Small Steps & Little Things

Hello, friends.  We had some lovely days, mixed in with rainy ones last week.  Many plants are beginning to bloom.  I harvested thyme and oregano.  A few sprigs of thyme were steeped as tea, and the remaining herbs were dried.  A batch of hummus was made for lunches.  I got tired of my long hair, which reached my waist, so I've been cutting it bit by bit, and it's now about a foot shorter.  I'm enjoying it much more.  Four books were requested from the library.  The bedroom deep cleaning is finished.  J and I worked together, moving furniture and such.  I've been enjoying my homegrown tea blend of lemon balm, lemon verbena, nettles, and spearmint. 

This is a new little corner, created by the addition of the sewing room.  I think it'll be a nice spot to enjoy some meals on lovely days.  I used two of our butternut squash in soup, along with our onions and garlic.  On a day reaching into the 60's, I winter sowed 28 pots, using a combination of old potting soil mixed with new.  On Sunday, I could see the parsley starting to sprout up.  I redeemed Swagbucks points on a gift card, in time to get the equivalent of a $3 bonus.  When library books were picked up in town, I stopped for groceries.  The blueberries for my smoothies were $1 off/bag, and avocados were .89.  Nothing earth shattering, but every little bit helps.  Our holistic vet made his annual visit for the pups.  The only thing found was a small, reddened area on Guinness's gum, which may be some infection.  One of his suggestions was berberine, which we had in our supplies, so I'm giving it twice a day mixed in something good, and there's already a noticeable improvement.  

 

 When heading out the driveway on the day I went to town, I noticed asparagus up, in what is always our earliest patch.  It's in a sunny spot where it volunteered, probably with the help of some birds.  The next day, I harvested the first asparagus, as well as stinging nettles.  The nettles is drying, to be used for tea.  All laundry was dried on the line.  For a business purchase, I used a 20% coupon code, and went through Swagbucks for an additional 4%.  J prepped the garden area, and planted the onions.  He also did some weeding in the garlic bed and an asparagus bed.  I pruned some of the smaller fruit bushes and trees, and he got the larger trees.  We probably have another third to prune, but it feels good to be making progress.  I've begun going through tomato seeds, which I hope to start the coming week.  Is it time in your area to be planting seeds yet?

A Short Post

This is going to be a shorter than usual post.  Somehow, after working on it off and on for several days, it was deleted Sunday evening, and I don't have the heart to redo it.  I can tell you that there was another broccoli harvest, part of which was used in pad thai.  The rest of the broccoli was frozen.  A pot of sweet potatoes was put on the woodstove for the pups and chickens.  I went through Swagbucks for 4% off an order, and used coupon codes for another 12% off the entire order, plus a few items that received 15% off.  The deep house cleaning is done, except for the bedroom, which will happen this week.  

We've owed two couples in the neighborhood an invite, and had them all for dinner over the weekend.  I harvested lettuce to mix with store bought for our salads, and pasta sauce was made with our canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and summer squash, garlic, onions, and fresh rosemary.  Brownies and GF cookies were made with items we had in the pantry.  It was a nice night.  We learned a few more things about the neighborhood, including one of our claims to fame, Rufus Hussey, known as bean shooter man.  Here he is on Johnny Carson.  Have a wonderful week, friends!

Mid-February Days

Hello, friends.  Lots of progress was made on deep cleaning the house last week.  On Saturday, J helped out, taking down many of the light shades, washing them, and putting them back up.  He also repaired the string on a blind that had broken.  I went through a large pile of magazines.  Some will be given to an acquaintance who expressed interest in homesteading-type magazines.  The remainder will go to the sharing basket at the local library.  A thrift store had their clothes at 50% off.  I needed groceries, and it happened to be close by, so I stopped and found J two shirts, and myself two tank tops and a skirt for $1.50 ea.  A partial box of cream cheese was pulled from the freezer, and is being doled out for the pup's breakfasts, as we're dairy free now.  I've also been sprinkling a little homemade granola on it, being it's not GF, and they seem to be enjoying both.  

Early in the week, I canned vegetable broth, adding more pints to the shelf.  I grocery shopped after a soap delivery.  Surprisingly, many of the things on my list were on sale.  None of it much, but I saved $12.99 total on sale prices, and another $5.99 discount for shopping on senior day.  I then went by the Dollar Tree, where I found the lentils last month, and they had more, so I picked up 6 lbs.  My plan is to can them.  I had stopped into two other Dollar Trees recently, and neither had them, so I was very happy to find these.  I was also happy to find a 100% cotton tank top there.  The thrift store prices have gotten really high for such a simple thing.  I wear these daily as an underlayer in the cooler months, and several are wearing out.  In the same town, I stopped by Hallmark, found some 90% off Christmas cards, got my free greeting card, and used a $2 coupon.

