This year I was able to take some time off work and hibernate a little. I believe winter was always meant to be a time of rest. Our bodies and minds are constantly going a million miles a minute especially during the holiday season. Things still happened on the homestead just a little slower.

On Christmas Eve I made beautiful pecan Carmel glazed cinnamon rolls, they were absolutely delicious! Luke asked me to make a double batch and I think we over indulged in the sweets this season.

I also baked up some green enchiladas for Christmas Eve dinner; I think we will try to make both the pecan rolls and enchiladas a tradition from here on out. It was a wonderfully enjoyable evening.

Christmas Day on the other hand was filled with quite a few headaches. I lost a second litter of rabbits to a new mom and it was absolutely heart breaking celebrating Christmas putting their little bodies to rest. A litter of 11 all gone! As a precaution I put my other mom and babies inside the house to keep a close eye on her. Another face palm moment on Christmas was the roast I was going to cook was moldy and we had to toss it out. I ended up making borscht on the stove top as the generator froze up and was not working properly to start the oven. It has been dreadfully cold as of late. This day just felt like one thing after another.

The mountain road  is a huge nightmare to get up and down on a daily basis but as you know I have to do it. With clenched knuckles on the steering wheel hoping and praying the tires don’t break loose on the huge sheets of ice going down hill. Even with chains on the truck there have been a few hairy moments. It is a daily stressor I have to tackle though. The horses in town need me to be there to check waters, feed and muck the paddock. That too became brutal as the plastic wagon I hook to the truck to haul manure broke when I dumped it over to remove the poop within. This cold is just exhausting.

One thing Luke and I have been able to accomplish in this teeth breaking cold is burning the couple large brush piles that are scattered around the property. It will be lovely to finally have them all cleaned up come spring. I now have some more space I hope to make a little trail course for my horse and I.

I’m really praying the weather turns soon. It has me in such a worn out and grouchy mood. I want to get back to being productive and am especially looking forward to another year of gardening. As soon as the weather improves Luke and I will build some raised beds for the garden so I don’t lose 90% of my produce to the moles this coming year like this last season.

My appologies for this post being a bit on the emotionally chilly side, not everything on the homestead is sunshine and rainbows unfortunately.

How do you deal with seasonal depression, limitations from cold weather and homestead livestock failures?