January. Wisconsin. Cold.

We hit twenty below for the first time yesterday, January 30th. I made myself a “fake beard” for exactly this weather. Alpaca and mohair means it doesn’t irritate my face and does a good job of keeping my body heat near my skin. The deer and birds also puff themselves up, keeping warm by insulating the air next to their skin.

The sun begins to have strength as we tilt toward springtime. Cloudless days still signal colder weather, as all that solar power bounces off the snow cover without any clouds to trap the warmth. Still air keeps the wind from blowing, or the lack of wind keeps the cold from going.

Today we have cloud cover, a small breeze and only fourteen below. The breeze makes up for the lower absolute temperature, cutting through my fake beard and making my nose rosy. My eyelashes froze together from my breath yesterday, but not today. I avoid wearing glasses as they always fog in this type of cold.

The prior spate of warm weather froze and compacted the old snow, with sandy textured new snow on top. The wind sculpts drifts much as it does dunes.

We were warned of the impending cold snap, so we got the last of our duck-potato sausage smoked. As this was the final batch, I had time to take a photo of Michael manning the smoker. Our chest freezer was just big enough. Total sausage count: 110 pounds. The cold makes me want to eat it all RIGHT NOW.

Instead, we used the last of our garden carrots in a stir fry. Yep, that is home-built tofu on top. We bought the cabbage and now remember why we love our garden grown cabbage so much. We had to feed the rest of the cabbage to the ducks. They liked it just fine.

All our wee ones (and not so wee ones) helped us reduce our sausage over-burden. Having others to feed (and help with the cross words) gives us a reason to cook, bake, and bask in the glow. Our wood stove has kept us toasty without needing to use much of our LP gas. Eggs are expensive. Gas is expensive. Feed is expensive. It’s amazing to have friends and neighbors willing to trade for things we have in excess. The deer have been sheltering in and feeding on the hay bales left in fields. Twenty below: we all depend on each other to survive and thrive. Whew. And Thanks!