Winter Hobbies

The long cold winter in McCall is a dangerous time for the home gardener.  The snow covers the ground for at least five months, sometimes more.  There is only so much planning and seed shopping you can do, and then…you may find yourself with interesting new hobbies.

Winter 2014/15

We bought our house at the end of October, so it wasn’t long before snow covered the property.  That was okay…the house only had electric wall heaters and Toby needed a place to burn firewood.  We spent early fall extending the kitchen tile across the center of the house so our sexy new Blaze King woodstove could have a place to sit.

Winter 2015/16

…but by 2015 we had been through a glorious summer of building, gardening, and fruit tree planting, and the winter stretched out forever.  That was the winter we got worms.  No really!  We bought a vermicomposting bin and a bag of red wigglers from North End Organic Nursery in Boise.  Check it out here.

Winter 2016/17

With the woodstove blazing along legally, not setting anything on fire because of the fine tilework that is forever covered with bits of pitch, and the worms happily eating food waste and shredded paper and giving birth to weird little pods that become baby worms, we needed new challenges.  Winter 2016/17 has been the year of brewing and chicken endeavors.  We are 6 beers, 2 wines, and 2 ciders in, singlehandedly re-routing the glass bottle recycling chain so it leads straight to our dishwasher.

What are your winter hobbies?