Winter Arrives

Our early winter continued to be mild and the chickens got lots of outdoor time:

They fanned out across the rotting, windfall apples and searched for anything edible:

Then one day we had an ice storm and the chickens stayed indoors. The Wild Cucumber vines were covered with ice:

The grass seed heads were covered with crystalline ice:

And the Cedar branches and cones were covered with ice:

Then it began to snow. I took a drive down the dirt road to see winter beginning to form in the surrounding forest:

The first snows are usually beautiful, and this was no exception:

Beech trees continued to hold onto their leaves and the pine needles held onto the newly fallen snow:

The woodlands seemed inviting, a place to escape the falling snow:

It was all quite beautiful:

The snow continued to fall, but it wasn't until that night that winter really hit us with cold temperatures, high winds and a combination of snow and ice. I began letting the cows sleep inside the barn at night:

Eli, my Amish neighbor, has no tractor, automobile or snowplow - but he seems to have few problems with the winter weather. As for going outside to use the outhouse, I'm glad I don't have to do it: