Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Preparing for Winter

Alias is enjoying the outdoors, and I think he has more energy than the other two dogs.

The house is a mess today (go figure), and the chimney sweep is coming this week.  I'm about a month late in getting it taken care of.  The kids will be working overtime to get this place "ship shape" today.  I like my kitchen "company ready" when I get up in the morning, and I have not been successful at getting the kids on board with this.  Where there's a will, there is a way, so I'm not giving up yet.


I brought in 10 eggs yesterday, but all of them were from the pullets.  Zero from the hens.  I'm wondering if they are laying them under the tree or camper.  I'll have to take a look later and see.

I've been taking advantage of the wind and sun this week, and washing every winter coat and jacket that still had fire extinguisher spray on them.  It gave me the opportunity to remove any that had been outgrown, and donate them too.
Our utility room is also the "coat room."  

The older part of the house does not have any closets, just built in cubbies when they added on (in the utility room).  I have hopes to transform this room into my craft room too, but we'll need to close in the one porch and make a mud room first.  Although it could be years for that to happen, I'm still moving my yarn into there.

I cleaned another bookshelf, and donated 2 more bags of books.  I've filled another bag for my cousin too.  I'm slowly cleaning out my craft supplies, and bartering out those too.  

Next on our list, is to cut down a dead tree and split more wood.  I'm hoping we can get it done before winter, but the cost will be an issue.  We hope to find someone to simply knock it down for us, and then we can cut and split it ourselves.  

I'm digging out our disaster kit this week too.  I'll be taking inventory, and restocking if necessary. Water jugs are filled for flushing toilets in the event of frozen pipes this winter, and extra jugs filled for the animals.

I'm back in the garden again, after our long week and weekend of rain.  It's got to get done.  



4 comments:

Liz said...

I need to work on my winter disaster
kit. Winter will be right around the corner!

Mama Pea said...

Had to laugh when you said you like your kitchen "company ready" when you get up in the morning. Oh, fantasy dream of mine! Wouldn't that be wonderful? Heck, I'd like it even more if the whole house could be "company ready." So why is it that even though it's just husband and me here 99% of the time, I can rarely seem to pull that off? Good luck to you, Bloggy Friend. If you can do it with all your kiddies still at home, I will have to hang my head in shame.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, you made me laugh. I woke up this morning to find that one of the kids piled recycling on my very clean table.

Mama Pea said...

Ah, yes, kids. Ya gotta love 'em. (I think it's in the rules somewhere.) Sigh.