week 2: winter chores
this week on the little dream farm
Chris spent this week off farm in Milwaukee, WI for work while I was holding it down here at home on the farm…and boy was it a cold one! It was “feels like” single digit and teens temps all week long with a wonderful reprieve on Friday when it shot up into the mid-30s—you could tell how much the donkeys and hens appreciated the warmer sunny day…as did I and celebrated it by going for a nice long walk outside.
Here’s mostly what our every day chore routine looks like this time of year. There’s a bunch of variations if Max needs his foot wrapped or the donkeys need their feed we give them every other day or we need to shovel snow or re-stack wood in the wood shed, but our winter chores are a pretty steady drumbeat and all the animals know their routine so well:
0400: Get up, restart the fire (which is usually hot enough from the night before to place a log in the hot ash and spark it again)
0530: De-ice donkey water buckets (we use pitchers of hot water) and feed donkeys hay
0600: Feed the hungry hungry pack of kitties, scoop litter boxes
0800: Give hot water to hens, feed hens, collect eggs (if any)
Feed hay to donkeys, refresh hot water, scoop poop
Set 10-12 logs in wood holder outside front door to feed fire for the day
1100: Collect eggs (if any—this time they lay maybe one or sometimes two a day and we try to catch them right around the time they lay them so they don’t freeze!)
Turn donkeys out into pasture (if 30 degrees or above), scoop poop
1400: Feed hens and refresh hot water
1600: Feed the hungry hungry pack of kitties, scoop litter boxes
Take up water for hens (leaving it in the coop can trap steam before it freezes and cause frostbite on the hens’ combs so there should never be water in the coop at night when it’s below freezing), tucks hens in and close up coop
Scoop donkey run-in shed and corral, refresh hot water, feed hay, bring donkeys in from pasture
2000: Load up the fire for the night and off to bed!
When Chris is home he takes morning outside chore duty for the hens and donkeys and I take care of the wood. I feed the cats both morning and evening. Chris collects the eggs and keeps the hens food filled and their water from freezing and shuttles out most of the hot water to the donkeys and does their poop scooping. I then go out and tuck everyone in for the night and load up a few more logs if needed for the evening.
We love that we created this solid, steady routine, because each of us does each of the things on our list the same way and when one of us is off the farm it’s simple and stress-free to be able to step right in and get it all done just the same. The other thing we love about the way we streamlined our chores is that they’ve become such a steady habit (they shift in the spring, summer, and fall as the daylight changes and the demands are different) that it allows us to stay focused on work during the week or head off the farm for the day or change up our schedule with such ease. It’s like having such a solid, steady routine frees our minds up for more adventure and spontaneity. Plus, everything gets done, the animals are all so well cared for, and nothing gets missed anymore like it used to way back when we didn’t have a plan.
We’ve got a few more low lows coming up this week bust mostly higher daytime temps which makes me happy for the donkeys and hens.
Chris got back home safely very late Friday night and has been snuggling the kitties and dove right back into his chores routine while it snowed most the day yesterday.
We’re all happy to have our big guy, our main squeeze, back on the farm. Yesterday we drove out to our favorite dairy farm in Vermont to pick up some raw milk, cultured raw butter, yogurt, and a giant jar of kimchi from another nearby Vermont farm. We also stopped by one of our favorite markets and picked up some Vermont raw cheddar, a few snacks, and made ourselves a nice big bowl of their delicious chili to share on the ride back home to the farm.
How about you—what have you been up to this weekend?? Would love to hear about it!
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I have a routine for my four cats and boy do I hear all about it if I have to deviate! They give such unconditional love and hilarious entertainment, it's my pleasure to take good care of them each day.
That sounds like a great routine. I think animals in general (including us humans) like a gentle routine to give a comfortable rhythm to life. I know my cat loves routine. I sometimes wonder if he has a secret pocket watch because he never misses meal time. Hope you have a peaceful and relaxed rest of your Sunday on the Little Dream Farm xxx