For a variety of reasons I decided not to do the "year in review" post. It's labor intensive, although educational for me. We didn't do any huge home improvements, more little things. We will do a major front yard re-do next spring. The county is widening our front street in December and we will dig up as much as we can this fall to relocate until spring. We're losing about 2' - 3' of our front yard
garden. Luckily since most are perennials they should be okay. So here's a list of recent things we've been up to! I watched a few episodes of Marie Kondo's Netflix series. It inspired me to get rid of more stuff. She's the author of
She really does have some great ideas especially around "sentimental items". So here we go...
1. Plant Something- Frozen ground here, nope!
2. Harvest Something- Lots of eggs, happy dance!!! Averaging about 2-4 per day. Hens are doing great this winter, with the "sun room" up-
Sarah left and Ellie right
Rosie left, Annie right, her head was on the ground for bird food!
3. Preserve/Store Something- Have been freezing various foods/breads/etc. Need to make some fermented foods soon.
4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good
Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Have been using some coupons for wild bird food, bought some meats on sale, doing flexible cooking based on availability. Buying groceries with a open mind is a great way to save money. Look and see what's a great deal and cook around that. I got a great deal on chicken quarters so I bought those instead of breasts w/ribs. Roasted those with some homemade pesto from the freezer-
Got this fun farm item from a store going out of business, $5.00, I think I'll do a little dry brush paint on it...
5. Eat the Food- Try New
Foods/Recipe- Will get into freezer more and do some baking with frozen fruits. Have homegrown tomatoes, local peaches, rhubarb and organic blueberries/strawberries. Also need to work on my own canned apple slices-
6. Build Community Food Systems- Had a co-worker inquire about buying extra eggs, so will talk to her about that soon. I used to sell my extra eggs for $3.00 dz. May have to boost that?
7. Recycle/Re-Use- Donating a bit of my "work wardrobe" and other clothes this week. Total- four garbage bags. I changed jobs from an office setting with patients to a setting where everyone wears jeans, no public in-person interactions. I bought two new pair of jeans this weekend as mine were a bit too ratty for work. Great for around the house (thrifted) but needed some actual NEW ones! Got a good deal locally. Fun reminder on good aspects of de-cluttering/donating-
Keyboard at work too small for me so taking an old one from here to work. Free fix.
I cleaned out 2 of my kitchen desk "junk" drawer of misc. stuff for donations and trash-
Before
After
Before
After
Anya reused some hot air coming out of the space heater-
8. Skill Up- Bought some heavy denim needles for my sewing machine. Since it's a "heavy duty" machine I forgot to add needles to the equation. Duh. Broken needles and a tune-up later, lesson learned.
9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage
Something- Dave built the new coop ramp on the left as the other one was falling apart, used recycled cedar boards-
4 comments:
Thanks for the view of your chest freezer! I know that they are more efficient, but it is so hard to keep things organized! Having young hens sure makes a difference, when it comes to egg-laying in the winter. Mine are on holiday. Your hens must get some good aerobics, marching up that ramp!
I have baskets in the freezer, from the dollar store. That helps! Yes the girls have a steep climb, but sometimes they just fly up!
This is the second blog post I've read this evening about cleaning up and clearing out! I wonder if it's contagious?
Maybe! I think the after holiday packing things away helps. I had already donated a box of holiday stuff, just too much. I offered those to our girls first, then off they went! Watching Mari Kondo's documentary helped! And it's the new year too maybe...
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