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There's not a lot to report this week, as much of our energy has been going elsewhere. I finished stripping the frame on the bedroom stained glass window, and cleaned up all the glass. Though it's up, Joseph still needs to do some minor things to secure it in place.
Hello, friends. Last week, I met an old co-worker for lunch. While in that town, I stopped at the discount store, and picked up three bags of items for $12. Favorite finds were organic peanut butter 36 0z/$1.49, and this solar light $1.49, which I thought would be great to carry in the skoolie, for nights outside. I charged it, and it works great. I weed-whacked under the mulberry, and placed tarps bought at Dollar Tree underneath, for cleaner berries. I've seen others do this with persimmons, and have been wanting to try it with these. The birds and McNibs are beating me to many of them, but I'm getting a good handful a day. I tried them in a salad one night, but you really couldn't tell they were there, so I'm pondering other uses besides freezing them, and fruit salads. I may make a syrup with them, and put a splash in water, for summer drinking. They're one of my favorite tasting berries. A turkey and two poults flew off, after we surprised them on our walking path one evening. I'm always happy to know they're around.
This photo is of the pond garden. You can see some of the fence extensions we put up, and "flags" to alert the deer and birds they were there. There are potatoes straight ahead, garlic and onions to their left, sweet potatoes, melons and winter squash to the right. We try to put things that don't need daily attention in this garden, as it's farther from the house. Batches of hummingbird food and cashew parmesan were made. J turned the outdoor shower on for the season. I took photos, and added this procedure to my home systems book. Shortly after the shower became operational, both pups got their first "bath" of the year, using homemade dog soap. I gathered flowers for a bouquet. The first chanterelle was harvested, thanks to J's good eye while mowing. I've been seeing tiny ones, but none large enough to harvest, until this one. I harvested peas, asparagus, lettuce, onions, mulberries, mache, basil, oregano, arugula, broccoli, a sprig of lambs quarter, and dandelion greens and catbrier tips for the pups.
Over the weekend, I made two kinds of potato salad and cabbage slaw for our dinner. Summer salads have been somewhat of a challenge for me, since I can't have mayo or vinegar now, but I'm happy with both recipes I tried (here's the potato salad). I made J the same salads I used to make us. We were both happy. Which reminds me, Daisy of Maple Hill 101 asked for the GF pizza crust recipe I use last week. It's my favorite of the ones I've tried. It's the Minimalist Baker's recipe here. We've got tiny squash and cucumbers, so it shouldn't be much longer before we'll be harvesting them. All the summer/winter clothes were switched around in my closet, to see and reach them more easily. Baskets of nettles and oregano were harvested for drying. When I went to help J with something, under the carport, I saw a dove fly off a nest, which had two eggs in it. It put the eeks on some of what he planned on doing, but at least there's never a shortage of other things to do around here. Wishing you and yours a lovely Memorial Day.
Last week, Joseph installed metal grates on the intake for the mini-split and heater.
I splurged on the bathroom closet door knob, which is made to resemble sea glass, from a seller on Etsy. I thought it would look pretty, with the blue in the stained glass we're using in the window. You can also see we used the glass knobs for the bathroom barn door, same as in the kitchen and living area. I haven't decided yet about the bedroom knobs.
Joseph mounted my co-pilot seat, and I was delighted to see how much room there will be in the front, just perfect for the second dog bed. We've both spent most of today under the bus, wrangling wrenches on pipes and U-bolts, and applying pipe insulation, while installing our heating pipes. It called on us to be contortionists, and we're so thankful it is done. I'll spare you photos of the underside of the bus. I expect you can imagine.
