Preparing For Winter

Yes, I know it's only August and the weather is fab, but we have to start preparing for winter already. Hopefully we'll have another 8-10 weeks or so of really nice weather but you never really can be certain so it's always better to be prepared. We still have lots to do before the winter arrives but luckily autumn is usually quite mild here.

Our "To do" list goes something like this :-

• Chop and stack firewood, remembering to keep the older, drier logs at the front
• Finish off gable ends of house and roof tiles
• Get barley, corn and maize milled for animal feed.
• Thorough clean out of barn and stables
• Re-attach central heating pump and re-fill the system
• Defrost and clean the small freezer then re-fill
• Plant trees and winter vegetables in October
• Drain down boiler and water pipes in Bulgalow, check lagging on all other pipes and replace if needed
• Clean out woodburner and flues thoroughly

I'm sure there are more things that could be added but I'm tired now so can't think! In between trying to sort all that out, keeping up with the everyday jobs and taking care of the animals we'll have to collect the rest of the animal feed that's been ordered, unload and stack the 120 bales of straw (when they arrive) and fit in a week off from other work when hubby's oldest son and his friends arrive for a holiday.

Today we collected and bagged 660 kilo's of barley, tomorrow it's bags of mixed grains for the chickens and over the next 2 weeks we'll have to collect and bag the maize and corn. We're fast running out of space but will find somewhere for it to go. For the animals we should have enough feed, hay and straw to manage through the winter and at the moment there's still enough grazing to keep them happy through the day.