Spending time in the northwoods, this time of year, can be real rewarding. The air is crisp and sometimes a little nippy. The trees are in glorious colors of bright yellows, several shades of orange and reds with a hint of green and brown. This is a tel-tale sign of the summer passed and the coming winter months ahead. It is a mixture of joy, sadness and expectation , all rolled up in one branch, from the tree. A total blending of colors and emotions, to the human inner spirit. Winter is not far behind! Soon, most of nature will be in total slumber; awaiting the warm winds of the next coming spring. But, before the ground starts to freeze, nature must look to its provider, for resources of winter supply of food and shelter. While some of nature stores a supply of food and prepares winter shelters, so they can do a partial rest, others just consume everything in sight and they sleep all winter long. We humans do the same thing. Some people prepare for the winter months and still keep moving on with their activities and lifestyle, while others just do nothing but hibernate.
Stocking-up for the winter isn't all that hard, if you plan ahead. In spring, we put a vegetable garden in a vacant area of our yard. You can even place vegetables among your flowers, but do not over-crowd them. Plan to plant the vegetables that are the most versatile in your everyday cooking; such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, cukes, squash, beans, etc...whatever you know you will be consuming. Such as, tomatoes can be frozen or canned into soups, stew, whole pieces or cut-up, chili and spaghetti sauces, salsas...the list goes on. Vegetables can be blanched(scalded) then froze to put into your freezer for future use; with the exception of a few vegetables such as onions and peppers. They can be washed, seeded, chopped and put into freezer container and placed directly in freezer.
Fruit can be preserved also and makes a fine treat in the middle of winter. Especially freezing apples and canned peaches. A pie in the oven on a cold and snowy afternoon is so nice.
Maybe you have a few herbs in the garden that could be transplanted into a pretty pot and brought into the home. They make for nice house-plants and you have fresh seasonings for your meals. Herbs also can be dehydrated and stored for future use.
If you don't want to care for, or you aren't able to have, a garden, why not try the Farmer's Markets in your area. You can purchase just about any vegetable or fruit that was grown in your area.
It would be a good idea to purchase a good Canning and Freezing book and a Dehydrating Book. I have been doing this for over 45 years, but I still look up time-tables, pressure and heat settings. Every now and then I try a new recipe that I find. The time used to store commodities is not wasted. I even freeze my flour for future use!
When meat is on sale or my husband is successful in his hunting and fishing, in the freezer it goes. Sometimes I will pressure- can the meat. It is great to have things on hand, just when you need it, without having to drive to town; which is 25 miles from here, 50 miles round-trip.
Buying a freezer or maybe the items for canning and machine for dehydrating may seem like a big expense, but all in all, it pays off with regular use. It saves $ and time spent on the roads. You know exactly what you have to work with to make a meal.
Preparing your home is just as important. The cold wind (sometimes snow) can blow right through cracks and crevices. Repair and seal up damaged areas of walls and windows. Re-insulate the walls if needed. Some people even add straw bales around the foundation of the house, but this can invite unwanted critters around the home (spiders, earwigs, ladybugs, beetles, mice ...etc...)
Time to split wood that was collected earlier in the year! You do want the wood to be dried out, but not rotten. Cutting live trees gives you green-wood, which is not good to put into your woodburner or fireplace. This causes a creasaul build-up in the chimney, which is not good. We usually cut wood months ahead of time and let it dry out. Some hardwoods take a full year to dry. In autumn we split it to size for the stove. Then stack it, covered, in a handy place so we can get to it when the snow is 3-4 feet high.
If you don't have an alternate source of heat, start to set a few dollars aside each week or month to cover the future expenses of your utilities; or at least part of the expenses. This way it won't take a big bite out of your pocketbook, when your heating and electric bill is sitting on your table, waiting to be paid.
Start to put away some of your summer clothing and bring out the sweatshirts, flannels and longjohns. Check jackets for tears and repair them. Make sure your boots still fit! When there is 3-4 feet of snow on your doorstep is no time to see if boots still fit. Tight boots can cause much distress! The same goes for gloves and mittens!
This advice might seem a little generic and old, but, I'll tell you, I've seen many of men and women in places with open jackets, frozen feet, no gloves, frozen fingers, no hat or scarves and always complaining of feeling ill. Gee...I wonder why?
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