Waiting for Winter

It's time for there to be snow.  Some people dread it, but I am anticipating it.

The gardens are done enough; there's always more to do, and if it doesn't snow soon, I'll do more.  However, I would be happy to awake tomorrow morning to a foot of snow and no more leaves to rake.

We have more plans.  I have been reading more about permaculture and talking to more experienced friends.  Balancing what each has to say against my certainty that some mistakes just have to be made for us to learn, I like our current plan.  We're going to plant fruit trees on either side of the drive, and a nut tree or two in the only less sandy place on our property.  We'll put a perimeter fence around the "chicken" field this year (or at least as much as we can afford), and plant two or three fodder trees strategically in this field.  A fodder tree is one that provides things animals can eat.  At this point, I know locust is a local option, but I don't know how well it grows in sandy soil.  I need to do a bit more research.

The idea of putting trees in pastures is to provide hummus building, fodder, shade, and a water detainer.  At first we'll have to protect the trees from the animals, but as they grow, this will become less necessary, except in the case of pigs.

Jason works twelve days in the next two weeks as part of Santa's dungeon staff, but then, we can focus on some of our inside winter tasks.  And hopefully, do a bit of sledding and cross country skiing, assuming it ever snows.