entering winter in the valley of the moon

here it is mid November, the nights have been freezing, well into the single digits, somewhere around 6 or so! yikes! we traded in our older and smaller RV for a larger one, on loan from a friend. We though the extra space would make the cold conditions more bearable. It would except that every other day my Trusty Man Servant has had to labor over something or another that isn't working right! I do feel for him, poor guy. We are swapping out propane tanks every other day - but that's still cheaper than paying rent PLUS utilities! We have wonderful friends who have let us park at their cabin, they are totally off grid so we are quickly learning the ropes! It's amazingly beautiful here, but i still want to be Home. Homeschooling with the Girl has been great so far. I am researching programs, online vs offline.....such decisions but its an important choice so i am being careful and thoughtful.

One of the projects we have done is to set up a bird feeder out the window by the table where we work. It took a couple of days for the birds to notice us, but every day we have more visitors. So far, they have been of two species of Junco.



I know i need a better camera, working on that! but these are the two different types of the Junco, both of the Dark-Eyed variety. We are hoping for others and will post pics when they come!

We have also found a source of fresh raw milk. I couldn't be more excited about that! We are trading hay for the milk, i really need to find a way to subsidize the cost of the hay though. bartering as such a way of life out here that i just need to keep looking for that someone who maybe wants to trade hay for milk, butter, cream, etc. I am also working on trading some of the milk i get to a friend for eggs. And on the topic of food, i have ditched the grocery stores and joined the Silver City Co-Op. They have great prices on GREAT food! It is a bit of a drive, more so than to Springerville - which is an hour trip, but worth it for the ability to support our local farmers. Bulk buying takes some practice, but it's a necessity when living so far away from town. I am a little concerned about the distance to Silver City from Red Hill, but i will worry about that in the spring!

I'm off looking for another adventure.....

Cheers, Nyn