Hi Stephanie,
Nice to meet you... Yes indeed pretty much opposite climates, a bit more like Florida here, I imagine and of course we have just started Spring, heading into Summer, which is always hot...
I love animals too... Chickens, Sheep, Goats in particular and also dogs, cats, birds, fish... you name it, almost.
Back in my 'living on a farm' days I used to milk my goats, grind my flour, make my bread etc. etc. So I can relate a little with the livestock.
I can imagine the snow would be a challenge with gardening, however, I have had some experience with rocky sandy soil in the past, but that was even a hotter climate than where I am now!
As I mentioned, it is sub-tropical here, so it has for the most part fairly green bush (woods) around about, although things have been a bit dry for a while so not as green as it can be. Palms are common in people's gardens (among a lot of other plants including Azaleas, Frangipani, Bromiliads, Grevillea and the like)...
I believe I am somewhere between 40 and 70 mtrs above sea level (130ft to 230ft or thereabouts)...
The weather is warming up quite quickly although compared to your winter's it isn't all that cold, gets down to just below 0 deg Celcius (32 F) at night, but the days are around 17 (62.6 F) to 19 (66.2) at their coldest, and that only lasts a few weeks on and off.
As I sit here it is 1:30pm and around 25.6 C (78 F), which is quite pleasant. A good time in the garden with things just taking off for spring, so long as I keep the water up to them.
I will have to get and post some photos perhaps
