One more strike-through on the list

I had planned to empty, clean and move my freezer today, but an Email from Aliy Zirkle changed my plans.  She had some extra straw she was willing to sell me for a very reasonable price.  After picking that up, I called a local farmer and was able to get even more from him.  As a result I now have 26 bales of straw in storage, ready to  put to use.

Straw in storage

Straw is simple stuff, a byproduct of cereal grain production.  It consists of the stalks of the grain plants left over after the grain and chaff have been removed.  Although a by-product it certainly is NOT a waste product.  There are hundreds of uses for straw.

Musher use straw for bedding in the dog houses and 'boxes' on the dog truck.  The straw provides some insulation and cushion that the dogs really appreciate.  When the straw bedding breaks down or becomes wet and 'yucky' it's simply replaced with some more.  As a general rule, I expect to go through about 1 bale of straw per dog each season, but this year I bought extra, as I plan to do more camping with the dogs and will probably need more straw for that purpose.

That was a major task on my "honey do" list, as I really can't call myself prepared until I have enough straw on hand to get through the entire winter.