It's winter on the homestead
Winter has arrived at the Timm Homestead. A little earlier than in the last couple of years. We're not sure if that means it's an El Nino or La Nina year. Either way, we have snow! The kids are loving their time outside, attempting to build snowman and Jeffrey has been continuously asking if he can go snowmobiling. Not yet buddy.
While I am patiently waiting for a little more to fall so I can hit the slopes and put on the skinny skis, I wonder what Big Red thinks of his first Minnesnowta winter. The "daddy horse" as Jeffrey affectionately calls him, hails from southern Florida. Born in Montana and moving south shortly thereafter, I doubt he recalls the snow and chill of his early days. Still, he seems to be taking it in stride. He's such a calm, gentle giant.
We started feeding hay yesterday, which marks the beginning of a daily routine for the next five to six months, but when one is greeted with the morning and evening nickers of the ladies and Big Red, it's all worth it. The one thing we aren't looking forward to is the watering. We are fortunate to have a small creek that runs through all of our pastures and the horses are able to get their fill of water from break-up through the early winter. Once the temps start dropping below freezing, it's a whole other ball game.
We keep the horses on a smaller paddock near the house during the winter and that means hauling water and filling a stock tank often enough. We are trying out some new hoses this winter, that will hopefully make watering more bearable for our farmhand Dan the Man. For now, we'll keep the home fires burning as we look forward to the next snow storm!
