The Snow Storm That Wasn't

Hello, friends.  Last week, I redeemed Swagbucks for a $25 GC.  Free movies were enjoyed on Amazon and Youtube, and free Kindle books were read.  The last items needing attention in the freezer were tomatoes, some that I ran out of time with, before our vacation, and froze.  It was good to get them canned up, knowing they're now shelf stable until needed.  All laundry was dried on the line.  Wool sweaters were hand washed, and dried outdoors.  

Extra sweet potatoes were baked for a dinner, and the extras made into sweet potato pie another day.  The soup container of leftover bits was used, and a pot of vegetable soup was made on a cold day, using lots of homemade veggies.  Bread was made in the bread machine for J to have with it.  Daisy shared GF tortillas she'd made, in a post last week.  They sounded good, so I tried a batch for bean burritos, and they were very good.  I'll definitely be making these again, doubling the recipe next time.  Thanks, Daisy!  Instead of the 1-3" of snow forecasted, we got a dusting, followed by sleet and freezing rain.  We've got our hopes high for the next chance of snow in a week, though. 

I spent time on paperwork for taxes, working on spreadsheets for my online shops, printing receipts I hadn't gotten around to printing, and gathering all the receipts I already had.  It's a start.  Biochar and compost continue to be made.  I'd just about filled the 6 gallon ash can I bought for the biochar, and began layering and inoculating it in a bucket.  If the biochar is left raw, without inoculating, it can actually pull nutrients from the soil at first.  From what I've been reading and watching, you can use what you have.  We have a small amount of bone meal, and I combined humic acid and a sea-based fertilizer in water, and drenched it.  I continue making biochar retorts, as I have empty cans available.  I saw that the cans last for approximately ten burns, before they become too full of holes to be useful, and that seems to be the case.  Then the cans can be recycled.

I've been pondering how this blog will look going forward.  Beginning our adventures in the skoolie this year will mean I'll be away from home a bit more.  We've never been ones to announce that we're away from home online, so there won't be real-time posts as we travel.  That's never seemed smart to us.  It also won't be as easy as simply not posting when we're away, as they makes it pretty obvious when we're gone.  So, things will shift in terms of regularity, but I'm thinking I'll continue to share recipes, and anything new, like the biochar, on occasion, and share our travels, once we're back home.  Most of what I share has been shared here many times before, and there are sixteen years of archived posts to look back on.  For the near future, I expect posting will continue as it's been, but at some point, it will shift.   My thoughts go out to those impacted by the CA fires, as well as those in substandard housing, in the NC mountains.  Take good care, friends.