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When I was a kid, we used to joke that we wished the groundhog would see his shadow, so we'd ONLY get six more weeks of winter ...
Apparently, thanks to a bill that Palin signed into law shortly before leaving office, Groundhog's Day in Alaska is now Marmot Day. Insert your own joke here.
I mucked out the chickens' litter on Monday, and this morning, peeking at me from the clean sawdust, was a little brown egg -- the first egg of 2010. Still unfrozen and everything! The new chicken setup, with its floor heating, is so much better for getting usable eggs during the winter. Last winter, I probably had to discard about 2/3 of the eggs in February and March because they froze and cracked open before I could gather them. This year, the ambient temperature in the chickenhouse may not be above freezing most of the time, but the floor is warm. During their brief laying spell last December, I only had to discard one egg due to temperature-related breakage.
First egg of 2010!
I should make a mini omelet. And, hard as it is to believe when it's -25 and there's snow everywhere, it's time to start thinking about gardening. I would really like to have an actual garden this summer, in containers if nothing else. And I need somewhere to put my big strawberry.
Apparently, thanks to a bill that Palin signed into law shortly before leaving office, Groundhog's Day in Alaska is now Marmot Day. Insert your own joke here.
I mucked out the chickens' litter on Monday, and this morning, peeking at me from the clean sawdust, was a little brown egg -- the first egg of 2010. Still unfrozen and everything! The new chicken setup, with its floor heating, is so much better for getting usable eggs during the winter. Last winter, I probably had to discard about 2/3 of the eggs in February and March because they froze and cracked open before I could gather them. This year, the ambient temperature in the chickenhouse may not be above freezing most of the time, but the floor is warm. During their brief laying spell last December, I only had to discard one egg due to temperature-related breakage.
First egg of 2010!
I should make a mini omelet. And, hard as it is to believe when it's -25 and there's snow everywhere, it's time to start thinking about gardening. I would really like to have an actual garden this summer, in containers if nothing else. And I need somewhere to put my big strawberry.