13 Winter Homesteading Activities for Modern Homesteaders
When we think of homesteading, visions of backyard chickens, bountiful veggie gardens and jars of home-canned foods lining pantry shelves are usually the first things that come to mind.
We think of pulling weeds and planting seeds; Of long, hot days gardening and farming livestock; Of evenings spent steaming up the kitchen windows while the canner runs steadily.
We think of collecting fresh eggs on a dewy summer morning and snapping green beans on the front porch on a warm summer night. And of course we think of eating fresh food, made from scratch with ingredients grown and plucked from our own land.
Indeed, these are all noble homesteading activities in the fair-weather months, but what about when winter sets in?
What happens once the first hard frost comes to claim any life that remains out in the garden? What do we do when the snow starts falling and the hens stop laying? How do we fill our days and nights after the canner gets put away?
Homesteading is a Year-Round Lifestyle
For whatever reason, homesteading is most often thought of as a three-season “activity.” Planting season begins in the spring, gardening and farming season runs from spring through the summer and canning and preserving season takes us from summer into fall. Winter often only gets mention when we talk about how best to use the other three seasons to prepare for it. So much of homesteading centres around preparing for winter. But what happens when winter finally arrives?
Sure, we could just hunker down and relax, enjoy the fruits of our labour and rest until spring returns and the really busy seasons begin again. But the very nature of most homesteaders is that we tend to enjoy keeping busy, working hard and creating as much as possible with our own two hands. In other words, we tend to go a bit stir crazy sitting around on the couch for too long.
Now, let me just make this clear before we continue: I am not at all suggesting that you shouldn’t take a well-deserved break in the winter. On the contrary, I think it’s VERY important to take time to rest whenever possible so that you can feel rejuvenated and be more productive when you really need to be.
But if you’re looking for some (mostly relaxing) homesteading activities that you can do throughout the winter months to help keep you occupied, save you money, ward off cabin fever and keep the pioneering spirit alive all year long, I’ve got a few suggestions for you.
Let’s begin with my personal favourite…
1. Cooking & Baking
Although it could be argued (with sound reason) that cooking and baking are year-round activities, there’s no time like winter to fire up the oven, the slow cooker or the wood stove and create amazing comfort foods to fill the belly and warm the soul on cold, snowy days and nights.
Winter is all about cozying up and filling the house with the warm, comforting smells and tastes of home-baked breads, biscuits and desserts. It’s about creating hearty soups and stews, slow-cooked roasts and meals that stick to your ribs.
Related: Homemade Honey Brioche Bread Recipe
It’s also the perfect time to put some of that home-canned food you worked so hard on to good use. Use your home-canned green beans in a comforting green bean casserole. Enjoy some home-canned tomato sauce over a hearty pasta bowl. Make soups out of home-canned stocks and broths. Make your own homemade flaky pie crust and use the home-canned fruit pie filling you put up in the summer. And of course savour every pickle, preserved fruit and jar of jam, jelly, relish, chutney, salsa and sauce you worked so hard to preserve in the summer and fall. After all, there is no better way to enjoy the fruits of you labour than to literally enjoy the fruits of your labour!
2. Winter Gardening & Farming
While many plants won’t survive the winter, there are a handful of cold-hardy veggies that you can grow throughout the winter.
Greens like kale, collards, bok choy and Swiss chard grow well even in cold, snowy conditions. Although you will still need to protect them from getting crushed by the weight of the snow. You can do so by building your own DIY Hoop House. Or better yet, you can use a heated greenhouse to extend your growing season right through the winter and keep your root vegetables growing while extending the life of summer veggies and getting an early start on spring planting.
Related: 3 Ways to Protect Your Plants from the Cold
For an even simpler winter “gardening” project, try growing your own sprouts or microgreens indoors!
And of course if you have livestock they will need to be cared for all throughout the winter. Be sure to keep them safe, dry and warm with extra bedding and always make sure they have enough liquid water to drink as water can easily freeze during winter. We use heated water dishes like these in the winter for our chickens and rabbits.
3. Knitting & Crocheting
If you like to keep your hands busy, there is no better way to accomplish this in the winter months than to start a knitting or crocheting project.
