What do you do???? (To prepare for winter)

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I know it's only July, but it's 45 degrees here in Northern Vermont tonight. It was a cool, crisp day today, only 71 and it felt like fall so much that I started thinking in terms of "putting by". We are already fairly well stocked, but very disorganized. So I was wondering, What do you do to prepare for winter? What to you stock up on? What do you store? How do you organize?

-- Julie (rjbk@together.net), July 26, 2001

Answers

Response to What do you do????

Well, the first thing you do is put a bunch of that cool weather in a big box and mail it to me.

-- HannahMariaHolly (hannahholly@hotmail.com), July 26, 2001.

Response to What do you do????

Hi Julie , northern Ny state here with the same weather .Ow so nice to sleep in ! Now all of you who have at good laugh at are expense in the winter haha !Sorry just had to .Doesnt look so bad up here now does it ?

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), July 26, 2001.

Response to What do you do????

We're also going down in the 40's tonight (upstate NY). I'm glad for the early chill after the last few hot, humid days we've had. We already have our wood piled and we need to change the oil in the generator just in case. I'm waiting for the tomatoes to turn red so I can start canning salsa. We still have a lot of leftover Y2K items but we always run out of salsa. Besides "putting by" for winter, we try to plan ahead for the warm weather so we can get all our outdoor projects done. This summer we are stripping the woodwork from another room, painting the garage doors and repairing the garage windows, and going back and refinishing the bathroom window frame from where we ran out of time last summer. I'm sure you realize how short our warm weather time is up here. Also beginning to think about x'mas gifts to work on once the weather gets really cool.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), July 26, 2001.

Response to What do you do????

well here in far northern california (redding), it's bout 103 (F), and it's bout 7:30 p.m., got up to bout 107 this afternoon pretty much just plain ole HOT>>> ha. so enjoy the cool air cause it's gonna get hot again for you too. still have a lot of season left.. take care. bob m.

-- bob mccaffrey (bobmccaffrey1@netscape.net), July 26, 2001.

Response to What do you do????

Dear Julie:

Best advice I can think of is to be sure you have plenty of wood for your fireplace/woodburner. Also, has the appropriate maintenance been done on your chimney. Would see to all that now before the rush. Then it's more expensive and takes longer to accomplish the sweeps are all too busy to accomodate. Is your house warm or do you need to winterize (plastic on windows, bales near foundation, etc?) Do you have plenty of fuel for the furnace, etc? I guess I'm very practical. Also, do you have anything interesting to do if you get housebound do to snow. Yarn to knit, scrabble, computer, etc.

Well, just a few ideas.

Sheila

-- Sheila Lutz (glutz43@alltell.net), July 26, 2001.



Response to What do you do????

Julie,

Julie, I am anxious to read the replies to your question as I feel very disorganized this year.

The weather here is lovely too. Cool front came in last evening and today felt like fall - chilly this evening.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), July 26, 2001.


Clean out or build a cold cellar. Start fall veggies like kale. Order garlic and other perennial onions. Dig a bed for new spring bulbs. Collect dried flowers and grasses for Thanksgiving bouquets. Dry herb teas for Christmas gifts. Ditto to canning jams and jellies for gifts and eating. Take the time to learn some new edible plants. Visit local gardens you have been meaning to get over and see. Make a drawing of your property, using a blown up copy of your survey, so that you can put in current trees, gardens, streams, etc. to use for winter planning.

Wash blankets, coats, jackets, hats and mittens. Prime and paint bare wood on the house or barn. Start trapping rodents who will look to move in with cool weather coming.

-- seraphima (seraphima@ak.net), July 27, 2001.


Julie, My daughter lives in northern Vermont. I got a phone call from her "boasting" about this gorgeous weather. My reply was "that's O.K call me in winter and we'll discuss weather" LOL...We visited her last week and really enjoyed it. It was a nice break from Kentucky's warm balmy weather. We climbed Mt. Mansfield. (thought I was in decent shape..Ha!..*not*) Anyway, I prepare for winter mostly by checking supplies. I hate shopping. But I would rather stock up now than in winter when things are scarse or stores are crowded.

-- Ria in Ky (MinMin45@aol.com), July 27, 2001.

My big issue right now is to get a good supply of hay in the barn while the getting is good. It'll be two or three times the price it is now come winter. We do also work on basic food storage, but it is a year round endeavor.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), July 27, 2001.

