Early May on the Homestead

Hello, friends.  I hope your week has been a good one.  Last week, I used our broccoli in pad thai for a dinner, and opened a jar of our pear sauce with honey.  I dried all laundry on the line.  Our crowder peas were used for another dinner, and frozen kale, baked sweet potatoes, and a beet was used in apple beet salad.  I finally caught up on canning broth for a few days, using 9 gallon bags of veggie scraps, which made a bit of room in the freezer.  In case you're interested in our adventure in converting the bus to an RV, and missed it, I posted about it for the first time last week.  There will be other posts whenever there is news to share and I have time to create one.   https://abelabodycare.blogspot.com/2023/05/our-new-skoolie-adventure.html

I requested two books from the library, and picked them up while I was nearby.  When I walked in, I was surprised to see an incubator holding guinea eggs on the counter.  They told me they have a live feed, and expect the eggs to hatch around May 28th.  I pulled some plant based ground beef from the freezer, which has things in it I can't have, and doled it out in the pups dinners.  J tilled up a row for tomatoes.  I transplanted tomatoes from the little starter cubes to larger pots, and we started hardening off the larger ones I had transplanted prior.  All were fed with the nettle and comfrey tea that was started two or three weeks ago.  A batch of suet was made for the birds.  With three different wired ribbons that were thrifted, I made a spring mailbox bow.  

One day, I headed to Burlington with friends, and had a thrifting day.  I'm happy with what I found, which included a wicker laundry basket, heavy pottery dog bowl made in England, two canisters to turn into compost crocks, some sewing supplies, and a wood and fabric laundry hamper.  One of the friends recommended a Thai restaurant for lunch, and I was delighted to find they had steamed vegetables (mostly broccoli, a favorite) and brown rice.  I'm always happy to find a place I can eat out safely.  Asparagus and lambs quarter were harvested.  The ends and skins of aloe were blended with water, and used to feed some outdoor plants.  

Our anniversary was over the weekend.  On Saturday, we headed to the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill.  They were having their spring plant sale, and we picked up osage orange, robin's plantain and golden alexander.  They all got planted on Sunday.  We met friends at the local wine bar Saturday night, and enjoyed catching up with them.  Twelve of the potatoes in the grow bags are up.   J replanted some of the other bags with potatoes I'd saved.  The peas have got a number of pods.  Two more rows of strings were added to their trellis.  I pulled the first pea pod, and added the peas to our salad.  While gathering eggs, I found a rat snake in the chicken coop.  J grabbed it with a feed bag, and we relocated it to the edge of a huge field, where it should find plenty of mice.  J had intended to grill our dinner Sunday, but found out something, likely a squirrel or rat, chewed the hose to the propane tank.  Ah well, it's good to roll with whatever life brings your way.  Have a great week, friends!

Our New Skoolie Adventure

Last month, April '23, Joseph brought home a school bus.  It was a surprise, and one I didn't notice for several days.  There is an ever revolving roster of vehicles here that they're working on in the shop... tractors, trailers, manure spreaders, dump trucks, etc., so a bus didn't stand out immediately.  In all honesty, I wasn't pleased when I first realized it.  Though it's the sort of thing that's right up my alley, having a great love of good adventures, and a bit of hippy in me, I felt the timing could have been better.  Both of us have plates that are overflowing, jobs that are unfinished on the homestead, and we have differing opinions on debt.  But, after a couple of days, my excitement won out, and now I'm fully on board.  

So, let's tell you a little about the bus.  It's a '98 Thomas MVP, with a 3126 Caterpillar engine, and a 4 speed automatic transmission.  The engine is in the rear, so it is a "pusher".  The bus is 32' long.  It has 177,000 miles on it, runs on diesel, and is in good mechanical shape, except for some minor issues.

I love seeing all the signs of the previous students, like their assigned seats.

