The First Days

Hello, friends.  I'd hoped to get this up earlier, but our water heater went out Sunday evening, which threw everything off.  This morning, after finishing my MM morning routine, I had to drive an hour to Greensboro, to pick up a part, so J could repair the heater.  I took advantage of being 2 miles from my co-op, and got needed groceries while in town.  All members get a 5% discount.  After I returned home and had lunch, there were orders waiting to be powder coated.  But before I finish prepping dinner, I decided to get this post up.  A batch of suet was made for the birds, which incorporated dried tomato skins, and grape skins and seeds, saved from canning projects.

Anytime J has any pork or chicken bones (he doesn't eat beef), I've asked him to save them in a bag in the freezer.  As the bag was full, I simmered them on the woodstove, pulled the meat off the bones, and canned the meat and broth for the pups.  I skimmed off the fat before canning it, and gave small bits of it to the pups over several days, which they loved.  I had a craving for pizza New Years Eve.  There was an extra homemade GF crust which I'd frozen, and an extra serving of homemade pizza sauce in the freezer, so that made it easy.  For New Years dinner, we had homegrown crowder peas and collards, rice and cornbread.  Our grain grinder hasn't had much use in recent years, but I did grind the corn with it.  

I'm making one to two batches of compost and biochar every day.  I continue to gather materials for biochar... pine cones, sweetgum balls, small sticks, acorns and hickory nuts.  After a bin of shredded paper and cardboard was emptied in the chicken coop, more grasses and seedheads were gathered from around the pond to add to it on two occasions.  The floor is pretty well covered now, and it feels noticeably warmer.  A soup mix I'd been given, which had ingredients I couldn't eat, was simmered on the woodstove, and is being used as part of the chicken's daily mash.  Bits of dinner leftovers were added to a soup container in the freezer.  After some recent delays, I was able to get some time at the sewing machine.  I love Susan Branch's calendars, and the pocket calendar, which spans two years, doesn't come with a cover.  The first thing I did was make one, with some heavy plastic I saved from an order.  When I made the first one, two years ago, I wasn't sure it would hold up, but it's still intact.  I then mended sweaters, a vest, nightgowns and a pair of shorts.  It's always nice to see that pile go down.  What have you been up to the first days of this bright, shiny new year?