This was the easiest cleanse I've done so far, and I'm also happy it's done.  J took care of his dinner through the cleanse, though I did make a very simple dinner and brownies for him on Valentine's Day.  When I went to get the vacuum bags for the old system to list on ebay, I found the other bag we'd thought we had for the new one.  Sheesh.  The recently bought ones were finally delivered mid-week, which meant the Christmas tree was finally taken down.  That was a definite record!  When I went to the basement one day, I noticed a smell I couldn't identify, until I looked at the pawpaw wine, and saw that the airlock had gotten clogged, and it spewed.  I hope that's the first and last time that happens, as it was rather a mess.  All has been well since, so fingers crossed.  I finally got around to pulverizing all the tomato bits I'd dehydrated into powder, which will be useful to have on the shelf for cooking.  That's all I can think of, so take care friends, and let's make the week a good one.

A Small Harvest and Making Wine

Hello, friends.  Last week, I planted peas, after cleaning last year's bean vines off the trellis, prepping soil and adding aged chicken manure/bedding.  I tried a sweet potato hummus to help use up some of the sweet potatoes.  It was basically the regular version, with sweet potatoes added, and was decent.  A 20% coupon code was used for a business purchase, going through Rakuten for another 7% back.  I went through Swagbucks for 1% back on another business purchase.  More cleaning has been done.  The hoosier cabinet was cleaned, and another round of cleaning most of the refrigerator, including the crisper bins, before I went to the grocery store.  I'm not sure how the shelves end up so sticky, but I suspect the bags of sweet potatoes made for the critters leak some.  At least it's clean for the moment.  

At the grocery store, asparagus were $1.49, avocados 2/$1, our dogfood was $6 off, and organic lettuce & kale were $1 off.  I decided to do another 9 day cleanse to move my healing along, and will be eating lots of leafy greens.  A $5 reward went towards my purchase.  Soapmaking oils were melted on the woodstove.  As I write this on Sunday, it's been two weeks since we ordered vacuum bags, and I've been sweeping in the meantime.  They're supposed to be here in the  next few days.  We're usually so much better about having supplies on hand.  In fact, we have seven bags for our now defunct vacuum, so it really irks me.  Somehow, the bags slipped through the cracks, which I guess happens from time to time.  Laundry was dried on the line.  Not long ago, I heard about a food pantry in our little community.  On Saturday, I dropped off a box of tomato products and pasta there.

A friend has a set of glasses just like my recently thrifted one, and told me it's a Murano glass from Italy.  I already loved it, but how cool is that.  While picking up something for J at Lowes, I bought a bag of potting soil for winter sowing.  I had a partial bag, but doubt it will be enough, with the pile of seed packets I put aside for this.  Maybe next week I'll be motivated to work on it.  I recently used up the last of the homemade curry powder, and didn't remember which recipe I used.  So, a double batch of this one was made, with all the ingredients on hand.  Some of the spices were older, and I used her tip to lightly toast them to refresh them.  A large pot of veggie scraps was placed on the woodstove to simmer, to be canned as broth this coming week.  A nice cutting of broccoli was harvested from the garden.  A few could have been cut sooner, as evidenced by the flowers, but we'll eat it just the same.

 The English muffins were used up in the chicken mash, so this week's carb cleanout was a small bit of couscous left in the pantry, and some ramen noodles.  Months ago, I mentioned freezing pawpaw, so we could try making wine with it.  We finally started it!  This is just before the airlock went on.  After I had the idea to try it, I got on several forums to see what had been said about it, and most people said they'd make it again.  Some describe it with tropical undertones, some describe it as off-dry (some German wines are described this way), with most prominently peach flavor, and some pear and banana. It's said to be "pretty darn good".  In any case, we have them in abundance here, and don't do a lot with them, so it'll be great if this turns out well.  We'll have to be rather patient, as it was said that it's disappointing at one year, very pleasing at two years, and fabulous at five.   Wishing you all a lovely Valentine's Day.

