Ridge Berry Farm: Winter Has Arrived

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It may not yet be December 21st, but Winter has certainly come. This week's cold weather followed by a good blanketing of snow has seriously hampered all our plans at the farm, including our work on the manor.

The most important thing to do was to rapidly change the Bush Hog on the tractor for snow clearing blades.

With snow on the ground, the Bush Hog will no longer be necessary until next Spring

As a result of all this we have now concentrated on inside work - including the greenhouse dome.

We have now gathered one full month of data on the dome. Although we've missed a few days, we have been recording daily inside and outside temperatures (around mid-day, minimum and maximum values), relative humidity and water tank temperature.

November Dome Temperatures

With temperatures dipping to below -10 degrees C at night and the skies overcast for the greater part of the week, we've seen a couple of minimum readings reaching just below zero inside the dome. Nevertheless, the environment still seems conducive to plant growth. This week, our heirloom wax beans have started to germinate.

Germination continues inside the dome

On the other hand, our fish are not doing so well. Our water temperature has dipped to 9 degrees and this is just not conducive to healthy growth of Tilapia. In fact, we are rapidly starting to count the bodies and most fish have become dormant. As indicated last week, with no possibility of raising the water temperature, we are forced to look for alternative species. Now we have to decide when we want to introduce new fish and we may just wait until Spring.

While we tackle these issues, Chef has been taking on the role of "nut processor". Now knowing more about nuts than he had before, Chef was able to take on the final task of shelling the Black Walnuts and even starting on the Hickory (no less difficult).

Chef tackling our Hickory nuts

Meanwhile, we also took the time to launch a new preserve: Arctic Kiwi Jam with Coconut Milk. Coconut and Kiwis make a good combination; the result is an interesting Tropical blend.

A new preserve: Arctic Kiwi with Coconut Milk

Inside work has also encompassed the glass gallery. This week we took delivery of new pieces for our collection. These included period glass originally from France and the US.

One of the newest addition to the collection: a Durand King Tut pattern vase (c. 1920)

New additions to our Schneider collection (c. 1910-1920)

Since a lot of our blog readers are from around the World and situated in much warmer climes, I close this week with a few pictures of our first taste of Winter this year.