Winter Is Coming

This year has been a blur. We first put our offer in on the new home in June, but we did not close until the second week of September.  With so much uncertainty through the summer very little was accomplished.  Now that the cold weather is coming in, I am scrambling to get a new chimney liner installed.  The old one collapsed into the chimney.  Now I need to dig out the old one and get a new insulated, stainless steel liner installed before the snow flies.  I purchased a chain saw on Craigslist so I could cut my own firewood for the winter.  The saw ran for about an hour before completely dying.  I'm not sure I’ll have the time or the money to get fire wood cut before everything freezes.  We might be stuck using only electric heat this winter.  Fortunately, one of the first projects we did upon moving in was to re-insute the attic.  Hopefully our heating bill won't be too excessive this winter.
There are many projects inside the house that will keep me busy all winter.  For now I am working on beginning backyard food production for the winter before things freeze over.  I am in the process of assembling a small greenhouse to provide cold weather hardy greens through the winter.  I have never winter gardened before, but am looking forward to the challenge and enjoyment of growing something in the cold. I'm considering buying Elliott Coleman's book on unheated winter greenhouse growing. Check it out here: Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Production-Greenhouse
I recently constructed some four by four raised beds that I plan to use for square foot gardening next spring.  I have an idea for one of them.  I would like to put it inside the greenhouse and run a closed loop irrigation line through the soil and then back into a compost pile.  I've heard that the compost will generate enough heat to make my raised beds steam in the middle of the winter.  To me that sounds like a fun, simple, and affordable way to heat my greenhouse.
Gardening is a lot of fun, but I have many plans beyond basic gardening.  Next year I plan to begin bee keeping, mushroom growing, and the food forest development.  I would like to implement many permaculture principles on the homestead as time allows. We have at least two acres of woods, two acres of clearing, and roughly 1/2 acre pond.  Within this system, I would like to put in an orchard consisting of various fruit and nut trees.  I'm not sure yet where the best placement of the orchard would be.
Well, this is just a random bit of information to get you up to speed on what's happening at the Herlihy homestead.  I plan to discuss specific topics more in depth on future posts.  I will also begin posting photos of the site being discussed.  I hope you'll join with me on this journey.  I am learning as I go, but am having a lot of fun at the same time.  Feel free to leave me comments if you have any ideas for the blog or suggestions for the homestead.