Armed with a bow saw and accompanied by some of our dogs we set out in hunt of the perfect Christmas tree. ‘Tis a family tradition. This year we are amazingly early in the season. Often it is not until a day or two before Christmas that we finally get to do it. That of course creates great angst in some members so doing it a little earlier creates a more relaxing lead up to the 24th.
Well, we bagged our prey in the upper part of the north field. A seven year old spruce that was nicely filled out. No Charlie Brown Christmas tree was he. After the ceremonial cutting and photo-op Ben dragged our kill home through the snow while the dogs played around us at catching mice. I almost caught a shot of one vole but it disappeared down Kia’s gullet just as I was focusing. Kita, who had also leaped, was greatly disappointed. Mice are fast – Dogs are faster. Speaking of such things, did you know that mice and other small rodents are a primary food source for coyotes and wolves? Our dogs are all great mousers. I’ve watched Kita snarf down as many as 14 in under an hour while I did chores.
As Ben later pointed out over dinner, not only did we clear a place for the tree, not only did we cut it and bring it in, but we also got it up and decorated all in one day! The tree hangs from a hook in a ceiling beam in the kitchen with it’s base in a three gallon bucket of sugar water. Sans bucket it appears to be floating above the floor – a most artful effect.
Life is learning.
Learning is life.
When you stop doing one,
You end the other.
16째F/30째F, 1″ Snow, Sunny
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
Wow great tree! I like real trees but they seem to have fallen greatly out of fashion now. When I get to host Christmas I will definately have a real tree, the smell is just so evocative to me.
I didn’t know that dogs ate mice and small rodents cor!
Beautiful family! What a lovely pose your daughter has. And I thought your older son was taller (based on those halloween photos anyway).
AND WHAT’S WITH THE SHORT PANTS??? Are you trying to show how manly a northern man can be?
Sugar Moutain Farm: continuing astonishment!
Hanging it from the ceiling is a great idea. We just had a long discussion at the lunch table at work recently about young kids and Christmas trees. Hanging the tree seems like a great way to prevent the all too familiar, tree tipping over episodes.
Great looking family! And I love the shot of the adorable Hope and friends.
One of our dogs is a great mouser. She’s gotten much fatter since we moved out here, even though we’ve cut way back on the stuff we feed her. (If it were up to me, we’d stop feeding her–at least in the summer; but my mother lives with us and simply can’t bring herself to let them go without a bowl of something from us.) This dog enjoys grasshoppers in the summer, too. She gets so many that the sidewalk is littered with them some days.
Mary Susan
Yes, Will is actually 9′ tall as you noticed in his Ogre costume, and he normally has too heads. To make this family photo look more normal we dressed one head up to look like his little sister, see, and Will is down on his knees. :)
As to the shorts, don’t worry, once it gets cold I’ll put on something more to keep warm, maybe a vest. You’ll notice it is cold enough that I did put on boots. :)
I definitely have to comment on the shorts as I see that the temperature was 16 degrees! You and the Northern Farmer – farmer men of steel, my goodness.
Beautiful tree. I hope you enjoyed your cookies, too. I’m planning on making the candy cane recipe you posted on our blog soon, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Beautiful and happy family!
Love your Christmas tree!