More of My Winter Wonderland...
The climate here in the Boreal forest of Canada is pretty harsh and winter came early this year with temperatures dropping and a big dump of snow - over 8 inches!
This was a little unsettling but oh so beautiful!
I couldn't stop snapping pictures!
View Outside Our Window
This is the view looking from outside into that window - lots of very long icicles!
Icicles Hanging on Sunroom
Our sitting areas are quite a picture!
Snow Laden Trees Bending to Snowy Chair in Sunken Garden
Our Snowy Deck
Heavy Snow Bending the Willows Over Our Lane
Even after we had knocked some of the snow off the willow trees they still stayed formed into a tunnel over the lane.
I kinda like it!
Willow Tunnel Formed Over Our Lane
Bruno Framed by Snowy Arches
As the sun was setting there was a lovely glow!
Dusk Shows the Pink Glow from the House
That's it for this round of pictures from our winter wonder land but I'm sure there will be more in the days to come.
There's more pictures on the first day after the 8 inches of snow at: https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@porters/look-what-i-woke-up-to-a-winter-wonderland
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unbelievably beautiful! those icicles all inspiring but i guess u have to watch out for them! i dont think i could handle to be in such cold conditions all the time, but i have noticed something about white snow is much more lifting for the spirit than just a drizzly grey winter
Yes, that big dump of snow and the display of icicles made for some beautiful pictures.
We don't have to watch out for those icicles but we do get a build up of snow on the roof and when it starts to melt in the spring it will start to slide off like an avalanche and that you have to watch out for.
Here's a bizarre photo of the snow coming off the roof but it kept freezing in place instead of just sliding off -
This was the underside of it -
We do have very long winters and about January it can start getting me down.
I started doing indoor gardening with the grow lights which helps to get me past that.
You can see my series of posts on my indoor gardening project at: https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@porters/video-tour-gardening-for-food-security-indoor-gardening-project-part-4
I love how pristine the glistening white cover of snow looks and we do get a bit of a winter wonderland with the snow and hoarfrost putting on displays.
Glad you enjoyed the photos of me trying to capture that beauty!
WE got 8" of snow on Friday here in New England! Your photos are just lovely. It's a toss up between Pink Glow and Bruno for favorite. You've got some serious icicles going there!
Ya that 8" kind of caught us by surprise!
We're you ready for it?
You get a lot of snow in New England right? Lot's of snow storms?
It was so beautiful but also made for a lot of work.
I always like it when Bruno is included in the pictures for he makes them so much more interesting, but that isn't something you can count on.
I love it when I walk up the lane and see the pink glow on the snow. I always stop to take it in and I really wanted to capture the beauty of it but I think I need to learn more about exposure and possibly having a wide angle lens for my camera. I just have a simple point and shoot camera and I even haven't figured out how to use all the features on it yet.
Glad that you enjoyed the pictures!
We heard it was coming, so we were as ready as we could be. Plow on truck, snowblower would start, found shovel, wood in the house....
Some years we get a lot, some years it's open. Over the last 12 years we've had at least 2 open winters.
I have a very old point and shoot. And a tripod. For night shots I must use the tripod and night setting.
Beautiful picture? Is your home the original homestead house or did you build it? That would seem strange to have a year without snow. Probably hard for the plants to to not have that insulation from the cold and the moisture when it melts.
That is a home we built entirely by ourselves in 1983 and 1990. It's a passive solar heated home. You could say it's an original homestead, as it was just a piece of farmland with a 150 year old tobacco shed when we built our house.
It is hard on the plants when it happens. We have a lot of issues with wind here (land set up to encourage it - drying tobacco) and I am Zone 4 even though the new map shows Zone 5. The frost on an open winter can go down 4' or more. It's zoning regs to have your water/utilities a minimum of 4' down.
I usually lose a few plants every year to winter kill. If I have it, I will mulch with hay where I can. This year everything will be mulched with dead leaves, as it's been so wet I could not clean out gardens.
That's a big house. Did you do anything special besides lots of windows to make it passive solar heated?
That's when I really appreciate the snow when it protects the plants. Also I really appreciate living in the forest where we don't get the wind (we also don't get a lot of sunlight in the winter either, though.)
Glad to hear your plants will be getting a good mulching this year, it's can be a little disheartening to have the winter kill off you perennials, etc.after putting the effort in to get them growing.
I use to go to local plant exchanges when I was first building up my gardens. Far better to have plants hardened off to this area.
I use to buy them from catalogs but the plants usually didn't survive very well. They weren't locally grown plants and not as tough, even though they were the same type of plant.
It has extra insulation in the walls, the 2 pane insulating glass in the windows plus storm windows, a perfect orientation, and triple heavy insulation in the attic. If the sun is shining when it gets down to 0F we will be in the mid 70's just from that. Otherwise we have 2 woodstoves.
House looks big, but it's total sq. ftg is 1608.
Most of the snow has melted now, but more due end of next week, I hope. My husband has to replace the clutch on the plow truck before any more snow comes.
I usually use hay mulch to protect most of the plants in fenced gardens, but not this year. There's very little hay to be had, due to rain very 3 days.
I use companies from Maine mostly, and as I am Zone 4, this has worked well for seeds. I also went to plant sales/swaps for many of my plants. I don't buy plants from companies, too expensive!
I am a flatlander, open land girl. :)) Forests and high places are nice to visit, but nope, prefer flat. :))
I like your building with extra insulation and nothing like having wood heat when you need it!
I learned my lesson the hard way buying from companies and finding out they were not really hardy - wasted a lot of money and was so happy when I found a good local plant exchange.
I was born and raised on the wide open prairies but I love the forest and could not see leaving my forest home for the windy old prairies.
Beautiful winter pictures @porters
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