We started burning wood in the wood stove in late October this year. That’s about a month earlier than usual. The cold hasn’t let up since. I’m concerned about my bees, since I haven’t been able to feed or check on them since 1 warm day in early November. They had plenty of stores in October and I fed them for about 2 weeks straight (adding essential oils to the sugar water fro mite reduction and over-all health). But, I like having a day or two in the winter where the temps are over 55, so I can open the hives and check on them or feed them.
Hopefully there will be some warm days in early to mid February when I can check on them.
This cold keeps me from working outside also. The boys and I have to go out to cut & split wood, but I can’t really go out and use a saw, measuring tape or hammer with gloves on, and that makes for longer hours in the cold if I try to work on the barn or the porch.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, hopefully there will be some warmer days in early February.
I need to have the barn up before the end of March, when the does start kidding!
–Pat