Late January Days

Hello, friends.  Last week, I made golden paste for the pups, and a double batch of ketchup.  All but one jar of the ketchup was frozen for future use.  Soapmaking oils were melted on the woodstove.  A pot of sweet potatoes was brought to a boil on the gas stove, then placed on the woodstove to finish cooking.  Back in the fall, I had picked up lentils at Dollar Tree, $1.25 for 12 oz., but I recently heard Aldi's carries them for .99/#, and picked up two pounds, at a savings of .04 per oz. or .68 a lb.  All these little amounts add up.  When dropping a book off at the library, I looked through their movies, and checked three out.  I do the most screen watching this time of year, to amuse myself during the long nights.  I was happy to see an old favorite series of mine, Northern Exposure, is now free to watch on Prime, and watched the first episode.

We had another cold spell, which froze the pond.  We don't see that every year.  When it warmed back up, I winter sowed three types of lettuce, arugula, mache and parsley.  A lb. of wood ash was applied at the drip line of the majority of our fruit trees.  The next time J cleans out the woodstove, I'll be able to finish the others.  The early flowers are waking up.  Last week, I noticed daffodil and hellebore flower buds. I look forward to the return of the flowers.  One of the large sweet potatoes was dehydrated for pup treats.  I cooked up several bags of our frozen lima beans, seasoned with our onions and vegetable broth for a gathering to celebrate my MIL's birthday.  Colcannon was also requested and brought.  The seeds of the lima beans have been handed down multiple generations of J's Mom's family.  At the grocery store, we got cherries for $3.99/# and lemons $1 off 2#.  This week looks to be a quiet one at home, which I'm looking forward to.  Wishing you a most lovely week.

January Progress On The Skoolie

This past week, Joseph has done more work on our dinette.  The metal frames are complete, and he's cladding them in wood.  Guinness kept me company while taking pics.

He did some research, and found that a 17 degree angle is the most comfortable for a seatback, so made them to that specification.

The kitchen sink lines were all plumbed.

Though our original plan was to use true linoleum (made of linseed oil, jute, rosin, wood flour), it was going to cost around $1000.  He found enough real oak flooring to do the job for $275 on Facebook Marketplace, plus adhesive cost.  That'll work.

Winter's Light

morning light

Hello, friends.  I'm continuing to pull from the freezer this week, which included mushroom gravy to go on leftover rice, and cashew gravy to go on the last of the cauliflower, which made for quick and easy lunches.  I moved the bird feeder in the orchard, to encourage the birds to move into other trees, hopefully taking care of any pests.  In previous years, I've put up a clear shower liner on the longest wall of the chicken feeding area outside their coop, before winter precip, which helped it stay warmer and drier.  Though we've not gotten any precip yet, I put it up to help with warmth, and picked up three more at Dollar Tree, to totally enclose this area soon.  After reviewing the long-range forecast, J believes we'll get some snow between early February and early March.  We hope so!  All the vegetable seeds were gone through, to see what was needed, and a few were picked up at Dollar Tree for .25 ea.

With lows of 14 in the forecast, I harvested the last of the lettuce, mixed winter greens and collards.  A salad was made with the winter greens, and the lettuce has been used in salads and bean burritos.  I'd heard that Amazon Prime video was laying off employees, and that they are beginning to charge for movies.  As I had a number of saved free movies, I watched three... Tracks, Delicious and Catherine Called Birdy, all of which I enjoyed.  I watched Catherine Called Birdy on our coldest day, with a high of 32, while I caught up on all the clothes ironing.  Much of the country has been significantly colder, but it's pretty cold for central NC.  The bar faucet that our drinking water comes from froze up that night, but temps are on the rise, rising to 69 later this week.  With some apple slices I had canned, I made an apple pie, which helped warm the house some.