Our plan is to create a comfortable living space for the two of us and our dogs, so we can see more of this beautiful country.  For those new to this concept, they're frequently called skoolies, when turned into living quarters.

We expect it may take a couple of years before the bus is far enough along to travel in.  We plan to finish it as frugally as possible, and have already found some good deals.  We're making slow but steady progress.  I'll share about both of these in the next post.  Thanks for coming along for the ride.  The adventure begins!

Spring Happenings

Hello friends.  Last week, I canned lentils for the first time.  A pan of egg shells was crushed, and added to the compost bin.  I made golden paste for the pups, and strained and bottled all the remaining jars of herbal glycerites.  GF bread ends were ground into bread crumbs, and frozen.  Every day, vegetable scraps were added to the broth bag in the freezer.  Toilet paper tubes were saved for fire starters, with lint from the dryer added, and candle wax.  Laundry was dried on the clothesline.  We've gotten some nice rain, filling our tanks.  We had a few days and nights without heat, but with nighttime temps lowering to the 40's, the woodstove was going again on Sunday.  I filled two large pots with veggie scraps, intending to catch up on broth making before it heats up, and make room in the freezer.  While prepping a bed, before planting cucumber and carrot seeds, I pulled up quite a few wild onions.  I cut off the tough stem, scrubbed them up, and added them to the broth bag, along with a carrot I mistakenly pulled up.  No waste.  

J and I took a quick trip to Richmond, VA, to attend a tiny home event.  I purchased tickets online, saving us $6 from buying them at the door.  We knew it would lean heavily to tiny homes, but the ad stated there would also be vans and skoolies, which is the whole reason we went.  Sadly, there were two vans and no skoolies.  The only takeaway from it was a vintage looking fridge we both liked, but on reading reviews, found out it's prone to freezing up.  Oh well, we did pick up a couple of pens, so there's that.  We stayed in an Airbnb with kitchenette, so I was able to bring my fruit and blender, and have my morning smoothie.  Though not ideal, I made my celery juice just before we left home, and had it the next morning.  I found a restaurant that had both vegan and gluten free options, and also had plenty of other options for J.  We had a lovely dinner there, and it was nice to have a little getaway.

We couldn't check in until after 6, so we stopped at a thrift store on the way.  I found a canister for 1/2 off, at $2.50, which I'll turn into a compost crock, and J found a light fixture we may use for the bus.  It was 75% off, so at $1, it was worth picking up.  On the way home, we stopped at a discount grocery, where we found cilantro .38/bunch, aloe .78#, and red lentils .50#.  All were a significant savings over local prices.  J also got several different bottles of $4.99 wine to try.  The tomatoes and peppers started from seed have been looking pale.  I first tried feeding them an epsom salt solution, and when that didn't seem to do much, gave them fish fertilizer over the weekend.  Hopefully, that perks them up.  We've got 11 potatoes up in the grow bags.  With all the rain we've been getting, I'm thinking it's a good thing they're in bags, and less prone to rot.  I redeemed Swagbucks points for a $25 gift card, using the once a month deal of 2200 points for the card, and getting 75 points back from a recent challenge they had.

I tried a new pasta recipe with butternut squash sauce.  We liked it, and there's one less squash in storage.  Sales have picked up in my soap shop, and it's been nice to ship some orders out.  J checked what it would cost to add me to his car insurance policy, and it ended up saving us around $350.  He added me before telling me, but as they actually gave him a refund to add me, he knew my insurance couldn't beat that.  I recently saw that blended aloe is a good plant fertilizer.  As I use it every day in my smoothies, on a day when I'm finishing up one leaf and starting another, I take the end bits and skins, and blend them up with water.  The most recent time, I fed all the houseplants with the diluted solution.  It's worth a try.  I'm planning on writing up the first post on our bus, and hope to have it up soon.  Wishing you a great week, friends.

