Every year, there is a lengthy process of getting everything ready for the winter. I suppose this is the case for everyone who lives in Maine or anywhere with long, cold winters, but when we started homesteading, I learned there is an extra bit of work to do. This year, for some reason, we have struggled getting everything done.
We have picked the pine cones, raked the pine needles, used the pine needles to cover the strawberries for winter, and then burned the pine cones. We have harvested the last foods from the garden that taste better after the frost–namely Brussel sprouts and carrots. I have deep cleaned the chicken coop. Ron cleaned the chimney flue for the wood stove. I have cleaned our back deck and brought in the bird feeders. Ron deep cleaned the duck house and is now in the process of mulching leaves to put on the garden. The chickens have been let into the the garden to glean and eat grubs. Ron and our son have chopped and split wood for the wood stove. Some wood has been covered. Some wood is in the basement.
We are mostly ready, but there is still some work to get done before the winter comes. Thankfully, winter has been slow to come because we still have to make repairs to the chicken coop, and Ron has to move and repair the back fence. And, if there is a warm enough day, I really need to repaint part of the chicken coop. I also need to take the pick up this week and stock up on straw.
Somehow, this year, we are extra tired. I don’t know if it’s age or if it’s just having a teenager. I feel like homesteading with a little one is one thing. Our son had a few activities when he was little. He played basketball and did many years of musical theater (which I miss terribly because there is nothing cuter), but that was it.
Now, he’s 14 and a serious cellist. This means a lot of driving. Just this last week, my husband and I sat in the pickup in parking lots eating sandwiches for dinner on two different nights because our son was in rehearsal. The whole time, I was worrying and worrying about the chickens and ducks because I just read an essay by Mary Oliver about about owls. I thought it would be lovely. And it was. But she also talked about how owls love to eat brains, and I remembered seeing part of a coop cam video of an owl taking a duck head. So it was hard to enjoy my sandwich in the pickup.
It feels like me might be at a crossroads. I don’t think we will ever be able to not homestead, but I think, next year, we are going to have to figure out some plans for scaling back. I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know what that looks like at all. But I can see we have some years of travel ahead of us with this kid and his cello, and I can see our lives are changing.
I can’t live without chickens though. Maybe I can find a good chicken sitter for the nights we have to travel.
In the meantime, we are almost buttoned up for the winter. I’ll be thankful when we have it done. What are your tasks for buttoning up for the winter? And have any readers ever had to scale back your homesteading? If so, I would love any advice. Everything feels so necessary, yet something has to give, I think.