If you’ve never knit or crocheted before, there are some great videos on Youtube to help you get started. That’s where I began, and although I’m still not great at either, it’s a skill I’m working on. It’s also something I find I only have time to do in the winter when I have more time to sit and devote to it.
4. Sewing & Quilting
Winter is also the perfect time to for sewing and quilting projects. If you’ve been wanting to try a new sewing project, finish a quilt that’s been sitting in your closet for ages or even just mend some clothing, winter is a great time to break out the sewing machine (or a simple needle and thread) and get to work!
Likewise, if you’ve never sewn anything before but you’d like to learn, winter is the perfect time to focus on learning and acquiring these skills!
5. Candle-Making
I don’t know about you, but the long, dark winter days and nights would be a lot more depressing around our house without the light and beauty that emanates from the plethora of candles that we burn throughout the winter months. There’s just something about natural candlelight during the winter that makes this this time of year just that much cozier and more enjoyable.
But candles aren’t just beautiful luxuries; They’re also essential items to have on hand during the winter months in case the power goes out or if you’re living off-grid. But the cost of buying candles from the store can add up pretty quickly. Not to mention, store-bought candles are often made with ingredients that you might not want to be burning and breathing in. By making your own candles at home, you can control exactly what goes into them and do so at a fraction of the cost of buying store-bought.
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The best options for homemade candles are beeswax or soy. You can make them scented or unscented. Using essential oils is usually your best option as the fragrances are natural, but you can use fragrance oils as well. I have used both and enjoy each for different reasons, but the choice is yours.
–> Click here to learn how to make your own scented soy wax candles with essential oils.
6. Making Soap & DIY Body Products
Just like candles, you can whip up your own homemade soap and body products at home in your kitchen (mostly). Of course if you are making soap with lye you will want to go outside due to its caustic nature. But otherwise everything can safely and easily be made in your kitchen.
Choose from cold-process or melt & pour soaps, DIY body butters, healing salves, lotion bars, salt and sugar scrubs, bath salts, perfumes, hair products, milk and herbal baths, bath bombs, lip scrubs, chapstick… the list goes on and on. In fact, anything you can buy at the store you can pretty well make at home, including most makeup.
The basic ingredients for some of these projects can cost a little bit of money up front, but will almost always save you money in the long run while using safer, healthier, more natural ingredients. You can even make some things with a few simple ingredients you probably already have in your home pantry, like white sugar and olive oil. Just mix these two ingredients together and add a few drops of essential oil to make a beautiful homemade sugar scrub!
7. Making Homemade Cleaning Products
Winter is a great time to restock your cleaning supplies by making your own safe and natural homemade products. Just like bath and body products, the list of DIY cleaning products you can make at home is seemingly endless!
Make your own laundry detergent at home using a few simple ingredients. Infuse white vinegar with the rinds from citrus fruits that are in-season in the winter and make your own multi-purpose surface cleaner. Or blend together some baking soda with some dried, grated lemon peel and lemon essential oil to make a homemade sink, tub and toilet cleaner.
You can even make your own potpourris with dried herbs and flowers and chemical-free homemade room sprays with essential oils and alcohol. These double as Christmas gifts as well!
Related: DIY Christmas Scented Room Sprays with Essential Oils
8. Building & Crafting
Whether you’re a skilled carpenter or just enjoy breaking out the hot glue gun and getting creative, winter is a the best season to devote some time to all of those DIY projects you’ve been wanting to tackle but never seem to have time for.
Having a basement workspace or a heated garage is handy when it comes to woodworking and other building projects in the winter, but a simple craft room or even a dining room table is enough to do most DIY-ing. Whether you’re making your own homemade Christmas ornaments or building a bookshelf, winter is the time to break out the craft supplies and get making!
For more simple winter woodworking projects, be sure to check out the Winter 2021/22 issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine, which includes a step-by-step beginner woodworking tutorial for making your own versatile wooden crate at home, as well as tips from professional woodworker and homesteader Anne of All Trades who walks you through how to source green wood for carving.
9. Reading & Writing
I’ve always loved to write, which is why I chose to start this blog in the first place! If you love writing too, winter is a great time to focus on journalling, blogging or maybe even starting the manuscript for that book you’ve always wanted to write!
