of lichen growing on it.

Naturally, no trip to the woods is complete without a stop by Forrest's favorite puddle.

Believe it or not, he is clean and almost dry by the time we reach home.

It looks as though our weekend is going to be a very quiet one.  Regardless, we will have Christmas cheer in our hearts and a toasty fire in the fireplace!

When next we chat, Winter Solstice will have arrived and from that point, the days will start to get lighter!

PS:  I finished my sweater...