#dogstr Blizzard boy. This is his weather. He gets to play. I get to work.

#coffeechain GM Snow on Friday, snow yesterday, snow today, blizzard tomorrow, snow on Tuesday....still winter. Spent last night moving the remainder of my wood inside. We are getting ready for extended power outages.

#coffeechain GM, Need to clear the slushy, icey snow today. First #coffee

#BTC Of course he does. It is an existential treat to the fed.

#snow #dogstr Yukon loves the snow. This is his weather. Here he is sticking his nose in deer tracks.

#coffeechain GM, GA, GE, It is snowing again in New England. We have bumper crop of precipitation this year.

#homestead #foodstr #bread #sourdough #nostr #grownostr GM, GA, GE Here is a my latest mechanical venture. I added a motor to my hand crank grain mill. Automation has replaced labor.

#coffeechain GM, GA, GE, Coffee wins again if you trust Harvard science. View quoted note →

#coffeechain GM, It is slightly above freezing and sunny for another day. I can do outdoor work that doesn't involve snow removal. Yay!

#chickenstr #chicks #homestead Happy valentine's day! I usually clean the coop every six weeks. I do it at the end of November and wait until the January thaw to clean it after the holidays. The January thaw didn't come until today. The hens started laying a couple weeks ago. I figured that I should return the favor so they don't have to lay in their stalagmites of poop .

#coffeechain GM, Mug number three; #coffee is cold, but it is better than no coffee.

#proofofsteps #runstr We're loving the deep snow this year.

#dogstr #foodstr Happy Birthday Keppy! Have a canine cannoli.

#coffeechain GM, It's sunny now, but another clipper is on the way. I can see the clouds forming in the west.

#coffeechain GM

#nostr #grownostr #firestr Stove two was super easy to start. You can hear it warming fast. Stove one is always easy. Rake the coals, empty the ash bin and add wood. This one is known to continue for days, even weeks at a time.

#nostr #grownostr #btc This, to me, looks like a classic dead cat bounce. I suffer to #bear the #news

##zapathon It takes one #zap to start a #fire

#nostr #grownostr This is how I start a #fire 1. Get a box of tinder and kindling 2. Scape up charcoal to the front of the woodstove, letting ash sift to the ash pan. 3. Whenever lighting the stove always clean the ash pan and safely discard the ashes - more on that later. 4. Assemble tinder on top of the charcoal and followed by small kindling. Be sure there is plenty of space for airflow. I use a log cabin pattern. 5. Set the damper to full throttle 5. Light one splinter with a lighter and ignite the tinder as if using a long match stick. It usually ignites and flames up quickly. 6. Build the fire quick enough to keep heat and draft through the chimney. 7. Close the door, but wait until the cast iron is warm and radiating before locking the door down. Today's fire in stove 2 was smokier than I like. Usually I try to get a real clean and hot fire, but in this case, I had a tad too much kindling in the firebox to start. Some points about safety. To burn responsibly, we use seasoned and dry hardwood. It burns hotter and creates much less creosote than soft woods. We make sure that we have a clean flu and chimney. Keep the stove in the burn zone when it is in operation. Clear the ash box everyday. The ashes go into a fireproof can. I have one next to each stove. There are many uses for the ashes. We'll save that for another post.

#coffeechain GM, We won't make it to melting point today, so it's been a couple weeks since we saw tempatures above freezing. We will enjoy the relative warmth compared to the below zero tempatures we are expecting this weekend.