Monday, January 30, 2023

New Shelves & A New Spring


Hello, friends.  I hope your days have been filled with what has meaning for you.  Last week, I used homemade curry blend in a cauliflower curry dish.  I made GF bread crumbs and canned a batch of vegetable broth.  Our garlic and onion were used in a tomato rice loaf, and some of our sweet peppers were rehydrated for a potato dish.  Now that the bagels from the freezer have all been fed to the chickens, I'm defrosting some English muffins that have been in there quite a while.  I don't give them much of it in a day, but they do love all sorts of breads.  An item I thrifted last week was listed on Ebay.  I hadn't been picking up things to resell, but this pretty pottery plate inspired me, and was only .99.  If it doesn't sell after a while, I'll be happy to add it to our dishes.  



Two more hellebore flowers joined the party.  I contacted Staples about an order that had been MIA for a couple of weeks.  They sent out the item again, and I received it in a day or two.  At the grocery store, our dogfood was $6 off.  I've been looking for our cat food on sale, but haven't seen it so far.  Kiwis were 3/$1.  Lemons were $1 off/bag.  Mushrooms were .99.  I considered getting several of them for canning, but decided not to add that to my plate.  All laundry was dried on the line.  J's business partner has had another injury, so I'm assisting him again on jobs where I can be of use.  I'm most thankful for the extra income.  I brought water, lunch, and snacks.  As it was sunny, I placed my lunch on the dash to warm, and ate it with him, when he stopped for fast food.  Our little bantam hen started laying a couple of weeks ago.



The countertop in our pantry was covered, mostly with homemade medicines, and supplements.  I asked J to make two shelves to span the back of the counter, wide enough for a mason jar.  Everything now has a place, and I can use the countertop again.  Now it's possible to empty the freezer shelf by shelf, and do an inventory, which is much needed.  J requested vegetable soup on Sunday.  Some dribs and drabs from fridge and freezer, home canned vegetables, and onion and garlic from storage were used to make a tasty soup.  A honey and lemon juice salad dressing was mixed up.  I harvested lettuce from the garden for our salad.  I made a bit more progress on deep cleaning the house, involving moving furniture away from the walls,  but then the vacuum bag filled up, and we couldn't find another bag to fit the new to us canister, though we both thought it came with more than one.  Oh well, I swept the remainder and stopped for the day, and J ordered more bags.



Pots of sweet potatoes were put on the woodstove to simmer, one with large ones for us, and the other with small ones for the pups and chickens.  I saw a movie I wanted to watch, which is available on our Roku TV, so I saved it to my watch list.  We rarely turn it on, but it's nice to have now and then.  Our solar system was reprogrammed by the company, and is working much better for us now, though we still have some things to figure out.  J has felt sure there were springs on this land, and found one over the weekend.  He dug it out, ran a pipe from it, and began shoring it up.  The water was still pretty stirred up, so it hasn't been tasted yet.  It would be wonderful if it was good tasting water, unlike our well water.  May the week ahead bring you some happy surprises.  


9 comments:

daisy g said...

I love the idea of the shelf above the counter! We have a backsplash, so I'm not sure we could do it, but it's a brilliant idea.

More eggs! We are seeing a gradual increase of laying here as well.

Glad the solar is working better. It's the little things.
And a newfound water source! Fantastic!

Enjoy a peaceful week.

Staci D said...

That's nice that you can assist J on some of his jobs. I'm sure it's a relief for him. Our chickens LOVE all things bread as well. They are quite the carb lovers!

Flowers AND deep cleaning - I bet you can feel spring coming! We've had pretty mild temps although it's going to be very cold this week, so we won't feel that the seasonal change is coming for a bit.

That's great news about the solar and the spring. Fingers crossed the water tastes great!

Wishing you a wonderful week!

BLD in MT said...

Wishing you a wonderful week in return! Excellent homey photos, but especially the clothesline. That view fills me with content. It is still -5 and snowy here in Montana so I'm stuck using my indoor clothes rack. The function is swell, but not nearly as aesthetically pleasing. All in due time. Huzzah on reclaiming your counter space. It is so easy to lose in a home bustling with so much making,

April said...

I love your second line: "I hope your days have been filled with what has meaning for you." A warm hope and a gentle reminder that we should be filling our days with what has meaning in our lives, and not just letting the days go by carelessly. Thank you!

Laurie said...

That shelf worked out so well. And I first talked with him about it last week! I'm amazed it's already a reality.

We tasted the water when we got in this evening, and it's good! Much, much better than our well water. And he said the flow rate doubled. Hooray!

I love a clothesline! I've often thought of buying a piece of artwork with a clothesline in it, and probably will one of these days.

April, your words are often gentle reminders for me as well.

Jeannie said...

That is fantastic news about the spring especially since the water is good. What are your plans for it? Will you be able to pump it to the house? Have you tested it to see if it is safe? Can you dig it out and make a pond? So many opportunities.

Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry

Laurie said...

We're not sure how we'll use the spring yet, but are thinking it's more of a backup. It's going to be set up so we can place a bucket to chill food if needed though. It's a good ways from the house, and we already have a pond not too far above it. We've talked about testing it, but haven't gotten that far yet. We're curious to see if it dries up during the summer months, as our creek typically does. We're pretty excited about it.

Dollie White said...

Thank you for sharing your life with us. Love all your posts. I also love that clothesline photo. You could use that for your wall, maybe taking all or part of it. Beautiful picture on its own.

Laurie said...

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm thinking you're talking about the header? I wish we could figure out how to fix that fiddly bit on the right side :o). Maybe I'll try it again.