There's No Bad Weather... Five Things for the Homesteader to do During Winter Months

When we lived in Minnesota we had a saying that went, "There' s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." Here in Missouri where the weather is not as intense, it is quite gloomy and with ice/rain/snow/melt cycle we have here, it stays quite wet. Wet means muddy conditions and mud on a farm makes everything more difficult.

Mentally winter is difficult for farmers and homesteaders also because of the longer hours of darkness combined with being cooped up in our house more often. That takes a toll on us solar-powered people!

For us winter is a time for feeding our minds and making plans for the coming seasons. It is a time of rest, well, rest as much as a farmer ever can rest! It's a time of reading more books, planning gardens, starting seeds and planning our goat breeding for the coming spring. So many things to look forward to.

Here are 5 things we farmers/homesteaders do during the winter months, perhaps some of these ideas will help you be creative when stuck inside with dreary weather!

1. Read!

This is the time of year we do the most reading. We aren't fans of fiction because we know there is so much more we need to learn; our days are short so we have little time for fiction! So we spend our time on books that help us improve upon the previous year. Everything from gardening and preserving food, to goat husbandry, our shelves are filled with books and our evenings are filled with reading and studying. We delight in all we learn each winter.

HERE ARE A FEW BOOKS WE RECOMMEND:

Here is a list of books that have blessed us in the past and in some cases, for many years as we've read them again and again.

Elliot Coleman - The Four Season Harvest

Joel Salatin - Folks, This Ain't Normal and You Can Farm

Micheal Pollan - Food Inc.

You can get this in book form or watch the free movie which can both be found on Amazon and/or Youtube. This is a must read/see for everyone, but be warned, you'll never look at your food the same again.

Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions

The best book in our kitchen for the last 10 years is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Why do we love this book? You read, get recipes and learn all at the same time.

This book is a well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods and contains a startling message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels.

Suzanne Ashworth Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners We appreciated the great detail and research that went into this book. If you want to learn to save your own seeds, you won't find anything more robust than this book.