Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Winter Woes

We got another arctic blast Saturday.   This morning it's a whopping -5°F outside with a -26° wind chill (and the sun is shining). 

There was one thing we were struggling with yesterday.  How to protect Orion (our male lamancha goat) from the -25 to -35°F wind chill we were expecting.  We were told it would the coldest yet.  They might be right, as the wind chill is to stay at low at -35°F today.  Looks like our high will be 0°F.

If this winter was worse than last year, then what's next winter going to be?  Our cold blast will last a week here. I sure hope it kills off some ticks and other nasty bugs.

Anyway,
we called our straw guy, and with the help of a borrowed truck,we were able to get enough.  We stacked several bales around his shed to block the chill and keep him warm.   

The snow was only 1-2 inches, but it was blowing terribly and we were driving in a white-out most of the time.

I'm going to have to invest in dog booties (or see if I have supplies to make them, which I probably don't).  Jesse just stopped walking and would not move when he went out to do his business, I had to pick him up, and we were only about six feet form the door.  His paws hurt that much.  Even some old socks would take the chill off.  Alias doesn't like the cold either. 

I'm late getting to the barn to check on the animals, so that's next.  I'm praying everyone is okay.  
 

I'm making vegetable pockets today.  The kids are getting cabin fever and want to eat a lot lately, so I wanted a healthy "snack" to have on hand.  It's basically a salad (romaine lettuce, celery, carrots, green pepper, etc.) that you eat in a pocket of pita bread.  We add green onion to it, for spice, and add dressing in the pita bread.  Why the pita bread?  Well, one kiddo does not like salad but wants to eat healthier, so this is one way everyone will eat the salad.  We top it with a bit of shredded cheese too.




To go with it, I made homemade Thousand Island dressing.
I use my homemade canned ketchup, and home canned pickle relish.  Although a sour pickle relish may work better, I do use our sweet pickle relish.

The recipe requires Worcestershire sauce, and it is made with anchovies, so I will make a batch without it for our vegetarian daughter.  I did find out that Annie's brand of this sauce is vegan.  I'll have to look for it at stores, because I'm told it tastes just like the regular sauce.

The dressing will last about two weeks in the refrigerator, so I am careful to make sure I date my jar.  I took the photo late last night, so it's not really a good one.  The color of the dressing is pretty close to what you buy in stores.

10 comments:

EMMA said...

Haha my eldest will only eat salad (shredded) in pitta!
We used to have to buy dog shoes for a our old dog but they wouldn't stay on thus she kept loosing them - they were quite expensive. Have you tried putting lotion on the dogs paws? we ended up buying some kind of cream from Canada that the mushers use on the huskies paws but i think it was originally meant for hoofs! It came in a yellow tube with red writing on it - maybe your vet will know it as you are in north america too.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Emma, that's so funny that you have the same situation (salad). Ha ha! I just looked up prices on the booties and they are pricy. I'll have to ask the vet about that cream too. Thanks.

Mama Pea said...

Gosh, but you're having the frigid temps as we are much farther north! And the winds . . . don't they just make it miserable? If goats are able to stay dry and out of the wind, they do nicely in even the coldest temps. Too bad your buck doesn't have anybody to cuddle with. That helps a lot.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, we bought Rue in the very beginning goat buying days, to cuddle with Orion, but they didn't get along. So Rue is cuddling with the ladies. The blowing yesterday was the worst I've seen it this winter. We had to keep stopping because we could not see the road, traffic or anything in front of us yesterday.

Kim said...

You think your dogs don't like the cold weather you should see my Chihuahua. He looks at me like I must be insane to think he is going out in that. We are 6* at the present and 35 mile an hour wind makes it feel like 20 below. Stay warm and stay safe.

GratefulPrayerThankfulHeart said...

You have weather like our daughter in Syracuse...so cold! I have been tempted to try boots for my dog but I don't think he will keep them on. Not as cold where you are but still wind chill of -5 here tonight.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

GratefulPrayer, I haven't checked, but it may have been a record breaking day yesterday.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Kim, I can't imagine a dog with such small feet, and such cold temps. Poor thing.

RB said...

Right now, we're having sleet, snow and freezing rain here in south Central NC which is very rare for us. I hope the electricity holds because that's how we heat, and I hope all the beasties everywhere are safe. Ours are fine, but I think about the many stray cats and dogs in town, and my heart just aches for them in this weather.

Prayers for all dealing with weather issues. Mother Nature sure is being rough on us this year.

God bless.

RB
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Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

RB, thank you for the prayers.