You would think that the chores on a farm would diminish in the winter. But think again! There is plenty that needs to be done this time of year.
One of the biggest chores is pruning our >100 tree orchard. Tom got the main orchard done all by himself but we still have the smaller crab apple orchard to go.
pruned orchard
Then there are the repairs. Fences, gates, etc. Tom fixed this fence that was falling over onto my grape vines.
fixed grape fence
There are dead trees to deal with. Tom took out 5 dead hazelnut trees here and a large dead cherry tree in the orchard. Then he was able to access the fence along the front pasture to repair it as well.
hazelnut trees taken down and new fencing going up
Then there is tending to the older animals. Winter is really hard on them. I have been trying hard to pamper them with limited success as you have seen by the recent deaths. but this Welsummer rooster I managed to pull from the brink with TLC. he is looking good now.
Welsummer rooster
There there is cutting back the blackberries (which I did), cleaning the bar rain water containers (which Tom did), putting Christmas decorations away (which I did) and supporting fermenting and bottling (which we are both doing). Every fall I think I will have plenty of time in the winter for projects like quilting, weaving, spinning, etc. But it never seems to happen. So every winter I get disappointed. But it is really nice to get these other projects done.
That’s a lot of work all right!
I’m glad you were able to save that beautiful rooster! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one quite like it.
It seems like Tom is doing all the work but most of the time when he is working on one of these projects, I am taking care of the regular chores alone. So I am contributing too.
He is a beautiful rooster. I am glad he is feeling better.
wow. that’s a lot of apple trees! didn’t realize the extent of your orchard- I haven’t started pruning quite yet, but have been trying to take advantage of our recent good weather to do some general yard/garden cleanup – and seems like there are always blackberries to do battle with
It is a lot of trees, and it is only going to get harder as we get older and they get bigger. Yours is a lot of work though. We are noticing the cherries and roses budding already. Weird winter. I did not do the blackberries out back. If I don’t and the goats don’t go out to eat them we will be overrun buy them.