Winter Blues on the Homestead

I think January is pretty much my least favorite month of the whole year. Holidays are over, it is too early to plant any seeds, it’s rainy and dark. I have the winter blues. Blarg!

I have been in a bit of a funk due to all the above plus being unable to find a house in our range (we want out of town) making us choose to just save like crazy to buy a piece of land on Prince of Wales Island outright. Then coming up with the means to get some kind of housing on it and move. While that idea is exciting, it also means we are rather…stuck where we’re at. I noticed myself getting down pretty bad. As I usually do when bored, I daydreamed about the homestead we want. I wondered about how it might be during this time of year. Sure, there would be stuff to do like tend the animals and whatnot but eventually everything is already cleaned and organized and you are left with nothing to do. I figured it could go one of two ways.

Either I would be so busy with winter projects I don’t even know would be necessary at this time of year or it would be 50 times worse. The boredom. I am particularly thankful for the day job just because I get out of the house and do something. This year isn’t quite as bad because of the blog, too (thanks for reading, all!) but ohhh man. I needed to get out of this funk! One of the best ways, in my opinion, to get out of the doldrums in the thick of winter is to think about and plan what you want to get done in the spring and summer. So, that is exactly what I did! Even though it may sound hokey, I firmly believe that if you can picture it in your mind and see yourself going through the steps, you have a better chance of making it a reality.

I planned out, in finer detail, what we will be growing in the garden this coming season. I made the choice a week or so ago that this year, we would focus more on growing the basics such as potatoes, onions, carrots, and other staple crops. The idea is we will focus on less variety and get larger harvests. I really believe I will be able to meet my goals and plan on getting a produce scale so I can record it in my garden journal. I also made a list of materials we need for the minor changes to the greenhouse and cold frames we want to make this year. It gives me an idea of how much it will cost and allow me to get a little here and there, watching for sales, to spread it out.

I went through a list of skills I wanted to learn and practice that I wrote last February when I started this blog. I was very happy to mark off jerky making, canning all kinds of meat, and smoking fish and cheese. That helped cure the winter blues significantly right there. Then, I rewrote the list adding things like learning how to use a fire bow, learning successful container gardening, and learning more about companion planting. Those things right there give me something to do that I am interested in which helps pass the time until I can get my hands in the dirt again. 🙂

I remember a lady my grandmother used to work with. She said January was her hobby month. It was the one month she allowed herself to spend as much time doing her hobbies as she wanted, tending to the day to day stuff as needed. She would let some clutter build up here and there and maybe the laundry would pile up some but she didn’t care. “Small stuff” she would say. I recall my mom asking her if it drove her crazy. “Well, of course honey. That is what Spring cleaning is for!”  Perhaps I should take a cue from a wise lady.

What do YOU do to beat the winter blues? Leave us a comment below, we love to hear from you!