Winter homesteading projects

[Trying2keepitReal]

So beyond some of the normal winter stuff--livestock tending, spring/summer garden planning, winter growing, etc--what are some of the projects everyone is going to be working on this winter? I know some of you aren't as shut in as I will be, but I am interested to hear what everyone is working on.

I will be working on cleaning out/decluttering stuff we don't need or use anymore, we have a ceiling to repair/replace on the main level, start building a quail house and rabbit hutches on the not-as-freezing days, and reading up on SS as much as I can.

 

[tortoise]

Winter is a vacation of sorts, the kind where you're locked down or snowed in

• This year I will be working at home through spring
• Cooking/baking more
• Usually some hand crafts, but maybe mot this year because of working
• I hope to get to genealogy/family history projects, it has been a few years
• Training my dog(s)

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Winter is a vacation of sorts, the kind where you're locked down or snowed in

• This year I will be working at home through spring
• Cooking/baking more
• Usually some hand crafts, but maybe mot this year because of working
• I hope to get to genealogy/family history projects, it has been a few years
• Training my dog(s)

ugh the snowed in part....

i hope to get more baking/cooking time as well, though I am not the best so it isn't always well received

 

[tortoise]

ugh the snowed in part....

i hope to get more baking/cooking time as well, though I am not the best so it isn't always well received

My chickens usually like my baking.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Hmmm, interesting question. Declutter is always on the list, but this is going to require some thinking.

 

[flowerbug]

before winter things are important here if i can get them done. going around the exterior of the house and caulking any new cracks so that bugs can't get in plus it keeps the drafts down and saves on the heating expense. sealing up the door gaskets if they've gotten bad also a big thing on the list for each fall. it is nice to not have mice getting in the garage. also by plugging gaps it keeps the mice from chewing things up trying to get in when they can sense a cavity behind a gap.

once winter is going i try to get back to some technical things i've been learning (a new programming language and some graphics techniques), reading up on genetics, microbiology, or whatever else catches my interest. i'm horrible at some things like math and formulas and it takes a long time for it to soak in so i have to work on this sort of thing for many repetitions to really get it. i'm too easily distractable (ooh, another bean! ooh shiney! ) so i have to buckle down.

mid-winter i need to get ready for the seed swap so that gets me into a different frame of mind too.

reading. i read a lot.

i like to write too so i'm sometimes contemplating what i might want to write as a longer story but i've yet to figure out something interesting enough to hold me for that kind of effort.

looking out the patio doors at the clouds going by. yep. that's gonna happen...

 

[NH Homesteader]

I’ll be spinning, knitting and weaving… planning for next years projects, we have a hydro garden (ok I guess DH made it an aero garden? I don’t understand it yet) so we’ll be growing veggies, and I need to start exercising again because I struggle with my back and it makes certain farm tasks quite difficult (fencing, etc). Other than that we have decluttering to do, and painting.

 

[Britesea]

Sorting and de-cluttering. Dreaming about next year's garden. Knitting and crochet, embroidery and sewing. Reading. Probably spending more time on the computer checking out Sufficient Self, etc.

 

[flowerbug]

speaking of checking for mice chewings. yesterday i did a quick walk/inspection around the outside of the house along the ground and lower edge where mice do sometimes try to chew in and found where something was trying to make a new home. i got out the caulk gun and some gunk to fill it back in and since i'll need to put another layer of matching brown caulk over the top of what i filled in i also used some pieces of limestone to put on top of what i filled so it wouldn't be very easy for anything to chew in through there again.

i thought i heard some chewing noises in that area a few nights ago but sometimes it is just an owl or other creature doing things in the night and there isn't any actual damage but this time it was. temporary fix in place, finding brown caulk that matches to finish off the cracks in the existing caulk may be a challenge. i've not seen much in the stores when i've looked this past year. i need to get something at least close enough and get the whole project redone so that when we stain the next year we can just go over it all and it will look much better.

 

[The Porch]

well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, if I was not in a moving / sell the house/ dont sell the house/ move, dont move flux.....
Some of you may remember this year we added a new tomato bed, a potato bed and a second 24ish foot bed, and I made a new squash bed. I moved the compost / chicken poo to a new spot, and all of my medicinal herb beds.
I would, should and may just do it anyway hehehe - taking all of the summers chicken poo and feeding the beds, then in the veg beds a winter cover crop, whet is always good or fava beans, you know depending on where you live. So thats just one of the things, ........................