A Surprise & Spring Days

Hello, friends.  When I guessed I had 5 or 6 gallon bags of veggie scraps in the freezer last week, I was a bit off.  There were actually 12.  Certain things fill up the bags quickly, such as skins from winter squash, asparagus ends, and the ever present celery butts.  Another round of broth was canned, making use of 4 of the bags.  As the temps have lowered in next weeks forecast, I expect I'll can some more.  Last week, I harvested kale, lambs quarters, asparagus, dandelions, and a beet.  I pulled bolting lettuce for the chickens.

I went to the annual NC Herb plant sale with a friend, and brought home several lovelies.  This year, I got rose geranium, borage, woad, weld, jiaogulan, pussy willow, American arnica, lanceleaf rudbeckia and painted daisy.  The next day, I created a new flower bed I'd planned for some dahlia tubers I had gotten, along with J's help.  Besides the dahlias and a volunteer sunflower, the borage, painted daisy, and wintersown marigolds were planted here.  In different beds, I transplanted a volunteer clump of bachelor buttons, and a hollyhock with another I had started from seed.  The jiaogulan was planted alongside an arbor.  The wintersown zinnias and all but one of the calendula were killed by the cold, so more seeds of both were planted.

Between rain showers, J and I planted the pussy willow down by the pond.  Over the weekend, we finished putting up the deer fencing around the garden.  Several jars of herbal glycerites were strained and bottled.  Recently, J surprised me by bringing home a school bus, which he intends to convert into an RV, so we can travel in comfort around the country.  We've both been watching youtube videos, gathering ideas.  Life is always interesting around here!  I found an event happening soon in VA, which will have tiny homes, along with van and school bus (skoolie) conversions.  We're excited to learn more, and meet others who are doing it.  I've been pondering the possibility of starting another blog specifically for the skoolie, for our journey in converting it, and then sharing wherever it takes us.  It seems enough different from the usual homestead and frugal things I share here.  If you have any thoughts about that, I'd love to hear.

The First Hummingbirds

Hello, friends.  Last week, I harvested lambs quarter, lemon balm, asparagus, nettles, dandelion greens for the pups, and thyme.  I canned spaghetti squash, and dehydrated pumpkin, nettles, thyme and lemon balm.  Trying to use up squash, I made a dish using spaghetti squash and lambs quarter, and made a double batch of curried butternut soup.  Half of the soup was frozen for future meals, and the rest fed us two meals.  Small amounts of pumpkin were added to the pups breakfasts all week.  A container of meat bits and broth was defrosted, and small amounts added to their dinners.  Three volunteer bachelors buttons were transplanted to a flower bed.

All laundry was hung on the line to dry.  I made suet for the birds, and planted basil, eggplant and paste tomato seeds.  I went through Swagbucks for a purchase, getting 4% back.  After an appointment, I shopped and got my senior discount at Harris Teeter.  They had only one OG celery, but the hearts were on sale for 2/$6, so still some savings over Food Lion.  I picked my free ebook for April through Prime, and picked up a free card at Hallmark.  At Dollar Tree, they had no lentils, but I was able to pick up evaporated milk, 4 packs of vegetable and fruit seeds, and scrubbie sponges.  The hummingbirds began returning, which is always a cheerful sight. 

At Food Lion, I got our dog food on sale for $6 off.  They have been having this sale on a regular basis in recent months, so each time they do, I try to pick up two or three bags.  Last week, I learned that an invasive plant we have is Florida Betony Root aka Rattlesnake Root.  We're not sure how it came to be here, but found out it is edible.  We'll have to try it out.  We picked up our taxes, and thanks to our solar purchases, will be getting a refund.  I baked a sweet potato pie for J, and added four more sweet potatoes to bake while the oven was on.  I'd heard gas prices were expected to rise, so filled my tank, though it was only a quarter down.  Soon after, it rose .20/gal.