There were lots of bean meals from the pantry last week, including bean burritos, pinto bean burgers, hummus, and I cooked up some of our dried black eyed peas.  Vegetable soup was made with leftover peas, rice and limas from the freezer, home canned tomatoes, cabbage and squash, onions, garlic and vegetable broth.  It definitely felt like soup weather.   After an appointment, J & I stopped at three thrift stores, mostly looking for canisters I could turn into compost crocks.  We bought nothing at the first two stores, and one canister at the third store.  There's really not a lot that we need right now.  Over the weekend, I sold a compost crock to a customer in Australia.  Sadly, I ended up paying $10.70 more for shipping than she paid, at least in part because I added large quantities of packing materials to protect it on it's journey.  I always pack them well, but really added extra with this one.  A friend that moved to NY was back in town briefly, and I met with her in Asheboro one evening.  It's always so good to catch up with friends.  Wishing you a lovely week.

A Little Skoolie Kitchen Progress

 

Just a short post to say hello and share that the kitchen faucet arrived. 

 Joseph hooked it all up, and is working on the drain.  Please excuse the dirty sink!

A Little Canning & Eating From The Freezer

Hello, friends.  I hope you've been doing well.  Last week, I strained all the jars of glycerite that were started last year... mullein, lemon balm, nettles, hawthorne and reishi.  I've already begun using the mullein.  A sweater was mended.  The freezer had started filling up with veggie scraps, so pots were simmered on the stove, and another round of broth was canned.  I watched a short video, comparing the Great Depression and now, which was pretty surprising.  Christmas was taken down.  Last year, I enjoyed leaving up the tree through a good portion of January, with the winter and nature themed ornaments.... bird houses and nests, acorns, pinecones, mushrooms and the like, but the tree dried out badly this year, so it needed to come down.  I'm sure the difference was getting the tree at the grocery store, rather than from a nursery, where they're kept in water, but for the savings, we couldn't pass it up.  I'm working on eating down the freezers.  I pulled vegan mac & cheese for a lunch, and bags of grated tromboncino squash.  One was used in a zucchini dish, with homemade broth, homegrown onions, garlic, oregano and thyme, and the others from '20 are being added to the chicken's mash.  I made tomato rice loaf, using home canned tomatoes, homegrown garlic, onions, and added sweet potatoes to the oven, while it was baking.  As all the store bought canned pinto beans were gone, I canned up a batch of 15 pints, 3 quarts.  Pasta sauce was made with our canned tomatoes, onion, garlic and frozen basil cubes.  Laundry was dried on the line, and two wool items were hand washed.  

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed three more of the game birds were missing, both young hens and a rooster.  There were signs of them close to the chicken yard on the outside, so we expect that either a hawk or owl got them.  Now, all that's left of the game birds are mama hen and papa rooster, and two of the young roosters.  J has had to buy eggs a couple of times recently.  Over the weekend, mama hen started laying again, not in a nest box, but on the floor in that room, which is better than the odd spots she usually finds.  Hopefully, we've lessened the other options.  We've gotten good rain, and are so thankful for that.  Soapmaking oils were melted on the woodstove.  A pot of rice and another of sweet potatoes were brought to a boil on the stove, and finished cooking on the woodstove.  Vegetable soup was made, which included our broth, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, summer squash, a bag of crowder peas pulled from the freezer, and a handful of our dehydrated soup mix, including carrot tops, mushrooms, and sweet potato leaves.  At the library, I picked up four books, including Strega Nona, a Caldecott Honor book.  I caught up with the latest Call The Midwife series the library has, which is Season 11.  I greatly enjoy this show, perhaps because of my Catholic upbringing and years in the nursing field.  Though it has it's moments of drama, it seems to mostly highlight the best of humanity, sorely needed in these times.  Take good care of yourselves, everyone, and for those in the US, wishing you warmth and safety.

The Countertop & Sink Are In

 

Joseph has put several coats of sealer on the countertop, and dropped the sink in.

He's putting one more coat of sealer on the countertop, and on the wall behind the sink.

There are some interesting bits on the countertop, such as this burl area on the edge.  We're pretty pleased with how it's turning out.  A faucet is on the way!

