E and J had quite a productive weekend with the wood splitter - it was a real monster, so big E had to tow it home hitched to his truck, but wow, it certainly does the job. No matter how big the log, that thing sliced through them like they weren't even there. They were able to split and stack the three large piles closest to the house over the weekend, which gives us enough wood for at least two winters, even if we sell enough to cover the cost of renting the splitter (90 dollars from our local rental company). I'm hoping the rest of the cordwood keeps fine for another year piled up where it is - it should be ok. One cool discovery - when they were splitting the maples nearest the goat pen, one big log split open to reveal a river rock embedded dead center in the wood - the river rocks are landscaping materials the old owners had surrounded that stand of maples with when they were first planted. It's drying out now, and we're brainstorming ways to scale it down to bring it inside for our "natural history room".

Gi came down wiht a stomach virus, complete with an ER visit on Thansgiving evening, so she hasn't been herself for a few days,. She's getting better though - yesterday she ate three full meals and slept well. Poor kiddo. In between tending to her, I managed to quilt a bit, and blanched and froze three bags of kale/swiss chard, one of broccoli, and three of halved and steamed brussel sprouts. We'll probably have more kale from the garden if the snow holds off. I also cleaned out about 3/4 of the chicken coop , and all of the worst areas where the majority of the hens roost at night. So far I'm happy with the way the wood shavings are holding up - it's been pretty wet, and they're not packing down like the straw tends to.  I need to take some more old bedding out of the other side and add shavings there - maybe today before the baby comes home from my folks. We'll see. :)