KW-02 That's where winter was hiding
It definitely has a bit of a chill about it
A very good morning to you all! If you are in Europe today, you don’t need me to tell you that winter descended.
In Sweden, thousands of cars got trapped in a blizzard on the motorways, everyone I know in the Alps is posting “fresh powder!” action on the socials, and here in the wilds of Saxony, we had our first minus 10 of the year yesterday.
Fortunately for pigs, this week, I managed to get a whole load of new straw delivered (and a bag of beets and two bags of carrots!). The straw was pretty much needed, and I have enough now to see us easily through to Beltane - the start of summer and the traditional day to move the four-legged farm people to their grazing grounds. I’ve been taking them one or two bags every day this week, and they are super snug and cosy in their house. They aren’t too delighted that everything is frozen over again; it makes them a little unsteady on their feet, so not a lot of running around, but we are definitely all doing ok. It’s actually ridiculous that it’s already the second week of January. The whole of December felt like April.
Other than tending to porcine proclivities, this week has been entirely about firewood. I spoke about it last week, I think; including the bit where I had to do a complete reverse of intentions, part of which was the decision to start doing roundwood construction.
This week was mostly about carrying on with the carrying, chopping and drying of that huge pile, and, well, it’s nearly done. Now that the woodstore is almost full, I’m starting to get quite into the idea of the roundwood building project. There is a lot to learn, new tools to discover, and many, many mistakes to be made. I think the way to start it by making very bad sawhorses and stands for working on. I’ve ordered two new handtools specifically for this kind of work - a froe (for splitting wood) and an adze (for making straight edges). And in my pile of very old tools of unsure provenance, I found a morticing axe, so I shall start off with a wee restoration project on that, I should think.
Also this week:
A second attempt at a third revision of the charcoal making project
a start with the pruning of fruit trees
and also the weaving of living tree-fences
pigs
a remodelling of my office in the loft. I started this week, and I really want to fix the windows up a bit, but it really is too cold and wet for that. There may be some sewing though.
A short one this week. There are only so many different ways of saying “I spent the whole week carrying wood from A to B”. Next week, we will be looking back on a week dominated by chopping it. And then moving it from B to C!
And so, enjoy the absolutely insanely cold week we have to look forward to, and I shall see you all, same place, same time next Monday. Be lovely :)
Your Pirate Ben
xoxo
Denmark has also had an extreme winter event. In the city I live, there was a snow storm on the third January. It was a lot of snow and very windy. The roads are still not cleared nearly a week later, so buses are still cancelled in the morning and delayed after that. Schools and daycare were closed for the week.
The Borough council needed to make a lot of cuts to services and snow clearance was one of the ones they picked.
It's funny, I came here 15 years ago and we've had very snowy winters every year or two but if you ask the average Dane they think it's less because they're also counting the winters of their whole lives here. There must be a psychology paper in the effect.
So the people in charge thought it would be ok to make cuts because "it never snows that much here"
Denmark talks a good game about climate change preparedness but I don't fancy their chances tbh