Alright you guys, I too am sitting inside at the moment with 103 outside. Just got back from watering down chixs, checking on all the other animals and watering a blueberry u-pick and christmass tree orchard. I deserve to sit down now... Last winter we had a ice storm and lost ultilities for 13 days. So..I have been bringing up wood for cutting, its been curing already. Canning and preparing for the worst. It may be 103 today but in Dec, Jan & Feb. I do get some single digits. Not like you guys up North (I use to live at the Wis.border on Ill, side, so know what your winters are like). I am getting me an Oval WoodCook Stove, which is something I wanted for many years but finally convinced husband I would use it. If you have a freezer get a small generator for that. We lost a lot of food during that ice storm.

-- debbie wolcott (bwolcott@cwis.net), July 27, 2001.


Move the seasoned firewood from back, up to house. Check all winter and hunting clothes for condition and fit,buy new if have too,give used good stuff to church. get the fall and winter crops planted. Put another coat of linseed oil on dog-sled. lay in a order of lumber for woodworking. get my turkey and deer hunting licenses. etc,etc,etc.

-- TomK (tjk@cac.net), July 27, 2001.

Yes nothing like a barn full of winter hay, and a pantry full of food. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), July 27, 2001.

Wood, food and don't forget to store plenty of water. I always try to make sure I have enough to get me through two weeks of being stranded without electricity. We have a backup generator for everything in the house so the main thing for us is to make sure we have surplus gasoline on hand to run it and to make sure it stays in good running order by running it several times a month. I have never been faced with having to deal with this kind of situation but I'll be ready if it shows up. From there, I just stock up more by canning and storing things from my garden depending on how the garden goes. I also like to make sure we have plenty of toilet paper because I wouldn't want to run out of that. Those are my additional ideas.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), July 27, 2001.

Not that much past our "normal " lifestyle. Lynn keeps the pantry at least 3 years ahead at all times, we dehydrate all season. I do put back a couple of drums for the kerosene backup heaters and check em out in the summer months. I am also expanding my solar heat assist unit to aid in more of the house this season to try to lower my grid bill a little more.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 27, 2001.

The cool weather is such a relief! I was almost getting sick from those daily upper 90's. Disorganised, that's me, when it comes to preparations for winter. Financially, we are rather low at present, what with the economical slump, so I cant do what I would like to do.

I try to fill the canning shelves with stuff from the garden and bargains from the meat shelves at the grocery. I like to can soups, veggies, fruits, meats, no pickles, family wont eat them.

If I had the storage room, I would stock up on animal feed and hay. I think it would be worth it to build a cheap storage building to store it in,... but that project is for when I have more energy.

I wish I could buy a grass-fed beef from a local farmer and have it butchered locally. Money, money, money. I know it would pay off to do it. Perhaps in a month or two I can.

Organise? What's that? All I know is to get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the lid.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), July 27, 2001.



We already have our wood for this winter as we heat our home with only wood heat and also have a Pioneer Maid woodcookstove (we use it in the winter only). We always get our wood in early in the spring so it'll be cured by fall. I can as much as possible from our garden, although this year here in south central Virginia it has been very dry and the garden isn't producing as well as it could and we have a shallow well which has been running low, so we haven't been watering. We just had 60 bales of alfalfa delivered for our 2 nanny goats and will be getting 60 bales of orchard grass delivered in the next couple of weeks for our 2 billy goats. We're clearing our garden of spring plantings and plants that quit producing to make way to plow for our fall garden which we'll plant around August 20th. I love my fall garden, it is such a treat to go pick fresh kale and pull carrots and such in December! No pest problems then either. We're also planning to fence our garden with a taller and sturdier fence before winter, because this year the deer figured out how to ram our black flexible deer fence and come right in; they ate our Swiss chard to the ground---grrrrr! When it actually gets to the point where an ice storm could happen (we get them here quite often) I make sure we have extra feed for the goats, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, and guineas as well as for us humans! We do have a hand pump so if the power goes down (which it often does in this rural area), we can still water our animals and not have to worry. I guess I've rambled enough--sorry, I got carried away. Have fun and someone said they never have enough salsa, that's funny, we always run out of salsa too--that's first on my canning list if I get enough tomatoes to do the job. God bless. Sharon

-- Sharon (spangenberg@hovac.com), July 28, 2001.

After all the rest, make sure your passport is current!

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), July 28, 2001.


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