How I prep for winter on our Spanish farm

The first fire of the fall is my cue to start getting ready for winter ;)

We can have chilly evening even in summer here, but there is a distinct difference when the autumn brings its humid evening chill. I love getting that dry heat from the fireplace.

Living up here in the mountains of Catalonia, winter isn't something I want to be caught out by. So once the stove is lit, I start working through my list: firewood, the pantry, the garden, the hens, and a plan for when the power goes out.

Firewood

Our firewood lives stacked behind the terracotta wall, ready to bring in as we need it.

We get about 2 tons delivered, pre-chopped (yes, I’m lazy that way) in August. I keep the bulk under a tarp, some nearer to the house and a big stack right outside the front door.

Fire starters from the offcuts

Every fall I walk around the farm and gather up all the loose planks and offcuts I've kept from the year's projects. The thin ones get split into fire starters on the little kindling cracker on the wall, and the rest go in the crates by the woodpile, ready for the stove. Nothing goes to waste ;)

The pantry

A full pantry is my favorite kind of insurance. This fall I filled my shelf with soup, and you can see how I do it in canning soups for beginners.

There are also loads of salsas, tomato sauce, meat stews and pickles from the garden that will see us through winter.

If you're just starting out, my beginner's guide to safe home canning and my canning altitude adjustments chart are the best places to begin.

The garden

Here in Spain, the garden never stops. It changes, sure, but never really shuts down. This winter season I’ve got carrots, beets, potatoes (experimenting) kale, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprout, broccoli etc in full swing, so there is plenty to tend to there ;)

I wrote about the pause between seasons in in between gardens, and about getting started with my winter garden. And if you grow peppers, here's how to overwinter peppers and jalapeño plants.

The hens

This year, the hens will be getting a new house! But I’m still in the -should I build it, or buy it stage. So that will be coming in another post.

If you're thinking about keeping chickens yourself, here's what I learned in my first year with backyard chickens.

If the power goes out

This summer, during the fire on our mountain, the power went out, and it happened at exactly the wrong time. I wrote about those days in the summer we watched the mountain burn. After that, I stopped making excuses.

This fall I bought a camping stove and butane cartridges for cooking when the power is out. I’ll be keeping about 20 butane bottles on hand. It’s not a solution for long slow cooking, but if anything needs heating up, this one will certainly do the job.

I also bought a Bluetti Elite 30 portable power station (not sponsored). It's there to charge our phones, power a few essentials and keep us connected during the next outage. It might even run our Starlink -note to self to check that ;)

A quick safety note: never use a camping stove indoors without good ventilation. Store the butane cartridges somewhere cool and away from heat, including your wood stove.

Ready for winter

I feel a sense of sadness that summer is over. But at the same time I feel a longing for those cozy winter evenings in front of the fireplace eating a warming stew. Most of the winter prep is done, so whatever might come our way, we will be hot and fed!

Here's to a cozy winter by the fire ;)