Redbuds & Berries

Hello, friends.  Last week, two books of stamps that had been misplaced for probably two years were found, in between cards in my card drawer.  I'm so glad they were forever stamps.  I mended a sweater, pair of pants, a skirt, and a shirt.  An Ebay purchase was made through Swagbucks, for cash back.  The hens are producing lots of eggs.  Some were steamed for J.  I steam them now, instead of boiling, as they're usually easier to peel.  I harvested asparagus, chickweed and wild violets.  More dried lentils were canned.  We paid the additional amount that the property tax went up on our rental house into escrow, so more of our payment will go towards the principal, and we can pay it off a bit sooner.  Some of the tomato and pepper seedlings are sprouting.  Eggs were shared with a friend, and the remaining cat food and kitty treats were given to a neighbor friend.

A favorite cotton nightgown was so threadbare, it began ripping and had to be "retired".  I salvaged the buttons and started working on the lace.  What remains will go in the rag bag.  Soapmaking oils were melted on the woodstove, saving propane.  At the grocery store, brussels sprouts, dogfood and potatoes were on sale.  The potatoes were at a price I haven't seen in a long time, at $1.60 off per 3#, and between us, we bought 15#.  The dogfood was $6 off, which is my usual stock up price. Brussels sprouts were $1 off per pound, and I got two.  Their season is winding down, at least in our home.  Then we'll be on to more spring foods. While in town, I quickly popped into two thrift shops, looking for canisters to turn into compost crocks, but no luck, so nothing was purchased.

J bought two varieties of blackberry and blueberry seedlings, which came last week.  We got them in the ground the evening they arrived.  While I was canning lentils, he planted seedlings he bought of cabbage, broccoli and lettuce, just before rain.  I wonder if anyone has insight into this?  I tried a new recipe for maple glazed roasted carrots last week.  Following the recipe, the carrots were hard rocks after the end of the roasting time.  I've noticed with every recipe I've tried for roasted vegetables, other than potatoes, this is always the case.  With brussels sprouts, cauliflower and carrots, I must steam them before roasting; otherwise they're inedible.  Is it me?  My oven?   I have a pretty new oven which will cook via convection or air fry, but I just use plain old "bake' because that's what I know.  Do you experience this with roasted veggies too?  Always hope to keep learning.  Wishing you a lovely week!

Gathering

 

Most of what we've been working on the past week is gathering needed items for the skoolie.  This pic is my favorite from the week, an antique secretary desk I found on Facebook Marketplace, which fits perfectly in the kitchen, next to the refrigerator.  We wanted something open at the bottom, as spots to put a dog bed are hard to come by, so this accomplishes that.  We plan to put our Berkey water filter on the top shelf, which will be secured in some manner.  The front piece which pulls down will allow another prep surface when needed, and is just the right size to not block the walkway when down.  There is very little counter space, so more prep space will be most welcome.  The cubbies and drawers will be useful too.

Though not a great pic, I found faceted glass knobs for the majority of the cabinets.  I love the thought of them throwing rainbows around the bus.  I'm thinking of a sea glass knob(s) for the bathroom.  We're still figuring out what we need in there.

Joseph found an antique Sears & Roebuck medicine cabinet for our bathroom.  Again, not the best photos.  He refinished the wood, which is a lovely walnut, and I found vintage glass shades on ebay, as the original shades were plastic and cracked.  He placed it in the bathroom, and connected power to it.  He also worked on wiring for the unit that does GPS, backup camera, music, etc., so that's done now.  All these small steps will eventually get us there! 

Happy Spring!

 

Hello, friends.  I hope you've gotten a reprieve from winter, in your little corner of the world, and are seeing signs of Spring days, which is arriving on Tuesday.  Our asparagus has started poking up, and the first few spears have been harvested.  J cleaned out the woodstove, and I was able to supplement all the remaining fruit trees with wood ash.  After finishing, I applied worm castings to a number of fruit trees, and our oldest three blueberries.  We're thankful to have gotten some rain, and were able to switch back to rainwater for our home.  The soap I made for our personal use finished curing, and I've shared some bars with friends.

