Independence Days Update #3

How come when you have time to post there is nothing to post about and when you finally have something to say, there is no time!?!

Better late than never :o)

Plant something: Still busy getting the garden ready to plant, just got the last section weeded out. For some bizarre reason my nicely weeded front garden was a mass of weeds this spring. So bad that I didn't want dh to rotovate it and risk spreading the roots.


It took lots of work to shovel it all out! I did take a break from shoveling weeds to get the pole beans in. As you can see in the photo the poles are REALLY long. I had a choice between 5' and 10' poles, the 5's were just way too short and the 10's are ridiculous!



I'm thinking to trellis tomatoes between the bean tripods. Maybe??

Harvest something: As I was digging away a friend roared by driving a moving van, she is moving back here!!! I sent the girls to bake a fresh rhubarb cake to take over for a welcome home!

Preserve Something: Not yet....

Reduced Waste: Repurposed some pasta sauce jars for local honey, and took unwanted clothes to food bank's second hand shop. (They sell the clothes and use the money to purchase food, it is one of the most popular stores in town!)

Preparation and Storage: Bought a bucket of local honey, melted it, and poured it into smaller jars, I think we will need 2 of these buckets for the year. (Miss it when dh worked for the bee guy and got paid in honey! And also miss when we bartered peppers for honey other years. GADS that stuff is pricey!) Stocked up on pasta and sauce at the warehouse store. Slowly restocking pantry.

Building Community Food Systems: Gave away lots of raspberry canes when I was weeding them out of the garden. Gave away some parsley and sage plants too. Dh and children very busy putting in the market garden, he has 800+ tomatoes planted, carrots, beets, etc. He took this week off work to get it done. What a great idea, it's been much more relaxing than in previous years! More will be planted today and tomorrow. Supported local growing by ordering chickens from new source and as usual bought eggs from local farmer too. It has become our practice to NEVER buy store eggs no matter how much more convenient it would be.

Eat the Food - Local or Storage: Ground CSA wheat for bread and buns as usual, made rhubarb cake from garden, drink mint tea from last year's dried mint. Didn't go grocery shopping this week, too lazy, so most meals are from cupboard or freezer.

Try Something New: Tried the put yogurt in cheesecloth and hang it to make a soft cheese thing and it worked! The children ate it on toasted bagels and liked it. I know how to make yogurt from back when dh worked on a dairy and got free milk so this is a 'value added' skill for me. I wish there was some way to get local milk, we have dairies here but it is all shipped far away for processing and it is illegal to purchase it at farm gate. Only dairy farm workers get the good stuff, you can't even barter for it!!!