Update 1

What's new at Lost Arrow since we last met? The family has finished planting 2 dwarf apple trees, 2 dwarf peach trees, 4 blueberries, 2 boysenberry and a thornless blackberry bush. We have ordered one nuc (bees) for spring. I would love to have more, but the finances are keeping us from expanding too quickly. Our roosters are finally crowing, just in time for them to butchered. We really did not have as many hens in the last bunch as I would have liked. We have 25 Leghorn broilers coming at the end of January to fill the freezer and maybe a few canning jars, late spring. I am still wanting to order some spring hens to keep the eggs fresh, especially with the low numbers of hens now. Right now, they are all free-ranging around the yard and all but one seems to find their way back to the coop by nightfall. I have a few seedlings up in the greenhouse. I am hoping to get those moved into my first intensive raised bed in a few weeks to have some early vegetables for us and maybe even for the market (not sure about that yet though). I am working on my second intensive bed, a few rows a day. I am hoping to get that done within a week or so and get some potatoes going pretty soon. The garlic I planted in September has come up since our weather has been so mild, so I got that bed weeded. I have been also doing a bit of wire brusing on the deck to get it ready for some new paint this spring. Since our weedeater was out of commission the end of last summer, some of the grass, especially around the house was a bit out of control, and I have been working on that with the hand shears a few minutes at a time. We have hooded megansers on our pond. If I pass by a window and see one, I have to get the binoculars and just watch them for a moment before continuing what I was doing. Even though it is only a couple of weeks into winter, I am thoroughly enjoying this winter and the preparations for spring.