The peace and stillness of this time of year lends itself to being a great time for reflection and contemplation, which is best expressed in writing. The quiet of a winter’s evening is the perfect environment to let your thoughts flow onto paper (or a keyboard).
Likewise, the same qualities about winter make it a great time to get some reading done as well. I’ve never understood those people who lay by the pool all summer reading their books. Even before I began homesteading, I still never had time to read in the summer! There was always so much else to do. But in January, after the rush of holiday madness has passed and the long-haul of winter really begins, I love to curl up with a hot cup of tea and a good book or magazine.
If you’re looking for some great reading material that will keep you inspired this winter, subscribe to Modern Homesteading Magazine and gain instant access to our entire library of issues!
Over the past 2+ years we’ve covered everything from organic gardening and backyard chicken keeping to herbal medicine, home canning, fermentation and sourdough bread (and SO MUCH MORE!)
Get exclusive articles, interviews, recipes and resources in every issue, and get brand new issues delivered right to your inbox!
Whether you use the time to write your autobiography, start your own blog, get lost in a story or learn something new from a non-fiction book, winter is the best time of year for busy homesteaders to slow down enough to really sink into some reading and writing.
10. Playing an Instrument
This is one thing I don’t do but really wish I did. There’s something about playing an acoustic instrument for entertainment in the winter that harkens back to times of old.
Whether you play Christmas carols on the piano, strum folk tunes on your guitar or organize a sing-along with the whole family, making music with your own voice and hands, without the need for electricity, follows in the tradition of the pioneers.
I always think of “Little House in the Big Woods” when Laura Ingalls Wilder describes her favourite time of day: When Pa comes home and strikes up his fiddle.
Playing an instrument is truly old school entertainment, and definitely something you should consider learning if you ever plan on living off-grid!
11. Seed Shopping & Garden Planning
Winter is also a great time to do a little dreaming. Usually by January or February, we begin longing for the warmer, brighter days of spring to return. One way we can help get out of the dark, winter mindset and brighten things up a bit is to browse through seed catalogues and start planning our spring and summer garden.
February is usually the time when we begin starting some of our seeds indoors as well. Let the summer dreaming begin!
Related: How to Read and Understand Seed Packets
12. Self-Improvement/Personal Development
Winter and the New Year in particular is THE time to reflect on what’s working and what needs improvement in our lives, and to set new goals for ourselves to improve some areas of our lives that need some attention.
Whether you want to quit a bad habit, start a good habit, improve your physical body, get your finances in order, organize your home or learn a new skill, the New Year is the best time of year to set new goals, make plans for the future and take the time to focus on yourself and your dreams.
If you’re looking for some inspiration or ideas to help you get started with your own goal-setting, check out this list of 25 self-sufficiency goals to set (and smash!) this year!
I love to start each new year by creating a vision board full of things that I want to do, be or achieve. I hang it somewhere where I will look at it every day (like in the bathroom) to help keep my goals and dreams fresh in my mind each day. It’s amazing watching the things on my vision board materialize!
I truly believe in the power of visualization and the law of attraction, and have achieved many of the things I’ve put on my vision boards in the past. I encourage you to make your own vision board too! Visualization and goal setting combined with intentional action is a winning combination for achieving anything you set your mind to!!
13. Family Time
I almost didn’t add this one as family time should be a priority all year long. But winter allows us the time to reconnect with family and friends and the seasonal celebrations and traditions to do so.
It’s the time of year when we open our homes to extended family, friends and neighbours or when we travel to see relatives we don’t visit with every day. It’s a time to make merry and celebrate the love we share with others. It’s the time to let others know we love them and to make plans to get together and enjoy their company. And of course it’s a great season to spend quality time with our immediate family playing board games, building snowmen, going skiing, reading books and enjoying hot chocolate in front of the fire.
As homesteaders, spending time with our families is often at the top of our list of priorities. But throughout much of the year, that time is often spent working together. While that is excellent bonding time, it’s also nice to take a load off and simply enjoy each other’s company and revel in some good fun together. Play a board game, go for a winter walk in the woods, or just enjoy each other’s company as you linger a little longer over meals together. Whatever you do, put your phones down and give each other your undivided attention. Be fully present and enjoy every moment together.
