After a weekend of canning peppers, green beans and apple sauce and then reorganizing our pantry, I realized that settling into the mood of winter has officially begun in our home. I have changed out our spring comforter to our winter one and dusted off my sweaters. The nights have gotten noticeably chillier after the sun goes down, and the clocks are back an hour. Rain is steady, the plants are getting barer, and it's finally done snowing pine needles. It's safe to say that fall is over.
Here are the main things we're doing to get ready for the winter:
1) Canning. Whenever I see produce on sale at the grocery store, I'm trying to get in the habit of buying a bunch so I can bring it home to can. It took about 20 large apples to make 9 pints of applesauce, 3 lbs of green beans to can 4 pints, and about 30 Anaheim peppers to can a mere 2 pints. (Maybe I'll even get up the courage to start canning leftover meat this winter.) I even managed to put together some brownie mix in quart mason jars as Christmas gifts for the neighbors, courtesy of homesteader Melissa K. Norris' handy recipe.
2) Stocking up on bulk dried goods. My go-to is Azure Standard, a local co-op based in Washington that offers a wide range of groceries in various sizes like beans, nuts, rice, granola, frozen foods, frozen meats and even some toiletries and other household items (I'm seriously contemplating the 5-gallon bucket of olive oil). They also have a wide range of organic options to choose from, which is always awesome.
3) Cutting up firewood. We still have several chunks of a large fir rounds we had cut down 2 years ago, so we chop those up for firewood each year, saving us the cost of having to buy wood. (Don't forget to save your lumber scraps and trimmings from any carpentry projects, as they make great fire starters!) The hubby insists he likes to chop wood anyway, saying it's a fun stress reliever and he gets some good exercise out of it. I've started moving some exposed logs over to the covered wood pile to dry out before we burn then.
4) Fueling up. We are trying to fill up our fuel and propane tanks, especially with the threat of fuel prices going up this winter. We have extra tanks for the camping trailer, gas cans for the cars and mini propane tanks. If we ever become unable to get gas from the regular utilities, we'll have our own stash to last us at least for a little bit.
5) Getting medicines and cold treatments. To heck with toilet paper, we're stocking up on medicines and cold remedies. Before they are all gone from the shelves at the height of cold and flu season.
6) Mother Earth Courses on winterizing. This homesteading source has a bunch of great courses covering a ton of topics, including seed saving, raising pigs and chickens, honey and syrup making, and more. The "Garden Planning Course" is really inspiring for ideas on your spring garden. Mother Earth Courses are also a great way to pass the winter days away, stuck indoors by watching all these free, educational courses on all things homestead... never stop learning!
Snuggle up and settle into the rhythm of winter. Enjoy time with friends and family this holiday season and support each other if things get challenging. Don't forget to take a minute to dance with your spouse, hug your kids and tell your parents you appreciate everything they've done for you. Spring will be here soon enough and give way to a new bountiful season.
Cheers!
