Independence Days Challenge, Early Fall In The Garden, 200th Post Blogversary Giveaway!

Vintage WW1 Poster

Independence Days Challenge-

It's been a busy/tiring couple of weeks, but I have gotten some things done, so here's the breakdown:

1. Plant Something- Just some new pansies in my north window box.

2. Harvest Something- Finally! tomatoes, peppers, herbs, collard greens, rhubarb, eggplants, eggs, compost, basil for pesto.

3. Preserve/Store Something- Dried herbs, froze peppers, made 6 qts. applesauce, froze more pesto, rain barrels got some water from the rain.

4. Manage Reserves- Get A Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Got some free apples, stocking up on all kinds of things for winter- canned soups (for those sick-icky days), batteries, teas, tea biscuits, cat litter from Costco, cat food, and misc. bath stuff. 

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipes- Made new kinds of pizzas with the tomatoes.

6. Build Community Food Systems- Will start selling extra eggs next week, had to raise my price with feed bills going up.

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Still pulling out older clothes to take in, composting, going thru old fall decor to donate.

8. Skill Up- Getting better at preserving food in general, took care of my first case of egg bound chicken (warm bath did it!), and sour crop. I feel special :)  All that online research pays off!

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Getting out the used winter clothes I bought in the spring. Doing some minor repairs and they're good to go, sewing buttons, etc. clothes. I had Dave prune our fruit tree branchs growing over the roof for better air-flow and to reduce winter damage.

Early Fall In The Garden-

Volunteer mystery baby pumpkin

Tomatoes still ripening

Cabbage heads still coming along

Basil just keeps growing

Fall color showing up on my Red Twig Dogwood

One of the girls on bug patrol, sun low in the sky this evening

 

200th Blogversary Giveaway!-

So here's my little fall giveaway- a cute felt basket filled with: Anna's Ginger Thins from Sweden, 1 box Bigelow Ginger Snappish Ginger Herb Tea (no caffeine) and 1 box Chinese Oolong tea & some Almond Chocolate Biscottis. Perfect for a cool fall day! To enter post something in the comments below about your favorite no-work fall pastime (with a link or your email). I'll pick a random winner and send it off to you! Good luck!