New Year's Eve at Ole Lake Farm

Wow - it's cold around here!

We been in an extended cold snap since before Christmas.  Today's high was -6℉.  Tomorrow we are expected to get up to a blistering 1℉ Yahoo!

I do enjoy the frost art on the the coop windows though:

Speaking of the coop...when I posted here last (if the turkey topic hadn't bored you so much that you skipped that part) you read about my struggles to coax the turkeys indoors at night.  At that time, I was having partial success.  Now there is no problem - everyone with feathers goes in at night.  In the past I would not open the coop up during the day when the weather is this cold, but with 32 hens, Julio the rooster, and 8 full grown turkeys it's just too crowded in there.  I open the little door each morning and the turkeys roam about, seemingly oblivious to the temperatures.

It seems that 4 of Penolope's 5 offspring are males.  Here are a couple of them strutting their stuff.

The pigs are pretty pretty hardy creatures and are handling the cold just fine - although it is difficult for Kevin to keep their food troughs and water nipple thawed out.  The goats have good shelters, plenty of straw bedding, and heated water pails - even so I am sure they will be happier when it warms up.

At least we have snow.  This is the view from the milking stand that I like to put out here now and then.  Vinca and I are done milking for this season, thank goodness!  Although some years we continue into January, this year we finished up just before Christmas.

 With the extreme cold, we are really going through the wood!

I want to share a special Christmas gift.  Kevin's sister Lori had this really neat rock painted for him - looks a little incongruous on the deck right now though!  It is very heavy - we will NOT be using it for a sign at the farmer's market next summer, though I wish we could!

That's all for 2017.  From Ole Lake Farm to where ever you are reading this post, we wish you a healthy and happy NEW YEAR - Have Peace and Be Well!