Winter is Coming

Here in the good ol’ Pacific Northwest, getting ready for winter is more about getting things ready for rain than it is prepping for snow or ice.

This means cleaning out the gutters (before and after the leaves fall). We had gutter guards, but found that we grew too much moss under them and the moss gummed up the gutter anyway. PNW, for the wind.

Seppi was so thrilled to be able to climb up the ladder and help out on the roof. He can’t wait until the next time he can clean the gutters.

Later in the day we went to the farm to start work on prepping the orchard for the winter.

Right now, this means cutting out the spent fruiting canes, but more of the work was cutting out the wild blackberry canes. We try to dig out the roots as much as possible.

Can’t dig out the roots without a shovel.

Seppi likes cutting with the brush cutters, it’s just a matter of pointing him in the right direction.

This one?

Yes, that one.

This back side of the blackberry row is massively overgrown, again, and needs another attitude adjustment.

Unfortunately, we had very little time that afternoon and most of that time was spent digging out this cluster of wild blackberries. Then it was time to do the chores.

Winnie likes to ride. She’s a princess.

Seppi rides sometimes, but he also likes to pull.

This is my attempt at an overhead view of the last month of paddock usage. Disappointingly, it does not show the greening of the more distant paddocks. They had roughly 3 -6 inches of grass bulk in most places, with good thickness of seedlings in the seeded spots.

This is a duck egg! From our 8 duck hens we are currently getting 2-4 eggs per day.

This is what Seppi wants to do most when we get to the farm. Build stuff. If only I had more time to build stuff with him!