Hello, friends. Last week, while having a cool spell, with a couple of nights in the upper 40's, I decided to catch up on broth making. I'd gathered 7 1/2 gallon bags of veggie scraps, which is not hard this time of year, between asparagus ends, pea pods, chard and beet stems, and the ever present celery ends. I simmered it one day, strained and refrigerated it overnight, then canned it the next day, adding 15 pints to the pantry. I use it regularly, and am happy to know it's there. At last week's gathering, J's Mom had been given many loaves of day old bread. Everyone took what they wanted, and we took the rest for the chickens, which I'm slowly adding to their daily mash. The bread is low-quality, with some if not all of it having bio-engineered ingredients, so isn't something we'll eat. But the chickens are delighted to eat it. J threw some in the pond, and said the fish were also quite happy with it.
I received $2 in digital credit for delaying shipping Three books were picked up from the library, and my free Kindle book was chosen for May. I enjoyed reading Lost Moon, a book about Apollo 13, then saw that our library had the movie, which I enjoyed watching over the weekend. I used a $5 gift card to Harris Teeter, and shopped on senior discount day, getting 5% off. I harvested asparagus, onions, peas, arugula, mache, radishes, lettuce and swiss chard. I've been freezing the peas, as I shell them, until I accumulate enough to can. I read that it takes ~20 lbs. for 9 pints. That's a lot of peas, and I doubt we'll get that many, but I'm hoping we'll get at least half that amount. Bananas close to getting overripe were frozen for smoothies.
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| Aren't these potato blooms pretty? |
The potatoes have started blooming, and the critters have begun eating our produce. Our nectarine, which had dozens of fruits, is almost bare, thanks to the squirrels. Peaches are similarly stripped. The deer found our sweet potatoes, and have chewed many of them down. We've planned to repair the garden fence, which a tree fell on, and also make it taller, as we did in our main garden, but hadn't gotten to it until this weekend. It gave us both a good workout, as we had to do a lot of stretching upwards, putting up and flagging the deer fencing. The potato bags from last year now have 16 returning potatoes in them, which is a happy surprise. Stinging nettles were gathered, and dehydrated for teas. Sweet potatoes were baked on a cool morning.
There are some tiny kiwis on the vines. We're hoping to get our first fruit to eat this year. The sunflower patch was a bust. I'd see a sprout one day, and by the next day, it would be gone. I guess the birds or rabbits enjoyed a sunflower buffet, but it was worth a try. I used our asparagus to make soup for our dinner. Hummer food, golden paste for the pups, and bird suet were made. A code was used to get free dog treats with a dog food order. I grabbed a jar of our tomatoes, our garlic and onion, and harvested oregano, basil and parsley, to have with pasta. It's so nice to be using fresh herbs in the pasta sauce again. Extra oregano was harvested, and is air drying. I bought dog food on sale, and received a $5 reward after buying it. At this time, McNibs and Guinness are on different food, and I was glad to get a little perk with each of them.
I've needed to get some more things in the ground, and got to it on Sunday. In the midst of planting, I found this little monarch cat on the milkweed, which gave me a smile. The wintersown calendula, forget me nots, and a shasta daisy were planted in flower beds and a window box. All but one of the wintersown black eyed susan vines died during a cold snap, and the remaining one has been barely hanging on. I figured it would be happier in the ground, so planted it near a trellis. The gifted marigolds and borage were planted in the garden. Besides planting, I decided to make pizzas for J & I for dinner, which was quite an endeavor, making two very different ones from scratch. He wanted to try a goat cheese pizza for the first time, and liked it enough to eat it again, with some tweaks. An extra GF pizza crust was frozen, and pizza sauce, so this will make it simpler next time. J repaired our grill, which a tree had fallen on, so we're thinking we'll put it to use sometime during the upcoming long weekend. Wishing you a wonderful week, friends.
The past week, Joseph finished making the rattan cabinet doors, and hung them. I like them so much better than the green door that had been hanging here. Didn't he do a great job?
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He finished the doors at the foot of the bed, and hung them. With gardening, mowing, and everything else he has to do, the bus project has slowed a little, but we're still making progress. We're awaiting the lights I ordered for the bedroom, and looking forward to seeing how they'll look. We're looking again at paint colors for the outside of the bus. Just moving on.
