More Preparation

There really are a number of things that do enter into preparation for winter, but I guess since they are not ongoing, it seems like less than the spring when the garden needs almost daily attention for weeks and the goats are kidding and bottle calves are needing attention, literally morning and evening. Autumn is just so much more streamlined in the duties. Most of the herd is dried up for breeding and most of the young are sold off or quite independent in their own rite, so no babies to tend to and one milker provides enough to drink and make soap. Most of the preparation becomes all in a day's work and then the homestead is ready for winter. Thursday was particularly an accomplished feeling in that the newly designed Website and Store front are ready to go live next week, the hay for winter was delivered, a second batch of soap this week is curing, and there have been enough sales that my big seller, "Squeaky Clean," needs to be made again before Yom Kippur, but these are all long termed preparations that will not need to be done every other day. I am going to address a real "MUST" when it comes to homesteading and that is 'supply on hand.' I'm not talking about hoarding, but sometimes not wasting looks like that. This year, it looks like I'm hoarding bell peppers, just because the plants produced so bountifully. I've even pickled bell peppers with other peppers and cucumbers just to not waste them. The freezer is full and the plants are still going, so I'm trying to balance my understanding between hoarding and not wasting. You'll have to come to your own conclusions there. I've given them away and had big dinners with lots of folks for Shabbat, so I'm guessing they are going to taste wonderful this winter or need to last a second season. . . yet I digress. Back to supply. As winter approaches, and if you're new to homesteading or just considering the move that direction, there are two things I want to address and they both involve MONEY. If you have enough land to provide pasture and produce hay, great, but get it cut and baled and make sure you have enough for winter. If not, make sure you have a supplier for winter. Buy in quantity when possible and have some money on hand when the opportunity arises. The goat herd numbers a dozen, plus the grandkid's pets, and the dairy bulls will spend part of the winter on the hoof before heading on to their final destination, so hay is a necessity and so is grain. I'm getting away from corn for anything on the place. The corn is just too genetically modified for me to even try to deal with. I'm moving to milo for the poultry and oats and alfalfa to supplement the livestock. I don't use antibiotics and I don't use feed with growth hormone, so I make sure I have a good supply for winter, because my choice of feed is not the usual inventory at the local feed stores, so my orders are often considered "special orders" which translates to pick it all up when it comes in. Some suppliers don't deliver for less than a five hundred dollar order, so in my case that's more than a month's supply, but it's still $500.00 at one time. Homesteading involves a different type of money management than city or suburban dwelling. Money is managed like supplies. Impulse buying is minimal, but when opportunity knocks, be ready with cash in hand! The other spend out is for those new to living a ways from town. With the price of gasoline and the distance most homesteads are from town, you're money ahead to double up on purchases that you know you use when they are on sale. Coffee and flour top my list. Often there is no store on "the way home," if you've even left the place . . . I have to have coffee, so when it's on sale, I stock up! If you knew me, you'd understand that an extra 10 pounds of coffee is not hoarding, it is supply for the demand! I bake from scratch and my own bread, so flour purchased in advance has a purpose. My grandson could tell anyone by the time he was six, how and why his G-ma shops like she does. The added bonus to having a good supply is you'll never know when someone else could use a helping hand or when you'll be blessed with company that gets snowed in a day or two. Part of preparation is shopping like a pioneer. Make sure you've got feed for the critters and supplies enough to survive a month, if need be.