Independence Days Challenge

Independence Days Challenge-
We've been having getting a little taste of spring the last week. Days are getting longer, now the time change is here. I've seen people out walking their dogs in the evening and I heard lawn mowers roaring. We had some snowflakes on the weekend, but that was okay. So here's the recent rundown-

1. Plant Something- 

Dave and I set up the indoor greenhouse in a spare bedroom this weekend. I'll be planting veggie, flower and herbs this weekend to get a head start. We'll added out new light to our existing mini greenhouse-

First I moved all this out, and moved to a closet

Nice open wall

After we set up the greenhouse Dave found a scrap piece of conduit and drilled it to attach the light to the greenhouse frame

The conduit fit perfect and popped into he greenhouse frame, with the light screwed onto it

   

I moved our geranium from the garage into it! Added a timer for 12 hours a day

I wasn't going to bother putting the plastic cover on. Then I saw Anya eyeing the shelves! Better safe than sorry. I also had Dave cut some clear, plastic tarp on top of the carpet, just in case there's leaks. 

Anya was exhausted from watching!

2. Harvest Something-

Eggs, lots of them! Chives are up too.

3. Preserve/Store Something-

Need to make some fermented veggies. This will fix some stomach issues I've had lately, hopefully.

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-

Bought some artisan breads 80% off and froze. Stocked up on our regular things at Costco.

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-

I made some wonderful French baked eggs with our own eggs. I am so loving having 4 hens laying! I gave one of my daughters a dozen fresh eggs last weekend since we had plenty. I don't add extra light (except heat on occasion) during the winter, since I decided to let their production drop naturally. They eat local feed, with lots of extra greens during the winter. I added some dried meal worms recently, since one of the girls is molting. I'll going to thaw out some of our peaches and make a cobbler next weekend. Summer will be here soon, with hopefully more peaches! We sprayed our tree last year with a copper spray to save the tree from peach rust. It should keep it healthy. 

6. Build Community Food Systems- 
Nothing yet, may start selling excess eggs soon. No farmer's markets yet. 

7. Recycle/Re-Use- 
Cleaned out kitchen cupboard and donated a box of misc. mugs, cups, etc. Also cleaned out some crafting supplies. Got a great linen blouse off eBay for $10.00 for summer. Found some craft items that I will sell on eBay as well. I will re-used some potting soil from the potato bins last summer for the seed trays for the inside inside greenhouse. Got some more DVD sets from the library, all free! Dave cleaned out the coop, we sent all the pine shavings to the city for composting-

8. Skill Up- 

Learned about some retirement strategies from a show on PBS. I didn't know about the new HUD program for reverse mortgages. Fascinating. I didn't know there's a lot of flexibility with those programs. I'm not recommending it, just learning. I need to boost my retirement so I don't have to work til I'm 90! I've been re-reading the best way to prune our apple tree, really needs it-

Nice article here Modernfarmer.com

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-
Dave repaired the roosting bar in the coop after it came undone. Glad he's handy! He also is looking at re-habbing his bicycle so he can start riding again. Not sure if mine is salvageable, pretty heavy for me. We decided to prune the apple tree ourselves and save some $$$.