Brrrr! ~ Chicken Coop Repair ~ Carrots

To all of you who read through yesterday's long post, thank you for your dedication and patience to read through it.  Today's post will be much shorter.

It's was gonna be a cold night last night (second freeze warning), so I trudged out to the barn and brought in more wood.  Hubby is already starting to show the signs of sleep deprivation and exhaustion.  He's a grouch.  He apologized, but he'll need a lot of rest after this long work week.  

It was a chilly 30°F this morning, and the wood stove was going strong.  In October.  So odd.

The coop got a good cleaning, and I stuffed the roost with extra straw.  I had to wait a bit for the temperature to rise, but it was still cold out there.  The ladies and gent will want the warmth in this cooler weather. 

I had to fix their coop ladder too, and as I fixed it I noticed a hole chewed through the chicken wire.   It's between the main coop and the emergency smaller coop (door is shut on it, so it must have a hole in the ceiling of the loft inside).  I haven't gotten eggs for about 5 days now, so do you all think this could be work of a rat?  Possibly living up in the loft?  Hubby and I set traps and fixed the hole.  I'm pretty sure it's a rat.  Just one more thing to deal with right now. First time for this to happen in 10 years.  We have plans to build a new coop, but we have a lot on the "board" right now. 

Carrots were blanched and put into the freezer.  I had to buy them this year, but I have a good start at a winter supply.  I got 5 lbs. put up so far - about 5 meals.

I replaced the smoke alarm batteries.

Feeling a bit off, but thankfully not "sick" Hubby and I have opened a jar of our Four Thieves Vinegar and taken it for the last few days.  I am also sipping fresh ginger tea.  I know we both need rest so I took the rest of the day off.   Tuesday was a check it off task-type day (long day).  I wish I could say the same for Hubby, with the case of a day of rest.

First Frost ~ Sweet Potatoes ~ The Last Dig

Mia was intrigued with my yarn.  She was sniffing it and wondering what it was as I crocheted.  So funny.  I tried to get some photos, but they just wouldn't sit still, ha ha!  Jesse is with us now too, and they get along well.  Tiger is just not happy.  He comes in my room at night to his "safe" space and curls up right next to me to get his "love" time now.

Oh my gosh, it was cold yesterday morning.  I had a ton of things that needed done, and it didn't heat up very fast.  We had a freeze warning last night, so the last of the jalapenos were picked, and we woke up to a temperature of 31°F.

I got soup beans into the crock pot, got my breakfast, and washed the dishes, in hopes to get to the garden.  A freeze warning is upon us now.   I dug up all the sweet potatoes.

Here's what they look like.  .  .

I harvested about half of what I normally get, but they are larger than I thought they'd get.  I didn't weigh them yet, but I am happy I got what I got.  They won't last all winter, but it's less I'll have to buy.

Apparently I fed a few rodents.  Thankfully, only losing about 3 or 4 this time.  It was rabbits.  Thanks to one of the dogs for letting me know.  The rabbits were living right along the west side of the garden.  

Hubby has been working 10 hour days (6 days straight), so I'm a one woman machine in getting everything done - hence why I don't have a rinse stand built yet.  

I literally saturated myself with the garden hose getting the sweet potatoes rinsed.  I had to dump them all out on the grass to do it, due to the wet mud on them.  When I was done I washed out the watering unit for the chickens and let the sweet potatoes dry off before bringing inside.  

Although my sleeves and pants were saturated, I rinsed off the 2 inches of mud on my muck boots and trudged out to fetch fire wood.  Several trips back and forth, I was done with enough for a few days.

Back inside I stripped and tossed my dirty clothes and jacket into the washer, to start putting away the clean dishes.  Oh the work continued.

I took a short medicinal tea break on the porch, and soaked up more sunshine.

I needed to prep a cabbage for dinner.  We were not impressed, so the cabbage will be fried with potatoes and bacon grease tonight.

On a side note, I had plans to put Mia on a tie out (prior to knowing that we'd get Jesse too (while in the garden), but I left them indoors.  They are behaving wonderfully, so I am thawing homemade dog treats to give them when I come in from a few hours of garden work.

Youngest Daughter got me good with the plastic rat.  Sigh.  I have to get her back, ha ha ha!  Little stinker.

I got a mullein tincture started.  I am getting pretty low in supply of that.  

I found some nice broad leaf plantain growing in the garden, so back out I went hoping I didn't get dirty (other than boots) to gather some of it.  Despite a frost.

It was blanched and put into the freezer for soup and stew.  I sliced it Julianne style so I only have to thaw it.  Sorry for the bad photo. I was trying to take the photo one-handed.  I stacked the leaves and sliced them like you would basil.  I then blanched them for 2 minutes, and put them in an ice bath for 2 minutes.  Drained them and put them in freezer bags in the freezer.

That's now all I got done.  A large batch of double blueberry pancakes were made ahead for breakfast.  I got about 4-5 times the amount in the photo.  Just need some sausage to go with it now.

Finished!  Got it done while taking a second short break.  Man I was so tired at the end of the day.  If forgot how much work wood takes, as well as working back to regular hours in the garden.