Today I'm talking with Amy at Grounded In Maine Podcast.

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00:00
You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Amy Bolduc at Grounded in Maine in Virginia. I know that's weird, but that's how it falls. Good morning, Amy. How are you? I am doing fine. Thanks. I know it's such a funny thing. People are like, where are you? Like I'm in Virginia, but why is your podcast Grounded in Maine? Well, because you'll always be.

00:29
Your heart will always be grounded in Maine. That's why. mean, 49 years, not like that's nothing. That's not nothing. Yeah, exactly. Well, what's the weather doing in Virginia this morning? Oh, geez. It's so cold this morning. Like, I'm sure it's not Minnesota cold, but it's still cold. mean, it was 15 degrees when we were walking this morning. um And yesterday, yesterday, it was so yesterday we had 45 mile per hour winds. um And it was not much warmer.

00:59
So but then two weeks ago, I mean, if you're asking about weather, the weather here is so weird. I mean, all of like November, December, it was beautiful, like 40s, probably. And I know I, you know, everyone was like, oh, my gosh, it's so cold. It's snowing, snowing, snowing. And I'm like, well, you know, don't want to say anything because I'm in the south, blah, blah, blah. But then two weeks ago, the weather forecast was looking like we were.

01:27
My weather app was telling me we were going to get up to 21 inches of snow. And I was like, what is this about? ah And then when it actually came, it was like a dusting of snow, but then an inch and a half of freezing rain, ah which I would so I would prefer 21 inches of snow a million times over freezing rain and ice. ah Anyone who's dealt with freezing rain would agree a thousand percent freezing rain is so dangerous.

01:57
Yeah. it's, you know, it just is like, but since then, so last weekend, I, my, my trusty weather app that I've been using for years lied to me and said, you know, maybe, maybe one between one to three inches of snow. I'm like, okay, you know, that's no big deal. But then we got 10 ish inches of snow and it was fluffy snow, which was cool. But then like, when I moved here, I did not get a snow shovel because I was

02:26
You know, last winter we had four inches total, like all winter long, two, two inch storms. And I was like, that is no big deal. And then this year, you know, and then the ice, I was like, I'm not I'm not even shoveling. I literally can't shovel that. But so I have a travel trunk shovel, which it's in two pieces and it's rickety and plastic. I've had it for probably 20 years uh and.

02:54
I ever used it, only when I was working and I got stuck in a snowstorm. But so that's what I've been using. I actually went out yesterday to try to get a real shovel and they were out. Of course. Of course. Because we just got 10 inches of snow. yeah, I mean, the weather is great. And then, know, Tuesday is supposed to be like 60. I like, there's no, I don't think there's like Virginia weather. I think it's just whatever.

03:23
happens, like what it just feels like.

03:28
Yeah, Mother Nature has become extremely bipolar over the last two years. That's a great way to say it. Maybe she's going through menopause too. I don't want to make you jealous, but it's seven, it's, what is it right now? I'm looking at my weather app. It's 27 degrees here in Minnesota in Lesor right now. And it's supposed to be 38 for the high. Tomorrow 45 for the high, Tuesday 38, Wednesday 38.

03:57
Thursday 40, Friday 40. Well, that's like making up for the last two weeks when it was below zero. That's exactly what I was going to say. We had, we had 14 or 15 days in a row where we never got close to freezing to 32 degrees. And it was the longest stretch I've seen in years and it sucked. No question. So anyway, um, that's the weather update. I would do weather update. Um, start with a weather update folks.

04:26
Oh, always do. In case you need to know. Every podcast opens with how's the weather because we're all doing stuff that weather impacts and I figure it's a good way to do it. We're all experiencing weather. We sure are. And when we're trying to grow stuff or, um you know, if we have chickens. Raise animals. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of important to know what we're walking out into. So that leads me to my first question. I saw that your chickens are starting to lay again, beautiful eggs.

04:55
How are the chickens doing and how many do you have? The chickens are good. I have five. I've actually, so I've had one. Miss Lacey never stopped laying. Like every so often she'll skip a day, but then the next day she's like, before I even get there, she's already laid her egg. She has not taken a break. Jason, however, has not laid an egg for at least two months. uh Jason is a hen. She came to me with that name. don't, Jason Kelsey. I don't know.

05:24
I think that's football. Yes. I don't know. It's football. That's the name that she came with. That's so funny. And she's very nice and she's very pretty, but she had a really, really rough molt and she was really funny looking. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jason. I know you can't hear this, but she was funny looking. But it's always the worst timing when they molt. Do you have chickens, Mary? I have 18. You have 18. Okay.

05:52
How many kittens do you have now? um Well, technically we have three kittens, but they're about five months old now. Oh, well, they're still kittens. um Okay. So I have, yeah, five still. I have not lost a single chicken in a year. Good job. They barely see the light of day, but I feel like that's a good trade off. mean, they do. They get out. um

06:17
like an hour at the end of the day, because that's when I am not working and I can actually be out there with them. And even if I'm not out there with them, like usually when I get out of work, so now because the time, because with the time change and the light, longer darkness, whatever. So I get out of work at 4.30, my dog and I walk at 4.30 and I let the chickens out at 4.30 because 5.30 it's going to be dark.

06:44
So I let them out at 430 and I leave my phone while we're walking with music playing so that the critters don't feel like the predators don't feel like they're alone. I just looked at my farmer's almanac wall calendar and daylight savings time is March 8th. So we only have a few more weeks until literally a month, literally a month from today. Yep. So

07:10
Yeah, I know me too. I was like, yay, more light in the evening. It's so sad that we have to wait until March. like really winter is just, I know winter is a season of rest, but some of us don't get to do that. And then it's just miserable. Absolutely. I just had a thought and it went bye bye. Cause that's what happens. Um, I'm very excited to know that, uh,

07:39
daylight savings time switch is only a month away because that means that good, spring weather is only two months away. Yeah. It's just, you know, it's like there are no holidays. So we're like March 8th, come on, come on, come on, March 8th. You know, never push the time to move as quickly as this last month for sure. Yes. And I figure

08:04
In Minnesota, we have March Madness, which is the hockey tournaments, I think. oh is it? It's not baseball? Baseball? I can't remember. It's hockey or basketball. It might be both. Who knows? I'm not a girl. Don't take sports information from us, peeps. Yeah, I am not a sports fanatic at all.

08:25
What I do know is that March, because of the tournaments that are going on, is always terrible for weather because of course it would be because people are traveling in for the tournament. Well, it's like that in between, right? You're waiting for spring and you're so anxious for spring, but winter's like, eh, I'm just going to hang out a little bit longer. Just going to throw a little crap your way. Yeah, yeah. And it's always March. It's always the worst month. February's okay. I c...