15 Items For Your Fall Homestead To-Do List

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With winter and the first frost right around the corner, it’s important to mark all of the tasks off your Fall Homestead To-Do List! If you prepare efficiently you can spend more time in winter cozying up with a book by the fire and less time out finishing tasks last minute in the snow. 

With a bit of prep and a solid plan, your fall homestead to-do list doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Just take one task at a time and squeeze in a bit of fun while enjoying the great weather that autumn typically brings. The cooler temperatures can be a welcome break after the hot days of summer!

Homesteading Calendar

One of the best things you can do as a new homesteader is to create a small homesteading calendar that can break seasonal tasks down so you only have to focus on one at a time. With many tasks that need to be done during and before each season having a plan in place will help take a lot of stress off of your plate. 

Homestead Tasks

Homestead tasks can vary depending on the size and level of homestead operation you have. Whether you are an urban homesteader growing fresh foods from your apartment or spread out on acres of land making money from your homestead there are many tasks to mark off of your fall homestead to-do list! 

Many people break down their homestead tasks to the home, the pasture, the garden, and their tools. So let’s go over the top 15 most common fall homestead to-dos! 

15 Items for Your Fall Homestead To-Do List

Build or Update Your Compost Bin

Your compost bin can be one of the most useful resources on your homestead when used correctly and fall is the perfect time to either update the one you have or build one if you haven’t completed that task yet! With lots of leaves, cleaning up of fence lines, and sorting through food there this is a good way to add a variety of compost into your bin! 

Stock Your Freezer with Fish and Meat

Fall is a great time to hit the water one last time and stock up on any fish that are swimming through. Fish are an excellent source of protein and can help sustain you during the long months of winter. There are also many hunting seasons open in the fall that you can take advantage of to put game meat in your freezer. If you have beef calves or lambs, this is a good time to send them to the butcher before the grass dries up and you need to feed hay and other food sources to the herds. 

Stock Your Pantry with Canned/Dehydrated/Pickled Bounty

Hopefully, you had a successful spring and summer growing season full of fruits and vegetables and now you can store them away to eat during the winter. While canning is one of the most well-known ways of food preservation you can also use pickling and dehydrating to add different flavors and textures to your winter food supply. 

Forage for Mushrooms

Fall is when mushrooms are in their peak season of picking and they can add a great flavor to many soups and other meals on the homestead. You can also use some of the dehydrating tips found on Chore #3 to continue to use them all winter long!

Plant Garlic Clovers

Garlic cloves can do well growing during the winter months, especially if planted in raised beds. This is one of the easiest ways for many beginner homesteaders to start growing their own food and can help you gain some confidence as your homestead garden grows. 

Harvest All Remaining Crops & Remove Dead Plants from the Garden

Most of your spring and summer crops should be finishing up by the time colder weather starts to come around. Be sure that you clean all of them out and remove any dead plants from the garden. This will make your spring planting season go much smoother next year when you’re starting from a fresh palate. 

Add Cold Frames to Remaining Plants

If you have some heartier plants such as kale, spinach, lettuce, and others that can continue to grow into the beginning of winter you can add a cold frame to help protect them. This helps the plants store heat in the frames and can lengthen the time at which they can grow. 

Check All of Your Outdoor Lighting

Use this fall season with nice weather to check all of the outdoor lighting in barns, coops, and anywhere else you have it set up. When you go out to do chores on dark winter nights it will be a lot easier knowing that your lights are in working order and you’re not trying to climb up an icy ladder trying to change a bulb. 

Trim and Cover Berry Patch

Going through your berry patches and trimming off any dead plants as well as laying down a solid layer of mulch will give your berries a better chance of being ready to grow in the spring. Many of your fall to-do list tasks will make spring much easier! 

Make Sure Winter Clothes Still Fit and are Ready to Wear

If your family has grown since last winter it’s important to go through all of your winter clothes and see if you will need any replacements. You don’t want to wait until the first snow has fallen and go to grab a pair of coveralls that now hit at your knees instead of your ankles! Get everything out, try it on, make sure there are no new holes, and hang it up in the mudroom so it’s ready to go when you need it. Gloves also have a way of wandering off and not staying together as a pair! 

Winter Prep Your Home’s Exterior

Go around the outside of your home and see if there are any places that need to be winterized. Some of the most common places to check are around all of your windows and doors. You want to keep as much heat in your home as possible. Once the cold sets in it will make this chore much more difficult to complete.

Inspect Chimney and Fireplaces and Woodstove

Many homesteaders use chimneys, fireplaces, and woodstoves as their source of heat in the winter. As many of these haven’t been used in quite a while you will want to go through and do some maintenance and prep to make sure they are ready to use when that cool air starts to hit. Ensure everything is clean, and no build-up has occurred since its last use. Taking the extra time to make sure everything is ready to go is safe is one of the most important steps in preparing for wintertime.

Firewood Prep

Firewood is an essential part of homesteading. The drier your wood the hotter it will burn. Having a good stock that you build up throughout the year will make the winter much more comfortable. If you haven’t put enough back use this time in the fall to go through and have your firewood stock ready. If your wood stove or furnace runs off of wood chips now is a good time to get those prepared and stored for the upcoming freezing weather.

Make Sure Winter Tools are Available and in Good Working Order

If you haven’t had your winter tools out in a bit it’s a good idea to go through them and see if they need any sharpening, oil, or fine-tuning before you are ready to use them. It’s also a good idea to put them front and center on your workbench so that if you need them quickly you won’t need to waste time searching around the barn. 

Check all Fences and Coops are Ready for Winter

Fall is a great time to inspect all of your fences and chicken coops and make sure they are winterized and that they will keep your animals safe inside and other critters out! Winter is a time when many predators are also looking for food and you want to take whatever steps you can to keep your animals safe and on the homestead. 

Fall Homesteading Projects

As you can see there are many fall homesteading projects that need to be completed as winter begins to creep around the corner. Preparing well in the fall and marking off your fall homestead to-do list will make winter more bearable and will go a long way leading up to the next busy season on the homestead, spring! 

Speaking of spring, this is also a great time to start planning and dreaming up what next year’s garden beds will look like! You can order seeds, determine how the crop rotation will work, determine if there is a better way to lay out your garden plans, and make sure it includes some of your favorite things!

You can also take some notes regarding your own homestead in the different seasons and see what worked well last year and what were some of the first things you saw that you could improve on when making your lists when preparing for the next season. Running a homestead is definitely a lot of work but building a self-sufficient lifestyle that you are proud of is a great way to make that hard work pay off!

Let us know what you’re doing this fall to get your homestead ready for winter! We love hearing from you and look forward to learning about your personal homestead tips and tricks!