Prepping the homestead for winter
Posted by: TammyWell, tonight’s forecast has a four-letter word in it!
SNOW!!!!!
You know it’s coming, sooner or later but the first time you hear it for the season, you cringe, just a bit. Then your head begins to race through the “to-do” list. I know I ran through mine this morning and got an early start on the list.
My husband and I finished stacking the wood from our fallen oak from this spring’s Nor’Easter. When we rented the wood splitter, my husband also ran through a bunch of big pine logs we still had stacked. He only split them four ways so I finished splitting them small enough for my little maple sugarin’ stove. I can burn the pine in there and we keep the oak for the fire place. Everything is stacked nice, neat and tight and tucked in under tarps. It’s good to know that my wood supply for sugarin’ season is already done. I wasn’t this ready last year.
I pulled the tomato cages today, too. I cleaned off any dirt and debris and neatly stacked them. Fearing for any late season blight on the tomato plants, I pulled them and threw them into the woods away from my compost. I noticed that some self-seeded dill was coming up again. I mulched it thoroughly and after tomorrow’s rain/snow mix, I’ll dig up a few and see if they’ll manage inside for the winter. Fresh dill would be nice this winter.
I still have late season sugar snaps growing and blossoming out there. I’m not sure I’ll ever see a sugar snap on them before it really gets too cold for them but they are pretty hardy and have already handled a few frosts. This week’s temperatures are similar to spring so they might manage to provide a side dish. No matter what, legumes are wonderful at fixing nitrogen in the soil so they’re helping my garden even if they don’t help my food budget.
I wanted to find enough energy to get my cold frame built today. Splitting and stacking is hard work. There will be nice digging weather this week. The soil isn’t frozen by any means and I’ve picked a good area for a permanent cold frame. I just have to dig down a bit and then buy the lumber. We saved off one of the wooden framed slider doors when we had to replace our sliding door. We’ll be able to use hinges attached to the door and cold frame to provide easy access to the veges I want to plant inside. I loved having spinach, radishes and lettuces through most of the winter last year! In the spring, the seemingly dormant roots came to life with the early spring warmth and provided us with a nice early plethora of greens! Those plants were THE BIGGEST spinach plants I’ve ever grown!
I’ve also started thinking of spring already. We’ve started saving our milk jugs for the maple syrup season. I need about 50 jugs to insure an adequate supply. I’ll wash them thoroughly and then store them on a rope in the garage. By spring, I’ll have a stringer full of jugs. 
As much as I miss my fresh vegetables, I do look forward to the homey feel of winter in New England. If you live in snow-free regions, you might not understand the enjoyment we find in a good Nor’Easter that brings in 2 feet of snow. Nothing like having a day off from work and school! You buy an extra gallon or two of milk (store them in the snow on the deck for fantastic ice-cold milk), make a big batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies (nothing like ice cold milk and warm cookies), start the fireplace and watch movies all day! I usually throw in quilting or knitting in there, too. Later, when the snow ends, you take a big, clean container outside and pack it with snow. Then you come in and make vanilla ice or sugar on snow. I’ll have to make a batch and “share” it with all of you this winter. Yes, I LOVE winter in New England.
But for now, I have to continue to focus on putting our homestead to sleep for the winter. I have covered my herbs as they’re still handling the cold but might not like the snow tonight. I’ll end up harvesting the last of the herbs soon and then heavily mulching the bed to protect the roots. I will also dig up one of my celery plants so that I’ll have another mature (2 year) plant providing seed next year. I have managed to mulch my celery over the winter before and the roots were protected enough to produce again in spring. It can be hard depending on our winters.
Oh and one more thing I love about winter is the arrival of all those seed catalogs. I love watching the snow come down while I make my shopping list and drool over the catalogs with a glass of my ice cold milk and the warm chocolate chip cookies.