Our garlic is coming along nicely.  J intends to fertilize it this week.  My canning project last week was our lima beans.  I'd like to get enough on the shelf to last us until weather cools again in the Fall.  I believe I accomplished that with the lima beans.  I plan for there to be a few more rounds of different beans, and at least one of broth canned, before the weather starts heating up.  The peas are coming along too.  Though there are quite a few spots with no plants, I'm still hoping there will be plenty to can some this year.  I wanted to give a shout out to the folks at Hisea.  Their customer service is fantastic, and they stand behind their lifetime guarantee.  Joseph gave me a pair of their boots for Christmas '22, and they're the most comfortable and warm muck boots I've ever had.  I've worn the heck out of them, and the fabric upper recently began separating from the rubber lower in three spots, creating small holes.  They quickly responded, and sent out a replacement pair amazingly quickly.  I first contacted them Tuesday, and had my new boots Saturday.  I highly recommend them, if you need waterproof boots or work shoes.  

The photo at the top of the post shows one of the salads I made for dinner.  Instead of following one of the MM recipes that meal, I just made a salad with what I felt like, which included wild violets and chickweed.  I'll finish up the cleanse this Friday, and am greatly looking forward to potatoes!  Though I've lost a few pounds, I'm disappointed to not see much difference in my hands.  I've been reading and researching some things on both eczema and general health, and will likely be tweaking some things.  I received $2.75 in digital rewards for agreeing to a longer ship time on Amazon.  I experimented with bringing the water lettuce in over the winter, and the plants have survived, but they were on their last legs, so I put them back outside, in the bird fountain.  If it continues to look like it may frost Monday, I'll bring them back in for the night, then set them back out, and hope for the best.  More seeds were planted, and the radishes and tomatoes have begun sprouting.  Wishing you a Happy Spring!

Sound & Shower

This week, Joseph created an overlay for the dashboard on the passenger side of the skoolie, using a stair tread, which he found was cheaper than an equivalent piece of oak, and already had a rounded edge.  The vertical piece was made from a leftover of the kitchen countertop.  He installed it this morning.

He cut the holes for the toilet and shower drains, and installed the shower pan liner.  I helped him move the marble slab we're using for the shower floor, so he can cut it to size.

He installed the speakers at the front, so we can hear good tunes while travelling, as well as GPS.  Lots to do yet, but it's always great to see progress.  

March Days

Hello, friends.  Though we heard about it after the fact, we didn't know about the recent widespread internet outage.  I suppose we were both involved in other things at the time.  A bouquet of daffodils and forsythia was cut, to enjoy last week, and a few pieces of March decor were brought down from the attic.  Golden paste was made for the pups.  Typical of March, we've had some breezy days, which helped all the laundry drying on the clothesline.  I'm using up things I can't eat, but Joseph can, while I'm on the cleanse.  One night was gnocchi with tomato broth.  Another was polenta with sauteed greens from beets that I bought, and pintos.  

As Tuesday was forecast to be a rainy day, I soaked split peas overnight, and then canned them Tuesday.  Split peas are something I don't often think about.  I'm hoping having them ready to eat will inspire me to use them.  There were enough extra split peas for a pot of soup for J.  He used a ham bone he had, and enjoyed it for a dinner, with leftovers for another meal.  I shopped at Harris Teeter on senior day, and received 5% off my purchase.  A box of GF pasta was found on the clearance rack.  I checked a couple of thrift stores for canisters, which I didn't find, but got a spoon rest, like new kitchen towel, salt/pepper grinder and bathroom scale for $5.  We lost our sweet farm kitty, Callie, last week.  She was 16 and had been doing poorly a couple of weeks.  Despite all that was done, I think she was just tired, and ready to go.  The night before, I spent time with her in my lap on our front porch.  It was a beautiful night sky, with a multitude of stars.  She was kneading and purring, but by the next morning, I knew it wouldn't be long.  We buried her next to sweet Hickory.