After an appointment, I thrifted a new/barely used magic bullet blender for $5, which I regularly use to make dressings and sauces. I've tried it out, and it works great, so we've now got one for the skoolie. I also found an immersion blender for $3, and incandescent lightbulbs for $1 per pkg. I use an immersion blender for soups and soap (separate ones), and like to keep a back up on hand. Though it may not be PC, I've been gathering incandescent bulbs as I see them, as the light is so much warmer and nicer than LED. I figure these bulbs will be used by someone, and as we get a large portion of our power from the sun, it will offset the somewhat higher energy usage.
It was a busy week, with lots of time away from home, between appointments, gathering with friends, and J's family's Mother's Day gathering. I brought apple beet salad, and a new lentil salad to share for our lunch. A neighbor offered J his extra tomato seedlings, and J dug him two hazelnut saplings. The tomato plants are much larger than any we had... Brandywine, German Johnson and Cherokee Purple. J thinks he started them in November, in their greenhouse. We're hoping that means earlier tomatoes for us, as it's often August before we start seeing any ripen. He got them in the ground the next day, and put cages around all the tomatoes. I made an online purchase through Swagbucks, for 6% back, and used a 15% off code. I hope all the Mamas had a lovely Mother's Day. Have a beautiful week, friends!
Progress was made in a few small ways on the skoolie this week. Joseph drilled the holes for the cabinet knobs in the kitchen and living area, and I attached them. Most of the screws were too long, so he had to cut them down to size first, then grind them. A little more involved than we planned, but that's how it goes sometimes.
He finished the doors that will go on the storage space under the bed, where the solar equipment lives, and whatever else we decide. They're not on their hinges yet, but soon.
In the foreground are the doors for the storage space above the head of the bed, which he's been working on. Neither of us was happy with the door painted green, so it was changed out for rattan. Breathable, which is important in an RV, and we think prettier.
Hello, friends. Last week, I harvested lettuce, chard, peas, rosemary, thyme and parsley. I repotted all the seedlings into larger pots, and fed them with banana peel water, which is a good source of phosphorus. I've been working on cleaning up the garden fence, which has lots of Virginia creeper and cleavers along it, as well as other weeds. I brought a wheelbarrow full of weeds to the chickens. Joseph placed our first order with Azure Standard. Once he got it home, we transferred it all into jars. I vacuum sealed some, and J dry canned some. I recently borrowed The Martian from the library, and enjoyed it. The movie was available on Prime, and due to my credits, I was able to watch it free.
We've been on well water for a couple of weeks or so, after running out of rainwater again. It seems we may have a leak, but it's not clear at this point. We thankfully got rain, starting Friday evening, which J refilled our backup tank with, then after the main tanks filled, we were able to switch back to rainwater on Sunday. We got close to 5 inches. So thankful! J planted our largest tomato seedlings into the garden, as well as sweet potato slips, eggplant, basil, and a large patch of marigold seeds, which we hope will deter the voles from our potatoes and sweet potatoes. We're always trying something new!
I've done some seasonal chores, including changing out the winter sheets and bedspread to the summer ones. All the house plants were moved out onto the porch over the weekend, while it was rainy and cloudy. I went through Swagbucks for a business purchase, for 2% back. Sunday was cooler and rainy, so I ironed the few things that needed it, and mended a homestead shirt and shorts with iron-on patches. I also mended a sweater. Yarrow was gathered for salve, and steeped in olive oil. I believe I forgot to mention I also did this with plantain and chickweed recently. I mowed our walking path for the first time this year. I've pulled many ticks off of myself already this year, and a few from the pups. I'm hoping this will help. That's life on the homestead. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Last week, I forgot to tell you about the bathroom door, which Joseph attached with barn door hardware. As there's little room to open like a regular door, this should serve us better in a small space.
He's been working on the bedside area, laying the flooring, and making bedside tables, from the stepped up areas. We have a rear engine bus, and these steps are the area which accommodates the engine, which runs the width of the bed. Onward!
