Lazy winter days
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 10:40AM
[Lisa Rae]

It's another lazy grey day up here on the mountain.  Yesterday I made the rounds in town, delivering goods and picking up supplies... plus rolfing and acupuncture.  Ben is gone trapping again.  He reported catching 5 more marten yesterday and fresh snow.

There's a bit of fresh snow here too, just a few inches to make everything white and lovely.  The temperatures have really warmed up- its about 24 degrees in the entryway as I write this.  Now I can let the fire go out and scoop ashes and clean stovepipe and replace the damper.

But first I need to finish cooking the cheese, which is brewing on the woodstove top.  And that will take pretty much all day long, so I guess we know what I'll be doing tonight after dark... working on the stove.  That's okay- there's probably not alot of other things on my list for evening.

After the cheesemilk warms to 85 degrees so I leave it unattended for awhile, I think I'll go down to the henhouse and flip litter.  Then after the rennet goes into the cultured milk, its time to split some kitchen wood and fill the woodbox.

Yep, things are pretty slow around here these days.  Just hanging around, doing the normal chores, and hanging out with the small child.  Soon though, very soon indeed, it will be time to start onion seeds, and maybe some herbs.  And then the days will be getting longer, with noticeable warmth seeping in from the getting-higher sun. 

We'll save all that for a few weeks from now, and meanwhile we'll enjoy our slow season in all of its quiet.  So it's just another lazy day... at least for now...

Article originally appeared on Lunachick Farm of Alaska (http://arctichomesteader.squarespace.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.