Inca is so helpful when it comes to farm projects.  Here he is helping to clean leeks for pick up.  Just yesterday he was out shoveling the hoop house with me.  Although he kept getting distracted by the  hoop house roof and would have rather been climbing on it than shoveling it out. 

 

Shoveling, shoveling, shoveling…. We all have been immersed in it this winter!  Currently I have 308 linear feet to shovel along the side of the houses.  (I will admit I was questioning my decision to make the hoop house twice as big as I was shoveling).  It wouldn’t be so bad but it’s not just the inches that fall next to the houses, but also the 5648sqft area of roof that falls right beside the house.  It is a little mentally challenging when you realize in order to move 2 feet forward, you have to shovel 4 feet down first!  But alas, it is a good workout to keep in shape for farming and knowing that I was not the only farmer out there doing the same thing, we (Inca, Puffa and Simon included) stayed strong.

Winter for us means house projects.  When we moved in, we knew our upstairs bedroom floor was a little bouncy.  When the ceiling tiles below it started to fall down, we figured it was time to fix the bounce.  After removing the bedroom floor, we discovered that we had 2×4 floor joists, about 2′ on center on a 12′ span!  Yikes! It’s a wonder we didn’t fall through as we slept!  We removed yet another plaster ceiling (may it be the last!) and replaced the floor joists with something a bit sturdier.  We are on schedule to be done before winter’s end so I can focus on starting seeds and sleep peacefully, knowing I won’t be crashing to the floor below.