Have you heard about “hygge”? It’s a Danish concept that translates roughly to “coziness” and/or “wellbeing”. The Danes have long, dark winters, and yet are considered to be some of the happiest people in the world. Could there be something to this philosophy that’s transferable to our daily lives? Let’s explore further.
First, pronunciation: Penelope Green, in a New York Times article, says it’s “pronounced HOO-gah, like a football cheer in a Scandinavian accent”. It’s fun already! There are alternate pronunciations, but this seems to be one of the most common, so we’ll go with it. Continue reading “Hearing A Lot Of Hype About Hygge”
It’s been several months since we started the orange wine. Why orange, you ask? Because there was a bag of delicious, juicy Valencia oranges in the refrigerator that were on the verge of being past their prime – often, what’s available is a key factor in the decision about which wine to make. 
It snowed here a few days ago. It’s fun until the snow lingers, like it has, due to the cold. Walking on it packs it down, and the sporadic sunshine melts it a bit, so it becomes icy…which means it’s really slippery, and no one wants to involuntarily ice skate while holding a basket full of eggs. You might think that the rabbits need to come inside with temperatures below freezing and snow on the ground, but they actually do just fine in cold temperatures, if you take specific measures to ensure their comfort.
One of our favorite ferments is our recently-resurrected sourdough starter. It began as a dry powder, but with consistent feedings, has become a reliable producer of delicious sourdough loaves – no yeast needed!
We live in an area that is rife with predators, and have shared stories of losses to owls, foxes, and hawks. We’ve had close calls with loose dogs, too. This is what seems to be the most challenging time of year for protecting our free ranging poultry, so we have to stay on our toes.