Dear Friends and Family,

Even the chickens stayed in their coop this morning. One brave hen ventured out to pick her way to the edge of the creek. Another walked down the ramp and tried flying to follow her but quickly gave up. She took shelter under the coop with a few other brave souls. Since the New Year night time temperatures have stayed in low teens; daytime temperatures in the 20's. This morning we have a sprinkling of snow, enough to whiten grass and hard-frozen creek. The forecast calls for continuing snow showers over our region due to a "northerly fetch off Lake Michigan." (Got the map out to check the geography). The highest accumulations, less than 2 inches, are predicted for the area between I-65 and I-75. That's us.

One benefit of this very cold weather, which began with an unusually cold week at the beginning of December, is a great run of sap. Last year friends gave Paul some taps for his birthday but soon afterward the family left for Massachusetts. Our neighbor Bernadette who was helping me with the chores collected and boiled down the sap for her family. By the time our gang returned the season was over. Now Sasha and Robin collect the sap daily. So far there has been enough for 2 boil-downs. At the 40 -1 sap to syrup ratio, we've extracted close to a gallon, so far, of the the most delightful syrup. Sasha stays with Robin through the whole boil process which usually lasts well into the cold dark night. The highlight for me was the morning Paul made his delicious pancakes. We each carefully poured some of the precious syrup over our portions, not wanting to waste even a drop.

The lambing season began early- December 30. The birth of a new lamb seems always to herald awful weather: pouring rain or freezing cold. They are remarkably resilient creatures with their curly wool coats and soft leathery hooves. Yesterday as I was walking through the pasture toward the A-frame this little one, white with black spots, was leaping along beside her mom. On my return trip I noticed she was curled up in a ball in the sun.

The flock is now down to 18 adults including our ram. That's from the high of 40 this spring. The buyer we thought we had last month for 4 ewes changed his mind. Since we had already rounded them up we took them to Sano auction which had a sale that evening. About 10 days later we took 7 rams for processing to get down to our current more manageable count. Sasha gets up every morning to do the milking usually with Robin for support. He's become quite adept at handling Addie. She is quite tall with a mean set of horns but she seems to accept him as her handler. Junior has to be penned up during milking. Otherwise he spends his time trying to steal a teat for a quick sip, which gets Addie kicking at him, and in danger of injuring Sasha and/or spilling the milk bucket. Meanwhile Earl stands close by - not wanting to miss the action. Addie's heifer went to auction in December. So large animals now in manageable numbers, too.

Right after Christmas we had the special pleasure of a visit from my California brother Paul. He very considerately even brought some milder weather with him. He got to go with Paul and the children to their special fishing hole near Burkesville, although no luck on that trip. We had a delightful time catching up on family news, drinking some very good wine, and just hanging out.

Paul and Robin started off the new decade showing off the steamy interior of our high tunnel to new year's guests. Some people ended up stepping outside the tunnel to remove all their heavy outerwear so they could soak up the humid heat while feasting their eyes on rows of lush green lettuces, kale, chard, bok choy, spinach, radishes, turnips. At mealtime, the fresh salad was their big treat. This is the first year Paul and Robin have not had to rely on our friends Paul and Alison for their own ration of fresh greens. Even more exciting Robin has been delivering local shares of greens to Edmonton each week. One person even bought an extra share at Christmas because he wanted "that extra-special gift" for someone.

This comes with my best wishes that each of you may savor some fresh, green hope in this first year of a new decade. Love, Louise