Keeping warm.

To keep our spirits high in the middle of the winter we make sure that we all get fresh air daily and do some sort of physical activity. We do the chores twice a day and come to the barn in the morning and in the afternoon to feed our animals and get them fresh drinking water.

And then there is another activity that we do weekly. We keep it as a family fun day!

Everybody loves to cuddle with a blanket close to the woodburning stove with a good book and a homemade cookie while mother nature is raging behind the windows howling her fierce songs. So then everybody has to chip in and participate in preparing the wood. We jokingly say around here that we get really warm THREE times while taking care of our heating needs. First, when we cut and gather wood and branches clearing the nearby shelterbelts from dead and fallen trees. Second, when we split and pile up the logs by the door. And third time when we actually get to experience the charm of the heat coming from our woodburning stove. That type of heat penetrates through your bones and warms up your soul from within. Then the only thing missing is the cup of hot cocoa made from fresh goat's milk!