Early February on the Homestead

 

Hello, friends.  Last week, I cut stained shirts into rags, and saved the buttons.  One had a lovely saying from Mary Engelbreit.  I pondered doing something with it, but decided to just enjoy a smile whenever I use it.  A jar of astragalus root glycerite was started.  I realized I'd been making things for J he didn't necessarily need to eat, which cost us more money.  So, I made some of the regular pasta for him, which we had in the pantry, and made a smaller amount of GF pasta for me.  The next day, I made sweet potato pies, a GF one for me, and non GF for him.  While I had the oven going, I added two butternut and a spaghetti squash to bake.  The ends of GF bread were placed in a pan to dry in the oven, for future bread crumbs.

canning jars emptied and ready for storage

I saw a post about cleaning the washing machine, which I'll admit, I rarely do.  I was able to pull two pieces from the top of the agitator and wash them, wiped down the drum and outside, then ran a hot water wash with vinegar.  It definitely looks better.  Two books were requested from the library.  When they were picked up, I had a little time before meeting my sister, so I checked my list, and picked up two children's books I've been wanting to read, one of them a winner of the Caldecott Medal.  I've been regularly starting alfalfa sprouts this year, to supplement our salads.  I've mentioned that I'm not a fan of the taste of squash, either summer or winter.  But it's good for us, grows well in our garden, and is good when doctored up.  I made minor changes to suit our needs and what we had on hand, but we thought all of these were good.

Cinnamon Pecan Roasted Butternut Squash

Creamy Curried Butternut Squash Lentil Soup

Creamy Vegan Tuscan Spaghetti Squash

I made suet for the birds, using dehydrated bits left from canning tomatoes and grapes.  For dinner on a cold night, our garlic and veggie broth were used with chard. Mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, and peas rounded it out.  Another small corner of the house was cleaned.  Little steps.  I cooked way too many sweet potatoes, in anticipation of making the two pies early last week.  Another pie was made on Sunday, and a sweet potato casserole for dinner, along with salad and home canned lima beans.  I still have a quart of sweet potato puree, which probably just needs to be frozen.  My intention was to take the Christmas tree down, but as we're still waiting on vacuum bags, that didn't happen.  It's getting really fragrant, and is obviously drying out.  That's always been a favorite fragrance of mine.  My Mom used to gather up vintage handkerchiefs around the fir needles from her tree, and gift them to me, because I loved the scent so much.  When taking them out of the Christmas boxes the next year, it always surprised me how wonderful it still was.  Such sweet memories.  Wishing you a week with some sweet moments.

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.  

January Blooms

Hello, friends.  Though it's still two months until spring, it's been really nice to begin seeing signs of it on the way.  I went around the house and tackled all the cobwebs.  Though it hurt my feelings to do so, I defrosted my two remaining beloved Field Roast plant based frankfurters, to give to the dogs, as the first ingredient after water is vital wheat gluten.  They also include other "no foods", such as natural flavors and ACV.  I'd hung on to them, thinking that I'd be able to cheat now and then after my eczema was fully healed, but I'm not there yet, so it's time to let them go.  I intend to go through the cheese in the freezer, of which I have quite a stash, and relegate at least some of it to the pups and chickens.  

Joseph was offered the lower limbs of a massive white oak, by neighbors who know we heat with wood, as they're unable to work around it with their tractor.  We're very thankful to get it.  I did help unload some, but he has done all the real work.  I'm very thankful for a hard working husband too!  He requested a dinner of our canned green beans and potatoes, with lots of garlic, so that was made one night.  A different meal was lentil sloppy joes, fried sweet potatoes and salad.  Another used our cabbage in colcannon, along with our lima beans.  My sister and I had a thrift day on Wednesday.  Favorite finds were a  .49 handblown clear and cobalt glass tumbler, $2 Krups coffee grinder (ours was thrifted years ago & had recently died), $4 lovely hand hooked rug, $3 canister for my shop, $1 like new steel sink drainer (ours had begun rusting), and $8 huge wicker laundry basket.

The pups and I continue to enjoy our daily walks as the weather allows.  After an appointment, I stopped by Harris Teeter for groceries, getting 5% off the total for senior's day, and picked up lentils 1#/$1.25 at Dollar Tree.  Now that I've checked prices elsewhere, I'm sorry I didn't pick up more than one bag of lentils.  I'll keep a look out for them.  On Sunday afternoon, I put another 4 gallons of veggie scraps on the woodstove to simmer, to be turned into broth this week.  I'm slowly gathering all the info needed for filing taxes, and J and I filled out the various county tax forms that needed to go back.  I added all three forms to the same envelope, saving two stamps, after confirming it was under an ounce.  We're getting some nice rain, which is filling our tanks.  I'm hoping to get some soap wrapping and more house cleaning done this week.  Stay cozy out there.