Winter

Many thanks to all the folks who dropped off Christmas trees and in particular to the Southborough Fire Department who donated the leftover trees for their fundraiser! The goats loved it!

The goats get free choice first cut hay and Redmond minerals in addition to all the Christmas trees, yard weeds and Halloween pumpkins they can eat. They eat the needles and the smaller branches, and then the trunks are pyrrholized and added to the garden as biochar in spring as I prepare the beds for planting. More information about biochar here: https://www.rit.edu/sustainabilityinstitute/blog/what-biochar-and-how-it-made Basically, it’s burned under a layer of compost to restrict the oxygen, and the resulting carbon and ash provides a home for soil bacteria and fungi who degrade large complex molecules into available nutrients for plants.

The chickens have just barely started laying again and I anticipate having eggs for sale again in March. Two of the big beehives seem to be handling the winter OK, but we’ll see: I’ll know for sure in April how they are doing, and plan to expand honey production in spring. I plan to add goat milk soaps, beeswax & honey lip balms and bath/shower fizzies this year once I figure out the packaging on the bath fizzies.