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.