J worked up a spot for sweet potatoes, and we got them planted.  My sister and her husband came by.  I potted up four tomato seedlings for her to take, and sent a dozen eggs home with her.  J was able to get a free pecan seedling, and planted it.  Someone left several boxes of Christmas things in a storage building, which I took straight to the thrift store for donation.  They also left a pretty, like new banner with flowers and birds.  I kept that, and switched out my cold weather banner to this one.  I go through a lot of broth preparing recipes.  I'd guess I used four pints the past week, which is good, because I already have 5 or 6 gal. bags of vegi scraps to make more.  I'd be overrun with jars of broth, if it wasn't used on a regular basis.  It's such a good use of something that could be wasted, and with bountiful health benefits.  If you're not already saving vegi scraps and making your own,  I encourage you to try it.  Freezing the broth works just as well, if that works better for you than canning.  Have a good week, friends.

The Price of Groceries

Hello, friends.  When I first read the Medical Medium information about our exposure to heavy metals from multiple places, I'll admit I was skeptical.  I was desperate enough to try, and found that following his protocols for removing them have just about totally healed my eczema.  This week, I read about significant spice contamination here, which I'd not heard.  I do grow and preserve basil, oregano and thyme, which seem the most concerning, but have bought thyme in the past, when homegrown didn't keep up.  I plan to be more diligent in harvesting it this year.  While sweet potatoes were baking for a dinner, I made a blueberry/blackberry pie using our frozen berries, to make good use of the oven.  I printed and filled out a mail in rebate form.  

our first ever mayapple bloom

After painting orders on Monday, I canned the vegetable broth.  Kale was harvested, to go in quinoa kale salad.  One dinner, I made fried potatoes from home canned, with peppers, onions and garlic.  In between thrifting, my sister and I had a lovely lunch out on Wednesday.  The day was beautiful, and we were seated on the patio.  I only thrifted a handful of things, including a cotton nightgown ($1.99), 10 linen napkins ($4), a wineglass which J requested ($1), 2 coordinating wired ribbons perfect for a spring mailbox bow ($3.98), and an office supply that ended up having a missing part (.50).  Though I prefer a physical book, I wasn't sure when I'd be going to town again, so downloaded an ebook from the library.

Thanks to inspiration from April, I've started keeping track of grocery prices this month.  Many years ago, when I was more traditionally employed, I had a budget, which I kept up with well.  Once I became mostly self-employed, that went out the window, as my income was all over the place, rather than being consistent each month.  I know we spend a great deal on groceries right now, mostly due to my following MM guidelines.  I'm able to shop at Harris Teeter once a month, after an appointment (close to an hour away), and can usually get a much better deal there on organic celery (currently $2.99/large stalk; I need one a day), but it currently costs $3.99/ pack at Food Lion, and I use almost two packs a day, to make 16 oz of juice.  So, if only buying from FL, that's basically $240/month.  Yikes!  For several months last year, I upped it to 24 oz a day, so close to $360... in one month!  So, it's definitely a commitment of funds and time, but I'm still so thankful to have found something that actually healed my eczema.  I'd much rather use my time and money for fruits and vegetables than prescription drugs, Dr's visits and procedures.  I'm doing so well, I think I'll soon try dropping back to 12 oz. a day, and see how it goes.  Those prices don't include our usual groceries, or all the other produce needed to follow MM recommendations... lemons, apples, bananas, oranges, cilantro, wild blueberries, aloe.  Thankfully, they're all cheaper than the celery, but expensive enough.  It's wonderful we have a good amount of homegrown foods to add to the mix.

