Winter on the urban farm and my new favorite chicken accessory

I am back after spending a couple of months working a short-term lab job in an attempt to give my mind something to think about during the long, dark days of winter, and to make a few bucks for my early spring hiking trip with my dad-- spiritual pilgrimage, bonding experience, real world Spanish practice, and the chance to use teeny, tiny backpacking accessories. I'm hoping to get some good photos and experiences worth sharing here.

For now, here's a quick update on the urban farm!

The days are getting longer and brighter!

With spring not too far off, even the snowy days seem more livable! The chickens don't like free-ranging in snow, though, so I'm looking forward to some grass for them to walk around on.

Did I mention that you can freeze whole tomatoes if you want to put off processing them?

I core them, squeeze out the seeds, and store them in zip lock bags. When frozen they are like billiard balls.

I froze these in August or early September and just turned them into spaghetti sauce in January. Because I had the freezer space (and it's easier) I decided the freeze the sauce in baggies instead of canning. I'll be sure to use this batch before my canned sauce.

The product that is going to change my view of winter chickens: 

If you keep chickens where it freezes at night, you need this heated bucket!

In the summer I use a similar watering bucket with nipples (to keep the water fresh and reduce the number of water changes). But in the winter, even with a bucket heater, the nipples freeze, so I'm back to using a dish and heater, and I have to change the dirty water at least daily. This is my new favorite water bucket (the best $40 I've spent all year). It provides clean, liquid water all winter, and I can unplug it and use it all summer, too. Fantastic! Buy it here or at your local farm supply store.