Post Holiday Life at the Cottonwood B & B

Wow, another month and a half has flown by. We were packed here at the Cottonwood Inn, many interesting guests from all walks of life. The skiing was good over the Christmas holiday and most of our guests found the time (and energy) to spend a few days up at the Taos Ski Valley.

Around the first of the year my Dad came to visit and we built the long-anticipated day run for the chickens. We had an interesting time working in the 10 degree weather and digging post holes in the frozen ground. Of course that activity finally answered a topic of some debate around here-- just how deep does the ground freeze. Well, not too deep-- about 3 or 4 inches in most places. This means that I have some hope for a few bulbs that got left in the ground last year. Who knows?

We were given an old barn gate by a friend and Brantly and I have spent some time trying to get it set into the frame. We're about half-way there and pictures are forthcoming.

Very cool guest Pamela C. gave us a FANTASTIC oil pastel of our bad boy Bernard. Pamela is an artist down in the Albuquerque area who found a muse in my ill-tempered rooster. Thank you Pamela, we love our new art work! Again, a photo of the painting is forthcoming....

First Batch of Canning

Well, we have finished the first grueling round of canning-- about 8 cases. Two cases of apricot-cherry jam, 3 cases of Hatch green chili jelly, and a little over 3 cases of plum marmalade made from some frozen plums.

Also have been doing some experimenting on our head roo- Bernard. No, not the kind of experimentation that involves a trip to somewhere mysterious or a large cooking pot with sage. I trimmed his VERY long spurs last night, as well as tied some old towel cloth onto them, hoping this would slow the amount of feathers he seems to remove from the backs of the hens. I had bought "Hensavers," chicken saddles, to put on several of the girls, but after one experiment on Becky, who went wild, and was also ostracized by all the other chickens, I've decided to try out just a few more ideas....

Lots of interesting action coming off Taos Pueblo land-- and across our front yard! It's that time of the year when the Taos Indians take their young up into the wilderness to teach them how to live off the land. The procession of horses, with people wearing traditional clothing, has been fascinating to watch. I even had a group last night who, when they saw our sign, asked if they were too late for breakfast....

The garden news is purple cabbage, sweet peas, squash, squash, and squash, some spinach, broccoli, & radishes, not to mention the sour cherries. I keep meaning to assemble a veggie cornucopia to photograph, but we eat it way too fast.