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-