There are so many activities that are perfect for winter, and I could probably make a list a mile long full of everything you could keep yourself busy with in the “off-season.” But these are my personal favourites and are the perfect activities for homesteaders to focus on.
I know that homesteading appealed to me in large part because I love keeping busy, creating, learning new skills and improving all the time. And while I love to relax in the winter, I love to feel like I’m still being productive while enjoying life at a slower pace than the rest of the year.
Winter offers us the gifts of peace, quiet and time that we don’t always get to enjoy during the other three seasons. So let us not wish it away, but embrace it and use it to our full advantage. After all, spring is just around the corner;)
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How many ways can you think of to put a greenhouse to use in the winter?
Sure, greenhouses are a great way to extend your gardening season into fall, or to create an even warmer microclimate for heat-loving crops like tomatoes and peppers in the summer, but they also provide a warm space to grow food (and ornamental flowers and plants) right through the winter months.
But that’s not the only way you can use a greenhouse year-round! To learn more about how to put an existing greenhouse to good use in the winter (or why you should consider adding a greenhouse to your property if you haven’t yet), be sure to check out the Greenhouse Effect feature in the Winter issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine, written by contributor Lori Austin of @hollandgirlgfdf.
Subscribe to Modern Homesteading Magazine via the link in my bio or go to http://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com to gain instant access to this issue along with our entire digital library of past issues!
Do you have a greenhouse or are you considering one for your homestead? How do you put your greenhouse to use during the winter months?
Most importantly, have you subscribed to Modern Homesteading Magazine yet???
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Every year during the month of January, I challenge myself to eat as much as possible from the food that we’ve stored over the past year.
Three years ago I decided to make this a public challenge and invited anyone who wanted to participate to join me. Every year, hundreds of other homesteaders (and non-homesteaders alike!) join me in doing what has now become an annual Homestead Pantry Challenge, and this year is no different!
As homesteaders, so much of our year is spent planning and preserving food for the winter, and so it seems fitting to plan winter meals around the food we’ve worked hard to store.
Not to mention, January tends to be the time of year when most of us are feeling tapped out from the Holidays and ready to save some money, get organized and set new goals for the new year.
Kicking off the new year with a pantry challenge is a great way to accomplish all of the above goals and is, in essence, a celebration of all the hard work we’ve put into our food storage and preservation over the past year, while also showing us where we need to focus (or refocus) our efforts in the coming year.
If you haven’t joined the 2022 Homestead Pantry Challenge yet, it’s totally free to join and is VERY customizable, so even if you don’t want to eat down your entire pantry, you can still use it to get organized and put your creativity in the kitchen to the test!
In past years this challenge has been hosted mostly here on Instagram, but this year I’m hosting it via email as well for anyone who isn’t on Instagram. Due to some other personal reasons, the challenge won’t be as Instagram heavy this year, so all of the instructions, assignments, details and resources will be delivered via email when you sign up for the challenge!
You can sign up for free via the link in my bio, or by going to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/pantry-challenge/
If you’re just looking for some tips to help you eat from your pantry (at any time of year!), save money and plan meals around what you’ve got, I’ve also got a full blog post with 8 tips to help you eat from your pantry (link also in bio).
Are you participating in the Homestead Pantry Challenge this year?
Looking for a quick, EASY and frugal but impressive last-minute Christmas gift?
This DIY Peppermint Sugar Scrub checks all the boxes, plus you can while it up in your kitchen with ingredients you probably already have on hand!
All you need is some plain ol’ white sugar (or substitute brown sugar, raw sugar or even salt if you prefer!), some liquid oil (sweet almond oil, olive oil, avocado oil and fractionated coconut oil are some of my faves), and a few drops of essential oils (I use @planttherapy peppermint and vanilla essential oils).
Mix it all together and then transfer to a Mason jar. Add the finishing touch with a little ribbon or twine and a pretty label (I’ve got FREE printable labels for you in my resource library!) and voilà! You’ve got a decadent homemade Christmas gift in just a couple minutes!
