autumn leaves have frosen

and all else is more or less as it should be too.

Temperatures well below freezing here in Southern Norway the last few nights in October, so not many leaves left on the trees. Come next spring they will be all green again – if we haven't cut them down for fire­wood by then.

Right; trees are cut and prepared as fire­wood while the sap-level is at its lowest, and left to dry for use next winter. So this year we rely on fire­wood from trees cut last winter to get us through the expected cold­spells, and plan to cut more when the coming winter allows. Birch­wood is regarded as best, and we have plenty of birch on the farm.

hardworking cows need plenty food

The old feed-vagon is run down and patched up, but still serves its purpose as semi-permanent feed-station. Twice a day we drive out to fill it up with silage/hay and various concen­trate, adjusted to seasonal needs for energy, vitamins and minerals.

As all else we have to prepare for on a farm; enough feed is secured to last till next summer, as there isn't much growing to eat for these animals even if the snow hasn't covered the ground yet. Some natural water-sources secure water on pasture now that the pump has to be shut off to prevent frost-damages, and both the animals and we are well prepared for winter-conditions.

communication failure

Last night the fiber-optic cable fell out in the area, and it took most of the day for the service provider to get it fixed. Did not cause any real problems beyond lost TV programs (none really good anyway) and access to latest news, but that connection really is our life­line to the wider community since cellphone coverage around here is spotty at best, so good to have it back.

Have invested in an “extra power source” for running farm-essentials in case main electric power goes down – which it usually does a few times every winter. Outages may last from 15 minutes to more than a day, depending on cause.
Nothing fancy or big, just a small semi-portable generator to avoid having to roam around in the dark and not be able to take care of things. Runs on the same fuel as our other farm machinery, so no supply-problems.
Update: Tests during a couple of s.c. “planned outages” showed that this generator can keep all necessary parts of our electric systems running at the minimum needed for our household to function normally. It is not powerful enough to run all electric equipment on the farm at once, but nevertheless quite impressive for such a small generator.

Our old tractor has definitely seen better days, and is now restricted to moving stuff around the yard. Have put off buying new tractor for a while, as finding the right tractor for a small farm is always a challenge – one we can do without right now.
The old John Deere is slow and mechanically unreliable, but we still get the jobs done with patience and the right driving-techniques. We'll see how well it does if/when we get snow that has to be moved out of the way.

Me, I am suffering from a form of mental exhaustion – maybe caused by the heart-medication I'm on for the time being but I don't know. Need more sleep during the day than usual (for me), but my vife and I still sort of manage what has to be done on the farm and otherwise.
Life is good.

sincerely  georg; sign

Hageland 30.oct.2019
last rev: 16.dec.2019



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