Big Sweet Potatoes & Homemade Taco Seasoning

flowers from my honey

Hello, friends.  I've just added another homemade seasoning to our pantry.  I'm not sure why I haven't been making it all along, but finding out the ingredients in the organic seasoning I was using sent me researching.  I learned  taco seasoning can have corn flour or corn starch, and citric acid in it, none of which I can have.  The container I had purchased doesn't have the ingredients listed, and somehow, I had expected it to be a blend of organic spices with no extra ingredients.  I need to remember there are all sorts of sneaky ways that lesser quality ingredients are added to our food.  Making the blend is easy enough (recipe linked above), and I'm sure cheaper.  It's another small step towards being more self-sufficient, and another step towards cleaner eating, and fully healing my eczema.  

therapy neck pillow headed to the shop

A few mushrooms needed using, so I chopped and added them to a sloppy joe dinner.  Leftover cubes of sweet potatoes were the side.  Another night, I opened our first jar of canned spaghetti squash.  Into this dish went frozen pucks of kale, fresh rosemary, cashew parmesan, and dried tomatoes.  For another dinner, we had colcannon with our cabbage, and a meal's worth of our green beans I had frozen last summer.  They were pretty tough, so I won't be doing that again.  Seeing gas had dropped to $2.79/gal., while I was in town, I filled up.  I picked up a few things at Big Lots, including 50% off ribbons for a winter mailbox bow, and was given a $10 coupon off any purchase.  The mailbox bow was made over the weekend.

April had asked for a photo of the "football" sweet potatoes, which I'm still using up from the '22 garden.  Here is a majority, though not all of them.  The one front and center is 10" long.  They'd never be sold in a store, with their insect holes and irregularities, and are a bit of a bear to prep because of that, but are good eating just the same.  We continue to eat them once or twice a week, and a pot of cubed ones are cooked on the woodstove for the critters a a couple of times a week.  All laundry was dried on the line.  I recently watched a documentary, which gave me some things to think about.  I was reminded how very blessed I am to live in this country.  May your week be blessed.

Holiday Progress

This week, Joseph got the bathroom fan placed and hooked up.

After determining where it would fit best, Joseph cut a spot for the storage box, placed it, and welded supports.

 

He installed the backer board in the shower area, and sealed the bead board in the bathroom.  

Dear friends, who visited last weekend, gifted us a bottle of wine, which has a theme of journeys, as well as some kitchen items we'll use in the skoolie.  We'll save the wine, and take it and their well wishes on our inaugural voyage, months away yet, but getting closer all the time.

Welcoming In The New Year

Hello, friends.  I hope the recent days have been ones of peace, hope and good cheer for you.  On Christmas night, J & I began a jigsaw puzzle.  I become somewhat preoccupied with them, and finished it Friday, before he had the desire to work on it again.  The puzzle was one friends had shared with us.  During the week, I made suet for the birds, and golden paste for the pups.  Sweet potatoes for the animals were cooked on the woodstove several times.  There were a few decent sales at the grocery store, with raw honey $1.80 off, organic potatoes $1.10 off/3#, and pomegranates .79 off.  I went by Tractor Supply for birdseed, which is back to $19.99/40#.  I stopped buying it months ago, when it was around $28 per bag.  I saw an interesting idea on placing bird feeders around the orchard, to encourage the birds to find all the insects, like codling moths, who live under the bark, while stashing seeds.  It was said they travel in about a 50 ft. radius from the feeder, so I'll move it to different areas every few weeks.  It'd be great if it helps us to get healthier fruit in 2024.

I finally finished the cross stitch piece, a pattern bought for a friend at the beginning of the war in Ukraine.  Our baked sweet potatoes, crowder peas, and chard (supplemented with store bought) were made for a dinner.  Black bean burgers I'd previously frozen and home fries were made for another.  My Mom's lentil soup was dinner another night.  It's been getting harder to come up with dinners we'll be happy with.  Joseph, especially, tires of seasonal offerings fairly quickly.  It's easier during warmer weather, when there are more than greens coming in from the garden.  

Guinness napping in the winter's light

With the house still in good order after the holiday festivities, it seemed the perfect time to have friends for dinner.  I had a hard time deciding what to cook, and ended up keeping it very simple, with roasted brussels sprouts, home fries, butter beans and corn on the cob.  Some of the baked sweet potatoes were made into a pie.  On Sunday, I made a double batch of GF pizza crusts, enough for four personal pizzas, parbaked them, and enjoyed one for dinner.  May the coming year be one of increased light, ease and grace for us all.  Happy New Year!