Grab the full recipe via the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or by visiting https://thehouseandhomestead.com/peppermint-sugar-scrub/
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I always say that my DIY ability is limited by whatever I can whip up in a mixing bowl.
In fact, if I had to choose my single most important kitchen tool, the humble mixing bowl would be it (paired with a trusty wooden spoon, of course;)
A good mixing bowl is often overlooked as being one of the most versatile and important tools in any kitchen. And it’s especially obvious at this time of year!
Lately I’ve been using this gorgeous hand turned stoneware batter bowl from @rootsandharvest to make everything from Christmas cookies to homemade eggnog to last minute gifts.
Throughout the year I pull out my mixing bowl at least once a day on average to make bread, cakes, cookies and pastries; To toss salads and mix sauces in; To whip up quick and easy home and body products like my homemade bath salts, whipped body butter and sugar scrubs. I even like using a mixing bowl to hold potting soil when we start our seeds in the spring!
But most of all I love it because it brings me back to the kitchen and encourages me to create all manner of things that I used to just buy from the store.
Perhaps most importantly though, is the quality time spent and around this simple kitchen tool making memories with my baby girl. Together we’ve made everything from cookies to pancake batter and discussed everything from fractions to where food comes from while huddled over a mixing bowl together.
Isn’t it funny how it’s often the simplest things that we tend to take for granted, but that are the most meaningful things that we simply couldn’t live without?
And so maybe,at the end of the day I’m not actually limited at all by what I can make in a mixing bowl. Maybe, just maybe that’s exactly where so many of the best things in life are made.
Swipe to check out our full photo shoot and catch a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to work with this little goofball by my side 😜
@rootsandharvest #holidaybaking #homesteadkitchen #memoriesinthemaking #fromscratch #fromscratchwithlove #wherememoriesaremade
🥧 When it comes to Christmas, I love blending old traditions with new ones, and I also love blending other people’s cultural traditions with my own!
In my Ukrainian family, Perogies are a staple dish at all of our holiday meals (my Perogy recipe is on the blog if you’re looking:)
And of course we like to enjoy the western tradition of eating turkey (or ham) with Christmas dinner, along with all of the standard accoutrements.
But a few years ago I decided to add a new cultural dish to our Christmas celebrations in the form of a Christmas Eve tourtière.
Tourtière is a French Canadian meat pie that’s typically enjoyed after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The dish/tradition dates back to the 17th century and was traditionally made with a mixture of cubed meats including wild game, pheasant and moose meat. However nowadays it’s made with a mixture of ground pork and beef, along with a delicious mix of “Christmas-y” spices including sage, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger.
As for the pie crust, I use the same standard homemade pie crust recipe for all of my pies. It’s flaky and buttery and delicious, whether you’re making a savoury meat pie or a sweet fruit pie.
If you’re looking for a new dish or tradition to add to your Christmas repertoire this year, I highly encourage you to try this recipe for homemade Tourtière! (And maybe make an extra one to put in the freezer and enjoy when you’re in the mood for some comfort food on a cold winter day!)
Recipe link in bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/traditional-tourtiere-recipe/
Have you ever tried Tourtière before?
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When you have a goal to make as much as possible from scratch, it’s important to have the right tools on hand.
Kitchen tools are my love language because just about everything I make, from food to homemade gifts, herbal medicine to home and body products, is made in the kitchen.
While there’s definitely a place for motorized kitchen appliances (hello food processor and stand mixer!), sometimes the best tool for the job is a simple hand tool that hasn’t changed in its design for thousands of years.
A mortar and pestle is one such kitchen tool that has been in use since Ancient times, and that gets regular use in our kitchen (and many other home kitchens) today.
I use it to grind herbs and spices for homemade spice mixes, teas and herbal medicine, I make homemade guacamole, sauces and pastes and I grind up Epsom salts for homemade bath salts.
There are a number of different styles of mortar & pestle to choose from, including marble, wooden and even lava stone, but my personal favourite has quickly become this handcrafted ceramic stoneware mortar & pestle from @rootsandharvest
It’s glazed on the outside but unglazed and a little rough on the inside which makes grinding herbs, spices, nuts (and anything else you can think of) a cinch.
