are you getting ready for winter?

Here in Michigan we are doing our usual "keeping the harvest". Like Cabin Fever the wood for this year was done a couple of years ago, but this fall will find us loving being in the woods cleaning up the deadfall. I love all the seasons and by the time the jars are all full and the freezers are bursting with the labors of our hands, I am ready for the quiet of winter to do some sewing and quilting and read the good books I have been setting back for a quieter time.

This year I am particularly excited about winter as we just put on a nice big addition with a huge pantry and added a wood cookstove. Years ago I cooked and baked on a wood cookstove, but I suppose with a new one I will have to learn all over again.

On the farm we still have enough fire wood split and stacked from a couple of years ago. Veggies are canned or frozen; only have to do tomatoes yet. Still waiting for the apples to finish ripening but got the peaches and elderberries froze. We don't do our butchering until January or February so we are ok there. I wait to make my jellies and jams in the winter since the kitchen gets so hot in the summer. Still have to purchase heating oil and diesel tank for the tractors is low. Hate the thoughts of that as we need about 1100 gallons. We won't shut down the camp until after hunting season but hope to cut some dead trees this fall. The propane tanks are full and I won't unstock the trailer until we are ready to winterize. I guess we are on our way to being ready but got a ways to go. I, too, think we will have an earlier winter.