I saw a news item about Russia being buried in snow and thought how cozy it must be inside with all the extra insulation around their houses! We are feeling the bite of -20F (-29C) wind chills this morning and it brought tears to my eyes doing the chicken chores. I'll have to go back out in a few hours to give them more water and try to rescue any eggs before they freeze. I'm attempting to sprout some wheat seeds to give the hens a taste of green. It's not an impressive germination ratio so far but there are some sprouting.
Do you remember the old saying about there not being such a thing as 'bad' publicity? Obviously, some things are so bad that they do have a negative effect, but not in this case... Last night my son and I were watching a vlog that included a put-down against Subway for shorting the length of the subs and tasting bad. Afterwards I said 'Subs sound good' and that's what we had for dinner. Ah, the power of suggestion!
Thoughts on buying locally: I love being able to buy direct from the source and support the locals as much as possible. Beef and lamb come straight from the farmers, firewood from the man who cut and split it himself, chicken feed from the elevator, seasonal produce from the farmer's market when available, and when it was possible I bought raw milk from a dairy farmer. The problem I have is with the local grocery store. Unless an item is actually on sale, the costs are prohibitive compared to the store near my workplace. Example: grapes are $2-3 lb in the city and $5 lb here. Now let's talk milk - because I can no longer get raw milk and we don't go through it very fast, I buy ultra-pasteurized organic. I expect to pay about double what normal milk costs but the whole point of the 'ultra' is that it can sit in the refrigerator for up to six weeks with no problem. So, what does the local store do? It prices it at well over double the cost of regular and offers cartons that expire THE NEXT DAY and ten days out at most. Idiots.
Brrr...the house is hard to keep warm this morning. Need more wood!
1 comment:
I think it's great to get whatever is possible to locally, unfortunately it's not so easy any more!!
Our cold snap has just broke and the snow has thawed so this morning is pleasant though a little windy. Hope it soon warms up for you too. Good luck with that corn!!
Have you tried sprouting seeds for the chickens?? Could be a good way to get them a few greens this time of year and it's easy to do inside and doesn't take up any of your time either as the don't need much attention.
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