Frosty morning

It was somewhere between 23° and 27° this morning, depending on which thermometer you want to believe. I knew it was going to be cold, and I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made last year when I let the two most beautiful Brussels sprouts freeze in the garden because I tried to save them too long. Last weekend the spare refrigerator was filled with apples. This weekend it is filled with Brussels sprouts. I’ll freeze some and give some away.

Brussels sprouts in the refrigerator

I brought in the last two cabbages also. The garden is now officially empty except for the garlic for next year and some volunteer dill that took advantage of the prolonged warm temperatures. I hope there is still enough seed for next summer. Usually, you only need to plant dill once.

This was the first really chilly morning for our new chickens. They ran around when I first let them out, but after a few minutes some of them decided the ground was just too darned cold. Here they are sitting on the windbreak trying to keep their feet warm until the sun comes around.

Bella, Layla, Rose, and Angelica keeping their feet out of the frosty grass

We’ve gotten four pullet eggs so far, all brown and all laid on the floor of the coop. We are hoping that they will learn to use the nest boxes soon. Perhaps the Americauna will have stronger instincts and teach the Barred Rock where the eggs belong. On the plus side, however, there wasn’t any poop in the nest boxes this morning, and that has been a big problem. They aren’t supposed to poop in the nest boxes. At first Opal, Gracie, and Nadia were spending a lot of time in there to escape the other pullets. They seem to be integrating into the rest of the flock better these days.

Here is a comparison of a pullet egg and a store-bought large egg in the shell.

Pullet egg and large store-bought egg in the shell

And in the frying pan.

Pullet egg and store-bought egg in the skillet

The local farmers are making use of a good stretch of dry days to get the rest of the harvest in. While I’m writing this, I am watching the harvest on the other side of the road. The combine drives alone going east, harvesting 8 (or 9?) rows of corn at a time. When he turns around, he starts offloading into the grain wagon, shown here.

Corn harvesting across the road

At the end of the westbound pass, the grain wagon unloads into a semi parked in the middle of the field while the combine goes up the east side. The wagon driver then positions himself facing west for the next load.  There seem to be two semis involved in this operation, and the second one left before the first one got back. It takes surprisingly little time to fill a semi, like 25 minutes. It is no wonder that it takes the first truck longer than that to deliver the grain to the elevator. It was only a few minutes before the first truck got back, just in time for the grain truck to be ready to unload again. The field is probably 100 acres. I expect they’ll be done by supper.