Plus it’s a beautiful piece of functional art that can be proudly displayed on your kitchen counter or on open shelving.
If you’re building a home apothecary, a mortar and pestle is also a must!
Whether you’re in the market for a mortar and pestle for yourself or you’re looking for a Christmas gift for the homesteader, home cook or herbalist on your list, this is one homestead kitchen tool that should definitely make the cut.
Roots and Harvest also has a wide selection of handmade stoneware and all sorts of other kitchen tools and home and garden products geared specifically for homesteaders. Check out everything they have to offer @rootsandharvest or at rootsandharvest.com
What are some of your favourite kitchen tools that get the most use in your kitchen, or that are so beautiful they double as decor?
P.S. You can grab my recipe for homemade chai tea, (shown here) via the link in my bio:)
What’s your signature holiday move?
In the winter issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine, @homemakerchicpodcast hosts @shayeelliott and @parisiennefarmgirl share tips and tricks to help you become the CEO of Christmas in your own home.
From menu planning to decor to packing it all up and starting with a fresh, clean slate come January 1st (or December 27th;), get homemaking advice from the pros for the holidays (and beyond) in the latest issue!
Link in bio to subscribe @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com to read the full interview and much more!
One of my favourite things to do in winter is to stare out the window at the songbirds flitting around our yard. They’re a constant reminder that life still exists, even when the branches are bare and the other critters are all hunkering down and/or hibernating.
Since food is scarce in winter, I like to put out a little birdseed around this time of year. Not only does it help provide sustenance for the birds, it gives them a reason to keep coming around and bringing life and joy to our backyard!
These DIY cookie cutter birdseed ornaments are a great way to feed the birds in winter and they look adorable strung up on the trees in your backyard.
Not to mention, they’re super simple (and frugal!) to make. All you need is a bag of birdseed, some gelatine and a few cookie cutters in your favourite shapes.
Make them for yourself or to give as gifts for Christmas. These are also a great project to make with your kids! I made a bunch with my classroom when I was teaching a few years ago and the kids were so excited to bring them home and hang them up!
Get the full recipe and instructions via the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/diy-birdseed-ornaments/
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I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of looking out the window and seeing THIS!
For years I lived in places that had kitchens with no windows over the sink. I dreamed of having a home where I could stand in the kitchen doing dishes and look out at the world. And not just at any world, but at the NATURAL world.
I feel so at home tucked in the forest. It’s good energy out here. And it’s always beautiful, whether I’m looking out at vibrantly coloured flowers or leaves or at the Earth blanketed in snow.
My life’s a lot more mundane and humble than it used to be in my younger years when I spent most of my time travelling the world, seeing new places and meeting new friends. But today most of my joy comes from being in this place with the birds and forest critters and chickens and rabbits (and of course my family and fur babies that I share this house with!) I don’t currently feel the need to explore the world at this point in my life because there’s enough to look at right outside my window.
Today this view is what I’m grateful for. What are you grateful for today? (Remember, there’s nothing too small to be grateful for:)
Winter often gets a bad rap for being the coldest, darkest, dreariest season of the year, when life as we knew it in the summer ceases to exist.
But winter offers us a much-needed reprieve from the busy-ness of the rest of the year;
A time to slow down, rest, reflect and dream;
A time to give ourselves over to the projects, hobbies, crafts and activities that we just don’t seem to have time for the rest of the year;
A time to devour books, soak up knowledge, learn new skills and sharpen old ones.
The winter issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine showcases just a few of the many unique activities, projects and opportunities that this season affords us the time to immerse ourselves in.
Here’s what you’ll find in this issue:
✨ Inspiration and ideas to help you make the most of winter on the homestead
🌱 The many ways to put a greenhouse to use all year long
🥂Homemaking tips for the holidays (and beyond!) with Homemaker Chic podcast hosts Shaye Elliott & Angela Reed
🍴Holiday recipes & comfort foods, featuring Honey Taffy, Mulled Wine and Winter Squash
🪵 Winter woodworking tutorials with The Humble Handyman and Anne of All Trades
❄️ And more!!!
