Happy Thanksgiving and Frugal Accomplishments

I'm joining in with this week's Frugal Accomplishments on The Prudent Homemaker.  I had a great time helping out at the big annual local pottery show, Celebration of Seagrove Potters, Friday, Saturday & Sunday. I brought snacks and lunch, and my own mug and tea.  They provide hot water and coffee for the help.  I'm pretty picky about my coffee, so I brought some herb tea along, and kept filling my mug up with hot water throughout the day.  It's in an old, unheated cannery and gets mighty chilly, so I dress in as many warm layers as I dare, and sip hot drinks to ward off the cold.

I canned the last of our pears, and got another 3 half pints of pear vanilla sauce to put on the shelf.  I let the water in the canner cool down on the stove, adding some heat and moisture to the house, then used the water to wash up the dishes and to wash off sweet potatoes before baking.  I froze the last batch of lambs quarter, which I picked before the hard freeze.  Homemade laundry soap was used, and laundry hung on the line.  Homemade soap and deodorant were used, and I colored my hair at home.  Though J takes care of the majority of keeping the woodstove stoked, I added logs as needed. I chopped up the best bits of pear skins for the pups to have with their dinner, as part of their raw portion, and put the other bits in the compost. It amazes me how quickly the compost crock fills up, and needs to be emptied. I guess that's a good sign that you're eating lots of healthy, from scratch meals.  I cooked okra I had frozen this summer.  Made a simple air freshener by putting tangerine peels and a few cloves in a mason jar, then filling it with water and putting it on a clay tile on the woodstove.  It will release moisture and scent, both good things to add to dry air in a mostly closed up house. When I made a batch of soap, I finished up a bottle of rosemary essential oil.  I turned it over to catch the last few drops while I was cleaning up the soap pot and utensils, then added the rosemary oil to the mason jar to add a bit more scent.  Made yogurt and kefir.  Sunday was a cool, rainy day, and all afternoon I thought about soup, so when I got home, I put on a pot of vegetable soup, using lima beans, garlic, okra, onions and carrots grown here, with some discount store bought organic corn and crushed tomatoes, and a bit of leftover vegi sloppy joe.  Some warm bread would have been lovely with the soup, but I popped up a batch of organic popcorn in the wok.  That was pretty tasty too.

The photo is of our root cellar, with pumpkins, winter squash, sweet potatoes and apples stored there.  It's a good feeling to see all that food lined up, rather like canning jars on the shelf.  I wish you a bountiful Thanksgiving, with good food to share and good people to enjoy it with.