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...

Jan 27, 2021

Independence Days Challenge

 

Independence Days Challenge-
There's a big winter storm coming in. I saw the forecast for the Sierra Nevada mountains:
6'-7' of snow and up to 90 mph winds! CRAZY!!! Stormy, but no snow here, but quite a bit in the mountains, up to a foot or more. We're having high winds, very cold then now up to 48! It's been very gray and I am ready for either some snow or springtime!


Too early to plant out here though the ground still really cold and hard. So here's what we've been up to lately! We've been busy-

1. Plant Something-

Too early but I'm thinking about starting some seeds soon.

 

2. Harvest Something-

We've been getting a nice steady supply of fresh eggs from our new hens! I have been giving my kids some of the extras. They are so good!!! 



3. Preserve/Store Something-

Bought some local Artisan breads at the grocery outlet and froze them. Stocked up on some cheese's and fish. 

 

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

Save quite a bit of money buying our new electric tea kettle instead of replacing our Keurig. We are using up the Keurig pods up by putting the contents in a mesh coffee filter inside a bamboo tea strainer. Dave does drink coffee so he's working on those. I'm strictly black tea! I bought him some fresh beans today! Cost Plus had a nice selection. 

 

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

I have a new Irish fish stew recipe I'm going to dry along with some Irish soda bread. I made some Irish soda bread with currants recently but we'll make the more traditional with raisins. I bought a new cookbook on Irish cooking that looks really great! I got a low-cost used copy on eBay-




I'm also going through some recipes through a library book that I got on cooking in the Alps-



I decided to buy some British tea treats for something and different. I had been eating a granola bar mid-morning on work days and got really bored, plus they are so overpriced. Not that enthused to make my won. I thought tea biscuits might be up my alley! Here's my first batch. I bought some Green/Jasmine tea (couldn't find locally) great with Asian food! 


The Hob Nobs are addictive! The Highland Oat Crackers great with a little cheese. Mega Creams cookies are really nice. The "world famous" Eccles Cakes, stuffed with raisins and currants, were disappointing. Off taste, may try and make my own version. 

The second batch of treats I found at Cost Plus World Market today. I bought more biscuits, mustard, and made in Britain beans in a light tomato sauce. It's a traditional food, canned beans in tomato sauce, and many people serve them on toast for breakfast! It seems to be a tradition from WWII during food rationing, for protein. They're not the U.S. barbeque beans with a lot of sugar. Will report back on the flavor. I found Maldon's Welsh sea salt, after I saw this on a travel show this morning, crazy find! 


I decided to start doing more whole grain baking lately. It's getting hard to find some whole grain Italian Breads and we're trying to eat less processed foods. I found some recent recipes so we'll try those and share the ones that come out well!

 

6. Build Community Food Systems-

Nothing yet too early for farmers markets.

 

7. Recycle/Re-Use-

I went through our holiday things and donated quite a bit. Also donated some extra kitchen decor, bedding and a few other things. Bought several things on eBay and at local thrift stores. With covid I have not been going to thrift stores nearly as often. In my last post you can see all the cool thrift store items I got recently Thrifting Scores x 3!

 

8. Skill Up-

I learned recently about the history of the Union Jack Flag in the United Kingdom-


Info here Wikipedia.org

I'm part Scotch-Irish and had recently been looking into making some traditional British foods and snacks. I hope to go to the UK someday and see everything!!!

 

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-

I have a house plant that really needed a new pot and some fresh soil since it was failing after about 10 years-



For a couple bucks I bought a new pot and a fresh bag of potting soil. I replanted it and put it in the kitchen where we get a little bit more sunlight-



I also bought another plant and pot at the same time. Now in my office-


Another plant I bought a while back I finally transplanted into a fun steel pot I bought it Ikea months and months ago. It's nice to have a couple of plants in my home office! 


I read that having plants in the workplace actually increase your productivity by up to 15%. Wow I should tell my boss how exciting! I am so bored with my work I cannot even begin to tell you. I'm hoping to be cross-trained soon because my brain is just bored and my work is too repetitive. 

Pretty soon we will be doing some dormant oil spray on our organic apple tree. Then we will do some Copper spray on our organic Peach tree to limit the rust disease. 

With our first Covid stimulus check I had bought some insulated curtains for my office.  I realized I needed to tie them back otherwise it was a little too closed. I just use some string at the time and kind of forgot about it. I finally bought some minimal burlap looking ribbon, goes with the fabric okay. I bought a couple of cup hooks and put those in to have something a little bit nicer than push pins. A pretty cheap upgrade-




At the same time I also bought some cranberry colored ribbon to replace the string on my Christmas quilt's rod. Already packed away so you'll see it next year. I found at a thrift store, added a rod on the top and hung it-






10 comments:

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I am about to plant some basil seeds for another indoor herb source. I had two plants but both died. I forgot to have the kids water them when my husband and I took a trip to have a cabin retreat. Have a nice week.

Nancy In Boise said...

I love basil! I always plant a lot. It's great to make pesto and then freeze it and small containers to use later. It's great that you have a cabin to go to for a little R&R! Have a great week thanks for stopping by!

Mama Pea said...

Our chickens are FINALLY starting to lay again. Such a long bolt this year! Glad your girls are providing you with enough fresh eggs, too. There's no comparison to those purchased in a grocery store, is there? :o)

Nancy In Boise said...

Oh mama yes those fresh eggs are amazing! It's great to have them back in production and hopefully everything seems to be going well otherwise. No more deaths in the flock yikes. I noticed that there's a lot of feed stores that are already advertising locally that they're going to have chicks and baby ducks in stock soon. Some day if we move for retirement I hope to have ducks and goats! Ducks are just so funny as well as goats

Goatldi said...

Newsy post. Lots of great finds snd ideas. Thought it was funny when you posted the Cost Plus finds. One because I am headed there tomorrow as I will be in Fresno for Grandgirl Emily’s 22nd birthday. Huh how did that happen?

Secondly I don’t think there are too many of us who still call it Cost Plus. Most use the term World Market. I remember when they first opened in Fresno. We all felt rather exotic as if shopping in a market place with so many products. Always found great inexpensive stocking stuffers that became staples over the years.

Also the chicks comment. I walked into a local feed store and there was a stock tank and heat lamp with chicks aplenty. A local hatchery on the valley floor already popping them out. A rather pleasant surprise and then I went home through the rain, mud, snow and cold 😂

Nancy In Boise said...

Yes for years the sign said Cost Plus World Market Kind of just got used to that . They do have all kinds of cool things for sure! And yes I think with covid-19 reading else a lot more people are buying ducks and chickens Etc .

Rain said...

I love your Christmas quilt! Lots of plants in the house sounds so nice. I can't have them yet because the cats keep knocking them down. Beautiful eggs! And Nancy, I'm already looking forward to spring!!! :)

Nancy In Boise said...

Thanks Rain! I put them in places where the cat doesn't go, she's older. I'm ready for spring too!!!

Sarita @ An Off Grid Life said...

Love the idea of 10 different "independent" activities to work on! Thank you for sharing at the Homestead Blog Hop!

Nancy In Boise said...

Thanks, sorry this went into my spam folder!

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