To read the full issue AND get instant access to our entire library of past issues (26 value-packed issues and counting!), click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com
P.S. When you subscribe during the month of December, you’ll also get a coupon code for a free one-year subscription that you can gift to someone you love!
Give the gift of self-sufficiency this Christmas —> https://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com
Winter often gets a bad rap for being the coldest, darkest, dreariest season of the year, when life as we knew it in the summer ceases to exist.
But winter offers us a much-needed reprieve from the busy-ness of the rest of the year;
A time to slow down, rest, reflect and dream;
A time to give ourselves over to the projects, hobbies, crafts and activities that we just don’t seem to have time for the rest of the year;
A time to devour books, soak up knowledge, learn new skills and sharpen old ones.
The winter issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine showcases just a few of the many unique activities, projects and opportunities that this season affords us the time to immerse ourselves in.
Here’s what you’ll find in this issue:
✨ Inspiration and ideas to help you make the most of winter on the homestead
🌱 The many ways to put a greenhouse to use all year long
🥂Homemaking tips for the holidays (and beyond!) with Homemaker Chic podcast hosts Shaye Elliott & Angela Reed
🍴Holiday recipes & comfort foods, featuring Honey Taffy, Mulled Wine and Winter Squash
🪵 Winter woodworking tutorials with The Humble Handyman and Anne of All Trades
❄️ And more!!!
To read the full issue AND get instant access to our entire library of past issues (26 value-packed issues and counting!), click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com
P.S. When you subscribe during the month of December, you’ll also get a coupon code for a free one-year subscription that you can gift to someone you love!
Give the gift of self-sufficiency this Christmas —> https://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com
We’re all familiar with eggnog, but have you ever wondered what “nog” is anyway, or how this decadent holiday drink came to be?
The general consensus is that eggnog originated in England in the 17th Century and was made with eggs, milk and some sort of alcohol (aka. “nog”).
It may have even been enjoyed earlier than this, as a similar beverage called posset (a hot, milky, ale-based drink) has origins dating back to the 13th century.
As I was researching this topic, I found at least one source that claims eggnog was created by mixing alcohol with eggs and milk earlier in the season when egg and milk production was at a high. The alcohol was used to preserve the dairy products so that they could be consumed during the winter months when egg and milk production was low.
It was originally made with sherry or brandy, but when eggnog reached America it was typically spiked with rum because rum was easier to come by. Eventually some people started substituting American whiskey.
Nowadays we can drink eggnog with or without alcohol, but traditionally eggnog was always an alcoholic drink that wealthy folks (who could afford milk and eggs and alcohol) would use to toast to their prosperity.
Eggnog has remained a favourite beverage around Christmas time; One that most of us are accustomed to buying in a carton from the grocery store. But like most processed foods, store-bought eggnog is often loaded with additives like high fructose corn syrup and thickeners.
This holiday season, why not make your own eggnog instead?
All you need are fresh eggs, milk, cream, sugar and a little nutmeg (and an optional cinnamon stick) to garnish.
If eggnog is on your list of holiday must-haves but you’d rather avoid the processed grocery store stuff and make your own with fresh ingredients, you can grab the full recipe via the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or by visiting https://thehouseandhomestead.com/old-fashioned-homemade-eggnog-recipe/
What’s your position on eggnog? Do you love it or hate it? And if you spike it with alcohol, what alcohol do you prefer?
I always look forward to the winter because I have so many interests that I love to spend time on! I spend my winters practicing instruments, sewing, baking , and catch up on reading and writing so I’m right there with ya!
This is a good read with great Winter ideas!!! Thanks for sharing:)
What a lovely post! I’m really enjoying your homesteading content. (As I sit inside and my husband goes outside to let the chickens out and walk the dog 😉
Homesteading grounds is in nature, draws us to quiet. Love it.
Hi Teresa,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I find this lifestyle very grounding, very humbling and very awe-inspiring all at the same time. And I totally hear you about sitting inside on a cold winter’s day while Hubby heads outside to feed animals/do chores. This is often the case around our house as well;)
Love doing most of these, and it is really nice to have a neighbour to share some of the activities ..time to get together to crochet and inspire each other..
Yes! I need your help with a scarf I’m making 🙂