While weeding a flower bed, I  noticed a good clump of wild onions, and gathered them up.  They were washed, the stems chopped, and added to the broth bag.  The time change had us both a bit tired on Sunday, but we managed to get a few things done.  I often forget about using my digital amazon rewards, for agreeing to longer ship times, and was determined to use it this time, before losing it.  I had $9.75 in rewards, which is more than usual, and ended up getting this free book.  It's one I've wanted to read since first hearing about it. The peaches and cherry are in bloom now, a pretty sight.  A neighbor asked if I'd like to go with her to some local potteries over the weekend.  We stopped by a couple, and the local bakery.  One of the potteries had a native plant nursery on site for the day, and I picked up a Golden Alexander plant, my only purchase, and one that had been on my list.  I'm hoping to get back to seed starting this week.  Wishing you a week of peaceful days.  

Our Skoolie Trap Door

Last week, Joseph fabricated a trap door for the stairwell.  As he moved the door to the middle of the bus, and it's almost directly across from the bathroom, we felt it would be much safer for us and the dogs, if the hole was covered over while we're travelling, and when we don't need outdoor access, such as at night.  He mounted a strong magnet on the end of the armoire, which will hold the door in place, when not in use.  Someone mentioned it might be a good place to store our shoes, when we take them off, which sounds like a good idea.  

He also found a CB radio on Marketplace, and fabricated a bracket to mount it.  He's working on another mount for the audio system, which includes GPS navigation, DVD player, and backup camera.  Onward!

Garden Clean Up & A Winter Experiment

Hello, friends.  Last week, J and I cleaned up the garden, pulling up all the cages and plants.  We then weeded our asparagus beds, and hope to get leaf mulch on them.  Another day, we pruned all our fruit trees and the wine grapes.  We've never gotten enough grapes to make wine, and really only had some for fresh eating one year, thanks to the critters. I'm happy these chores are done, and feel more ready for this growing season now.  A batch of suet was made for the birds.  Lettuce and arugula were replanted.  I've been meaning to mention my experiments to overwinter the rosella and dwarf pomegranate plants.  Though the rosella bloomed, after being moved into the house in the fall, it died over the winter.  I'm happy to have gotten to harvest some small calyces.  The pomegranate seems to be happy.  Whether it will have enough of a head start to actually grow fruit this year remains to be seen.

prototype SoulSeeds table

Last year, a custom table was requested, but the customer ended up going with our standard water filter stand.  At some point, I brought the prototype into the house, which has been handy next to my computer.  Our powder coat oven holds two of our stands at a time, and with the amount of energy it uses, I always try to paint two at a time for efficiency.  Recently, I had an odd number of stands to paint, so I added the prototype table to the batch, which has been on my to do list for some time.  We got the last of our estate planning errands finished, and can breathe a sigh of relief, now that it's done.  I've had several essential oils I no longer use, due to the price going up too high, making using it for soap not profitable, or poor sales of the soap they were used in.  I gathered them all up, and decided to make soap for our personal use, to use them up.  The batch I made last week used used fir needle, scotch pine, cypress, and a little geranium added for warmth.  It smells like a winter forest.  A future batch will likely use rose, jasmine and oakmoss.  

If you've followed here very long, you may have noticed I plan my schedule with an eye on the weather.  So, on our coldest day last week, with a high in the 40's, I canned up some more lentils.  I couldn't find notes I'd made during past sessions, and followed the official guidelines (soak 1c per quart) as to amounts, and only ended up with 5 quarts, instead of a full canner load.  Oh well, I'll have notes for next time.  Speaking of lentils, last week I noticed that Aldi had raised their price from .99 to $1.29/#.  I'll see if I can find anywhere cheaper.  Recently, I noticed Food Lion's organic potatoes went up .50 per 3# bag.  Blueberries for my smoothie were $1 off per bag, so I got three.  Gas came down locally to .20, to $3.09, which was welcomed when I filled up.  I redeemed a $5 off $15 coupon at Big Lots.  I hope you found some good deals, and ways to save money last week.  Be well, friends.

Scrapyard Run & the Stairwell

This week's biggest skoolie accomplishment was adding wood treads, backs and sides to the stairwell, and polyurethaning it all.   My plan is to eventually do the backs of the steps in mosaics, but I can add it right on top of the wood, whenever I get that done.  Joseph also fabricated, painted and installed the metal trim pieces along the upper edge and sides.  

Another accomplishment was cleaning up the area around the bus, with all the metal we no longer need, and taking it to the scrap yard.  We did add some random things, such as our old grill and a satellite dish from the rental house, but 80% of it was metal from the skoolie.  Onward!