It's always strange, when the fields are still green and the days are still warm to start thinking about winter. It's easy to ignore that the chickens are heading into the coop earlier, and the nights are a little cooler than they were just a couple weeks ago.
Still, part of homesteading is thinking ahead to the next season. With fall just around the corner, winter prep is on our minds. While there is a lot of reacting on our homestead - dealing with sick animals or critters in the garden - being proactive is vital to our livestyle.
Working and planning a season ahead means better care for our animals and less expenses for us. Buying firewood, hay and oil in the summer means lower prices. Since farming hasn't been a money maker for most people since the 1980s, anything we can save allows us to keep homesteading a little more securely.
Canning and processing our animals means fewer groceries needed during the winter. It also means we are less affected by potential food shortages, which is less stressful for us. If money does run short, we will never need to worry about going hungry. If the power goes out, we just need to heat something on the wood stove.
The ingredients may get repetitive by spring, but we just get creative with the cooking!
One can look at this as just another part of homesteading being a return to nature. Like raccoons, bears and other like mammals, we spend the fall preparing for a winter that will be a little slower and more relaxed than the rest of the reason. We work hard now to relax later.
At least until it's time to prep for spring!
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