Winter on the Barefoot farm

With all the holidays over, it's time for us to return to the usual patterns of our lives throughout the  winter.  Here, I will detail our daily activities on the farm, which varies from the rest of the year since the land is fallow and crops will not be grown again for another 10 weeks or so.

Regardless of the season, the animals still have to be fed and otherwise taken care of.  In fact, this is the time of year where more activity centers on the barn than ever, as the animals want to stay inside away from the chill.  Calves, piglets, and other baby animals are being developed and fattened until they are slaughtered in the spring.  Meanwhile, hay bales keep them warm every night.  Of course, the year-round activities like milking cows and collecting bees will continue.

The children go to the one-room schoolhouse from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.  On Saturday, Belinda and Bryson stay home, but are encouraged to do more homework and other outside reading.

At first, it would appear that keeping the water warm for bathing, dishwashing, and other uses would be a problem without an indoor plumbing system.  But that's not the case!  Our bathtub is located in an outer room built over a natural hot spring, so the water we gather never gets cold.  In addition,  the hand-cranked washing machine is moved next to the fireplace and stove so that the water remains warm.  Finally, the clothesline is relocated to an indoor shed if it rains - or even snows, as rarely happens! - outside.

The cold weather also affects how we play.  Since we stay indoors more often, we have longer sessions of indoor games - card, dice, board and so on.  Popeye especially looks forward to winter because he has mastered so many of them, including bunco, at which he is especially good.  The children use the time to play traditional games, puppet shows, and dress-up and theme parties when there is time away from class.  Since Belinda and Bryson are the only two residents of the youngest age group in the house, classmates and cousins have been invited to make sure there are enough people to play.

Oh, and there's one more thing we're doing this winter.  We're preparing Brandy for the Miss Idealia contest to take place in late January!  It's her debut representing the Barefoot family and we're excited about it.