Sweater Season

Seasonal living was one of our goals when we first started homesteading. Infrastructure was the priority in the beginning, and as we've gotten house repairs, outbuildings, food production, and fencing established, our lives have indeed become more seasonal. 

Over the years I've learned that spring, summer, fall, and winter are more than just designations on the calendar. Because we spend so much or our time out of doors, I've discovered is that seasonal living is actually quite nuanced. 

Sweater season is notable in my mind because it's pretty much the end of hot weather. There's no fixed calendar date that this happens, basically sometime during September or October. The house is still warm enough that we don't need a fire, but mornings are a touch chilly and so a sweater feels good. In the warm afternoons, all that's needed is a t-shirt or a long sleeve shirt if it's cloudy or the breezes are cool. 

My favorite old house sweater

My favorite house sweater is one I knitted years ago from some of my first handspun yarn. It's so old that it predates even my fiber blog. I sill have the pattern (now discontinued) and I think the fiber is Corriedale, although it was so long ago I'm not entirely sure. What I can tell you is that it was some of the first yarn I spun where I was finally able to control the size of the yarn. The cuffs had to be repaired several years ago for fraying, and I no longer had the original yarn, but I matched it close enough.

Sweater season signals it's time to finish our winter preparations. Dan has been working on firewood periodically all summer, but now is the time to finish splitting the last of the pile and fill the household wood boxes. I work on filling the kindling baskets. The chimneys and stoves are cleaned out. I start sorting my summer wardrobe, set aside what needs to be mended or turned into rags, and swap most of it out for long sleeve t-shirts, vests, and warmer skirts. 

As the nights grow cooler, our big kitties (Katie and Meowy) start to spend the night indoors. It won't be long now before it will be time for that first fall fire in the woodstove. 

Sweater Season © 2026 by Leigh at

https://www.5acresandadream.com

Back Porch Project: Posts and Rails

Last time I gave you lots of words. This time you get lots of pictures.

4x4s for porch posts

Dan making the posts helped cut a lot of cost.

(What that odd blob is in the lower right corner of the previous picture.)

This is a tricky spot because the end post must 
accommodate both porch and stair railings.

Ready for the balusters.

Back Porch Project: Posts and Rails © 2026

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Back Porch Project: Railing Choices

 Since we've taken on this project I started noticing other peoples' homes and how their porches are built. There are so many kinds and styles of railings for porches, decks, and outdoor stairways. My conclusion is that there's no right or wrong - anything goes!

Of material, we rejected PVC and composite early on, even though composite seems to be the option sellers are promoting. That left wood or metal. Newly popular on homes being built around here now, is horizontal cables between the porch posts instead of balusters. The new home down the street has them, but within several weeks after the new owners moved, many of the cables were stretched out and sagging badly. Metal balusters look nice, but they're more expensive. Being aluminum, they don't appear to be very sturdy. When we looked at what Home Depot had in stock, every single package or pre-made section had at least one bent or smashed one. Steel are available too, but these are special order at a higher cost than aluminum.

So wood it was.

Next style choice: posts on top of the floor or attached to the side of the framing? From observing other porches and staircases, both are common. With the posts on top of the floor, the balusters are set between the rails. When the posts are attached to the side of the floor deck, the balusters are on the side as well. I left those decisions to Dan since he's doing the constructing. 

Posts. We could get ready made posts at the precut 4-foot height for $18 each. Or we could get 8-foot 4x4 posts for $10 each, and cut them in half ourselves to make two porch posts per ten bucks. Any guesses which we chose?

For the staircase railings they sold kits, which we did get. I do think they were heavily overpriced and that the DIYer could easily make the stair balusters themselves. 

The problem with all of the above is finding good instructions. They show you what they offer but not how to actually construct it. The instructional flyers and handouts were poorly written, and most of the instructions at websites are more sales pitches than usable information. So as Dan has begun the railing phase of the project, he's pretty much figuring it out as he goes along.

Next time I'll have photos of his progress.  

Back Porch Project: Railing Choices © 2026

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com