Getting Ready for Winter

The other day I was thinking about what had to be done before the first snow started to come down and realized that the jobs had changed over the years. 

Having grown up on a farm, it seemed we were always “getting ready for winter.”  I will not go into all the farm chores but what we did at our house to prepare for what was to come. 

Of course, one of the first duties was to get the garden thoroughly picked and then picked up and raked to make ready for all the leaves we would rake and spread on  the garden “for fertilizer.” Then a trip or, should say, several trips to the cellar for the storm windows (that had to be washed and hung). Leaves would be bagged and put around the house foundation after sheets of plastic were nailed on first. Some years we had bales of hay to put around the foundation. 

Once we had a good snowfall, we would shovel the snow and cover the bagged leaves or hay for a bit more insu-lation. I will mention here that all this “insulation” had to be carried off in the Spring! All this was done after my mother would can and freeze jars of vegetables and fruits. I do not remember a “store-bought”vegetable until after I was thirteen and we left the farm. 

I also recall my siblings and I begging for a loaf of “Wonder bread,” as my mother and grandmother baked their own bread, rolls, muffins. No store-bought! Must tell you that all this was done after my mother had worked a full week (and then some) outside the home! 

Present day and the last fifty or so years, no leaves or hay around the foundation and no pantry stocked for the winter but maybe a few family favorite pickles. Our preparation for winter circles around old cars, antifreeze, and mouse traps. 

The thoughts of winter start to manifest themselves as October approaches and thoughts turn to going to Hershey for the gargantuan flea market and car show. You take an inventory of parts needed to either fix what broke or needed for the project in progress. After Hershey, you can get serious about closing for winter. 

At our house, my boys and I call it the “Annual Olney Shuffle.” We manage to move everything around (never get rid of anything) but somehow feel we have accomplished something for all the moving. This year we were a bit early with the shuffle, but it got done with the help of three dear “car” friends: Gary Fiske, Wendell 

Noble and Charlie Thompson. Gary and I cannot thank you enough for the work you put into moving cars so I can move things out of my house with the “Great Plan” to get organized. 

Stay tuned and I will let you know how that went!!