High Tide Homestead participates in affiliate programs and may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on this post. See our Disclosure page for more information.
Winter is nearly here in our little slice of Alaska. Trees are barren and we’ve already had our first frost. Seeing as winter is our longest and harshest season, we use the rest of the year to prepare for it. So what does preparing for winter on an Alaskan homestead entail?
Firstly, we heat with wood.
This means a lot of cutting trees, hauling, splitting and stacking for drying. Last year we stacked wood under a tarp. This year we built a woodshed to store it in. We’ve also upgraded from an axe to a hydrolic log splitter. It makes this chore go much faster! We also collect birch bark because it makes a fantastic fire starter.
Our second biggest concern for this winter was keeping our water system from freezing.
We put the system in this summer so this winter will be the big test for it. We built a little mini “cabin”, complete with its own wood stove, around our water reservoir. This should keep the reservoir and pipes around it from freezing. On super cold days we’ll keep a fire going in there.
Speaking of fires, we also replaced to wood stove in our cabin for a bigger one.
Our old stove (Amazon) was a bit undersized, so replacing it means we won’t need to get up at night to build fires any more. Our cabin should be a more steady temperature this winter. We’re also finishing the flooring in the loft, so more of the heat stays on the lower floor.
We also have more animals to consider this year.
Last year we kept our two dogs inside most of the time for winter, but this year we have FOUR dogs! So building dog houses for everyone and stuffing them with straw is a must. We also have a smaller chicken coop for the chickens. The old coop is big and airy. Great for summer, but not so great for winter. A smaller coop will help keep the birds warm with body heat, especially since we don’t supplement heat in the winter. We’ll also be building a pig shed and filling that with straw for our pigs.
Another part of winter prep is putting up food.
I canned a bunch of salmon this year that Kyle caught fishing with our friends. Our first goal for next year is to purchase our own permit and fish all next summer. Unfortunately, our garden was a bust except for potatoes. Those need to be dug out and dried for storage. Next year, we will use what we’ve learned and have a much better garden.
This will be our second winter on our Alaskan homestead, and we’re ready for it!
High Tide Homestead participates in affiliate programs and may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on this post. See our Disclosure page for more information.
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing! I loved the pictures and text a lot.
The pigs are really cute and red!