The Garell Stretch: Winter 2016

I am so behind, this post will mostly be full of our winter photos. It was a quiet winter since I had surgery and didn't spend much time outside...so here is what we do have.

Our hens hanging out in the bonsai out front.

My dad came for a visit and we did some fishing.

We had several perfect moons this winter, but I only got one photo.

We had lots of visitors for some fireside time.

We harvested our herbs before the first frost.

Not our fountain, but just down the road...a good example of how suddenly we were hit with winter.

That season again when the hawks are most active in our area...several pairs.

We had lots of woodpecker visitors too.

We left our pumpkins out for the hens and to see if mother nature will give them back to us next fall.

Broccoli coming in strong.

There was a hole in the yard that people kept falling into...so we tossed all of our old potatoes into it...will see what we get back.

We did get some snow...for one of our hens it was her first winter...she quickly adapted to it and came out of the coop dragging the others behind her. We did some sledding and enjoyed the crisp air.

We watched a hyacinth bulb grow.

Our girl Ginger wanted to check the big coop for a few minutes.

We had lots of brush to burn.

We had some early warmth that pushed lots of spring flowers...then winter came back and killed them. The photo with our daughter in it was just three days later.

The warm spell also bolted the broccoli, but we ate it anyway.

Daffodils came early...and they came everywhere. My husband has made it his personal mission to restore the original gardens of the property. It is fun to see new stuff bloom every year as the plants recover from the honeysuckle vines that had strangled most of the trees and created an umbrella over the previous gardens.

This stump will be gone before we know it. This pileated woodpecker works hard at getting all the critters out of it. Very exciting to watch from the window since he is so low to the ground.