Life on a little urban homestead in the making, with ideas for self-sufficiency, Permaculture, DIYing, organic gardening, food preservation, Chicken keeping, cookery, crafts, thrifting and more...

Jun 4, 2020

Independence Days Challenge- Covid Edition


Independence Days Challenge- Covid Edition-
I thought I'd do some updating of various projects and this list is a good way to organize things! Join in, post on your blog if you like! FYI I didn't invent this list, several other bloggers were doing this for quite a while over the years. Here's the recent Independence Days Challenge- Covid Edition... 


1. Plant Something- We just planted a row of Blue Lake bush green beans, a patch of small mixed pumpkins and several kinds of Italian "frying" peppers on the south side of the house. Used to be a spot for the old shed we tore down. I finally found some of the peppers at a local greenhouse, happy dance! The varieties we planted are Marconi, Giant Marconi and Jimmy Nardello.  The peppers are long, sweet. They're great stuffed, topped with marinara sauce, or add to pasta sauce and freezes well. Great addition to the garden-


Our poor tomatoes have finally perked up with the hotter weather.  I saw that Seed Savers Exchange had free shipping so I bought some Radio Calendula seeds to plant, looks like this, love the spikes! I planted a whole big flower pot full! 

Photo from Seedsavers.org

I finally planted my new flower box Dave built with Basil and some local Calendula-


2. Harvest Something- Eggs, Basil, Chives. Too early for summer veggies yet. 

3. Preserve/Store Something- Two batches of fermented veggies, Sauerkraut and Carrots w/ Ginger and garlic. Froze some meats. I'm going to do an inventory of the freezer soon. I may can some of our frozen apples. 

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Bought some seeds with free shipping from Seedsavers.org for next year. Bought some Brats from Costco to freeze, got a great coupon deal for canned cat food. Anya barfs if she eats dry, so the Vet said to switch. We did, little vomiting and she lost weight, which was good! The Vet said dry food has way too many carbs, no wonder. She's also more active!

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- Ditto fermented goods. Eating some meals from freezer foods. 

6. Build Community Food Systems- Nothing at this time. Hope to sell extra eggs at some point in the late fall/winter, when the new girls start laying. Five chickens in production, look out!!!

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Dave built a cedar planting box from an old planter my daughter was going to throw away. I told how how big big and he built it! All free.  We gave away a tote of leftover river rock from the path prep thru Free Craigslist. The woman is using as border for a community garden! Happy to help with that! 


Dave brought home two boxes from work for the chicks. I start the first week with a laundry basket, then move to a larger box. Next I combine two boxes for a larger space. They'll be outside soon, hopefully in a few weeks, slowly integrating to the flock. Feathering out and weather are the factors.  The shredded bark that was dumped here with our purchased gravel we re-used in the garden for mulch, mostly gravel free. 


8. Skill Up- Still working on the Retrosuburbia book, love it! Learning lots of Australian slang! 
Dave and I did research, he got our new walkway in, looks and works great! 

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Our flock! We bought our three new chicks, all growing well! 

From the left- Debbie, Sunny and Luna 

I bought a new curtain rod online, the finial was broken off on arrival. Since it was a clean break I decided to glue it back together. Will never show, will touch up if needed-




It's a fun, shabby chic distressed finish-


It's going to replace the too-small rod, isn't wide enough for the new curtains-

My work from home "office"

That gave me the idea to paint an existing rod in our main bedroom. It was black, which was fine. Later I added sheers and a second rod, which is white. I'll take it down and paint it white to match-


Our bedroom is a light gray with white trim, so it will match better. I have tons of paint! No cost update-




10 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Jealous of your Jimmy Nardello pepper plants! I started some from seed (or rather tried to) inside, they sprouted, grew about half an inch and then gave us the ghost. What the . . .? I kept babying them along until I tossed in the towel. Then it was too late to try starting more. Have searched available sources (not gone to the Big City) but can't find any started plants around here. Durn!!

Nancy In Boise said...

I hear you! I started some Marconi peppers in our little inside Greenhouse. It took them 6 weeks to sprout! Then they grew one inch and I was it. I watered them oh, they were warm and in a lit area. I finally threw them in the compost! Yes I was lucky to find some and it was only because her I think it was a small local Nursery.

Rain said...

I love the sheers in your bedroom Nancy, they're really pretty. The "basil box" looks so nice! I've done some planting this week in hopes that I'll have a nice harvest. I have more to do this week too, I have to get my pumpkin seeds in!

Nancy In Boise said...

Thanks rain those bird sheers came from Ikea. I love basil and always make some pesto every summer and freeze for the winter time. I planted a mini pumpkin seed mix that has cream colored and light orange pumpkins. They're fun to have around the house we don't really have too much space for the really giant ones. Hope you're settling in well!

Rain said...

Thanks Nancy, we're settling in slowly but we're very comfy too. I wanted to try to grow giant pumpkins this year but the company ran out of seeds. Next year I'll try, just for fun!

Nancy In Boise said...

You know you might ask around with some of your neighbors to see if they might have some spare seeds? Sometimes you can scavenge haha

Leigh said...

Your chicks are so cute! Lovely to see how your garden is coming along.

Nancy In Boise said...

Thanks Leigh and we just had three days really heavy rain so everything is really supersaturated and green. Not into the really hot weather yet! Yes the chicks are growing by days and getting their feathers.

Susan said...

I really do miss chicks, but I am trying very hard to downsize. It's not easy, after seeing those cuties. You and Dave sure work well together - your little homestead is always picture-perfect.

Nancy In Boise said...

Thanks Susan and I understand about having to downsize a flock. They are really pretty funny to having them so close by when I'm working in my office. We doubled up their box so they've got a much bigger area now and they just run and fly and play! Yes Dave does the heavy work for sure with my Bum back I tend them or do the design more. He certainly is a hard worker, he just loves to build things! Picture Perfect? Never I just don't take pictures of those areas haha

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