The holidays are a busy, chaotic time with little time for barnyard work. My grandfather live across the street from my parents whom we visited for Christmas. Much to my grandfather’s efficient and stoic personality, I also came for some dry sawdust for coop and stall bedding.
In the of chaos of running around from a fun Yankee Swap which ended up a late night drive with grumpy kids to Christmas day visiting. Both were 45 minutes away—but worth the travel.
With the modern world of family diversity through divorce and miles of separation it was a damn miracle I had all three kids for both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We took our time with unwrapping gifts and having a nice breakfast together. This joyful time is the peak of happiness for many during winter in Maine.
Snow was on the ground harkening nostalgic landscapes, individual snowflakes sparkled in the sun But the snow was not soft enough for snowmen or forts. It was the real cold stuff that squelched under our feet.
After it was all over the house we empty as the kids spent time with their other families. The blues dragged me down for the day so I worked on my spring 2020 garden layout.
Since building new coops just before it turning to winter in Maine some garden space was lost. They are ten feet from the outer fence. Now inside the garden’s fortress of a fence they have about 1/4 of the garden to themselves with fence posts and netting keeping them off from the garden area.
Winter in Maine is a great time to catch up and look ahead at farm work in spring.
Possibly damaging and simply gross poops shouldn’t be in the garden without proper composting. The last thing I want is to be kneeling on poop when winter in Maine is finally over and the big melt has come and gone. It’s good to think of hurdles and solutions in the midst of winter in Maine.
Many of us get dragged down by cabin fever and seasonal depression. I have both friends and family who have a hard time. It’s important to identify it early on and find things to focus on while waiting for spring.