Before we headed to meet friends for dinner and a concert on Saturday, it occurred to me J & I could run by a Harris Teeter before we met, which added 9 mins. to the trip.  We did that, and I bought seven of the celery, plus a few more produce items I was getting low on.  It's a stretch to put all of them in the refrigerator.  I chose the largest ones they had, and they're huge, but they'll do me for over a week.  If I purchased more than that, they'd be turning brown.  Hopefully, these will all be in good shape until they're used.  It's a balancing act, between what there is available, sometimes few to none, and how many will stay in good shape before used.  We were up late, so I moved slowly on Sunday.  It likely being our last cold spell, I wanted to process some of the winter squash in storage.  I gathered all the spaghetti squash and hulless pumpkins, and baked them in succession.  The sp. squash were baked for a short time, and cubed, with the intention of canning this week.  I've not canned it before, and there are differing opinions on it, but I'm going to try it this year.  There's just too much to add to the freezer.  For Easter dinner, I roasted asparagus, carrots and potatoes with herbs.  I hope yours was enjoyable, if you celebrated.  Take care, friends.

A Little Plant Dyeing & Seedlings

Hello, friends.  Last week, I harvested asparagus, parsley, and broccoli, and had enough to make broccoli pad thai.  Several varieties each of lettuce and swiss chard were planted.  The first two lettuce varieties are up, Thai Oakleaf and Speckled Bibb.  I'm trying harder to use up old seeds this year, and the swiss chard especially was sown thickly.  I hand washed my new thrifted wool sweater and a wool blanket, using homemade soap gel.  Fabric was prepped for plant dyeing.  Several pieces were dyed with onion skins, then I experimented on doing some eco-dyeing with flowers and berries on two of them.  I got the lemon and avocados fertilized, and put a pot of veggie scraps on the woodstove for broth, along with more sweet potatoes.  We won't have many more days of wood heat.  If the forecast is right, we'll sail through our usual last frost days without any more.  The tomato pots prepped in the fall seem to be growing very nicely.   

tomato seedlings

I saved two vinyl blinds destined for the trash.  My favorite method of marking seedlings is to use pieces of blind, so this should do me for a while.  And with perfect timing, as I had just about used up all of the last blind.  A few other items were rescued from the trash, including a pack of composition paper.  It always surprises me the perfectly good things people throw away.  On one of the cooler days, I worked on ironing while watching youtube videos I had saved..  That night, I was awake for several hours, so wrapped soap and finished the remaining ironing.  The peppers started in the house are coming up now.  The wintersown plants started out well weeks ago, but there are very few remaining.  I suppose it's due to the cold nights, though that didn't happen past winters.  The zinnias especially took a hard hit, from at least a couple dozen down to 2.  I may not have tried winter sowing them before though.  In any case, I'll be glad to have whatever survived.  

cotton dyed with onion skins

I baked German chocolate brownies for J's birthday.  The two eco-printed items mentioned above were a napkin and a pillowcase, both gifts for him.  He grabs my hand-dyed napkin sometimes, and he bought a queen pillow, though our sheet sets are double, so I dyed a queen pillowcase for one of the sets.  I've gathered several queen pillowcases, and eventually plan to dye more pillowcases for him.  The onion skin dye is darker than I'd like, when planning to overdye with eco-printing, so next time I'll use less of them.  His main gift will be a concert we'll soon be enjoying with friends.  We continue having a friendly daily rivalry with Wordle and Spelling Bee.  We don't pay for Spelling Bee, so get cut off along the way, often after we've figured out the pangram though, so it's still fun.  I've found two more free spelling bee-type games, which don't cut you off, and sometimes play those when I'm wanting more of a spelling fix.  We dropped our taxes off Sunday, which is always a relief.  

Sunday was a cooler day, and I felt like roasted veggies, so I roasted asparagus, potatoes and cauliflower, and enjoyed them immensely.  I leave off the feta on the cauliflower dish, and it's still delicious, and I steam it a bit before roasting.  All laundry was hung on the line to dry.  The chickens continue to get mash each day, picked greens several days a week, and soaked scratch grains each morning, all of which help to lower our feed bill.   At the grocery store, I got our dogfood for $6 off, and used a $7 reward towards my purchase.  My sister got an unexpected day off this coming week, so we'll be spending the day together.  Wishing you a week of doing what you enjoy.  Be well, friends.