While we have been busy building chicken mobiles, tending to the animals and preparing for the much anticipated arrival of our pigs, we have been reminded of winter to come while harvesting hay and stacking firewood.
Looking at the stockpile of hay and firewood reminds us of just how much fuel is required to feed the animals, feed the furnace and feed ourselves.
The regular chores of wheelbarrowing the firewood to the basement hatch, stoking the furnace and watching the stockpile shrink, creates time to think about our energy requirements and how we can be more energy efficient. It’s a very different connection from city living where our energy bill would retrospectively remind us of how often we raised or lowered the thermostat on the wall. Writing a cheque to Union Gas was easy. Holding the weight of our daily heating requirements in our hands before feeding the furnace three to five times a day is not nearly as easy, but we prefer it for the mindfulness and appreciation it kindles within us all year round.
Carrick Hill Farms 