We dug potatoes this weekend - yield was way way down as we dealt with major drought this year .. but they are tasty! We are so very grateful that as much as we enjoy growing what we eat we don't have to depend on it to survive this winter. It would be a brutal winter without a grocery store. Sigh. Our usual hay yield is about 120 large square bales. This year we got 50 so another "fun" task for the summer was outsourcing hay. We got a hay elevator which made life much much easier!
We got water from the water station through the summer at least weekly and often daily. Our ponds were entirely dried up which reminded us of what a precious resource water is. Our house well ran dry a few times but we mostly put our bought water ($4 for 250 gallons) into the well and were able to keep on functioning much as normal (although long showers, laundry and dish washing were all curtailed).
The barn well stayed functional all summer. I was proud of it. How silly is that? But sometimes it;s the little things that make challenges bearable.
We have installed two water posts in the paddocks closest to the barn. So far we all love them - the trick will be if they will stay functional and unfrozen over the winter. Cross your fingers.
The horses ended up having two months of the lovely fall off. Sigh So here comes winter and here comes back to work. Not the best time of year but hopefully we'll sort it out.
Big T has finished the educational milestone that brought us down here. I have no intention of leaving though. Will be interesting to see what is around the next corner. To celebrate his accomplishments Mum got him an amazing wood splitter which has already saved us hours of man labour and muscle and I had a writers cabin (we call The Tardis) to encourage him to stay close to home!
Life is good
We are ever grateful.
