A Belated, but Sincere, Happy Thanksgiving

Last winter was a bad one for me.

As if the shortened days, bitter outdoor temperatures, and apparent lifeless landscape wasn’t enough to bring a person down, we had a number of other setbacks last year too.

We’ve been trying to become more independent and self sufficient, but we are still learning and tweaking and adjusting things. We’re also pretty laid back about it.  We realize a need for independence for our own reasons, but we aren’t particularly hurried so we don’t go all out at the get go…. ie we don’t always do it right the first time around.   We’re ok with trial and error.

The first lesson we learned was that our wood stove in the basement didn’t have the capacity to heat the house.  It was a cold, cold winter outside and inside too.  We were reduced to cutting off parts of the house by putting blankets over doorways, eating in the living room where it was warm, wearing coats in the kitchen, and running space heaters.  I was not a happy camper.  I rarely am in the winter, but there is no bigger sissy than me when it comes to cold!

Our stores of canned goods diminished quickly for our efforts with our first garden and my first lessons in canning.

To add to my personal misery, I was losing chicks left and right, and couldn’t understand why.  Nothing I did was enough to save them it seemed.  No heat lamp, bringing them back into the house, no antibiotic, nothing.  I lost around half of all my chicks.  Long story short, we finally ended up putting down my entire flock, which was a miserable experience, then started over.

The time between last winter and this one wasn’t all good either so I went into this winter at the start incredibly down, expecting all the worst, expecting a replay of last winter, anxiety pre-mounted. Zero holiday spirit.

Today, it is cold outside, the sky is gray, earth is once again apparently lifeless, there is  about a foot of snow on the ground, and it is still falling.

John went out this morning and shoveled the gate to the run and shoveled the snow in front of the coop so I could get inside.  The hot water runs have started with me cursing for my extremely cold-sensitive fingers. But as much as I hate winter in general, and as much as I hated last year in particular, I am actually incredibly happy today.  Feeling super.

The new, very large wood stove is keeping the house comfortable– go free heat!  I still at least have a crate full of squash in my kitchen and cabinets overrun with pickles, and outside are 32 juvenile chickens that are happy, healthy, lively, and just seem unstoppable.  Not a single problem, not a single loss. They haven’t a problem or a care in the world despite the snow and cold.  They couldn’t be more perfect. ❤

This really is gearing up to be the happiest and best winter I could ask for as I’m realizing the little things I have to be thankful for, and if it hadn’t been for everything that went wrong last year, I don’t think I would be able to recognize the things I have to appreciate this year.

For the first time in a very long time, in cold and snow, I actually didn’t rush directly back into the house but simply stood there and just….. looked… and then wandered a little.  Instead of my feeling like everything is dead, it seemed as if everything is merely resting… sleeping, under a pure white, fluffy blanket.

Incredible how one’s perception can change…..

So, I’m late in being thankful, but I suppose that late is better than never.  I’m actually thankful for a miserable winter last year as it gave me the ability to see what I can be thankful for now and a changed perception of the season I have despised so much for so long whether permanent or temporary, many a lesson learned over the course of a year’s time, for the signs both big and small that we are getting better at all this here farmin’ stuff, for my beautiful, healthy young flock, for some very special friends I have made, and for the health and comfort of my family.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  But this time I *really* mean it.