We have finally been getting some spring weather the last week or two. We had some snow off and on the last month but finally broke into the 60s. Supposed to be was pushing 70 today! We've been getting some rain off and on which we definitely need since we're high desert here. Grass is greening up and bulbs are up. The chickens are really enjoying getting out more with a nice weather. Debbie is still hanging in there, I have no idea how. The Vet said almost a year ago that she didn't have much time left. She's still eating and moving around, just slowly. I think because animals don't have belief systems like we do that they can hang on a lot longer. I'm thinking about getting two or three chicks early in the summer. Debbie hasn't laid for a year and the other two don't lay much between October and April. I'm always fearful of having just one chicken in the end. They don't do well alone from what I've read. With times being the way they are not bad to have extra eggs to sell/barter. I learned the hard way not to get chicks too early in the year, then you have to keep them inside in the cold weather until they feather out. The hatchery we use locally sells chicks until almost June. Works much better for us and the chicks!
1. Plant Something-
Will be starting some herb/flower seeds soon.
2. Harvest Something-
Eggs, one to two every day! So great to have the two girls back in production. Chives are up, collard greens wintered over.
3. Preserve/Store Something-
I will be making some South American fermented Curtido soon. Bought 3 extra Irish Soda bread loaves from Trader Joe's, freezes great! Bought Dave some extra socks/shirts on sale.
4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-
I have been buying and freezing extra meats and cheeses. We just had to buy a new washer and dryer but got a really good deal. I did have to remind the salesperson we were on a budget. We recently got new batteries for both cars. My husband won a gift certificate that paid for our overnight anniversary Hotel in McCall, that was great! Found some great Eddie Bauer percale sheets marked way down, love the blue ticking stripes!
I bought a plain wood box for some storage, used the water based wood stain I have used before, still drying, but nice! $10.99 at the craft store. Easy cleanup with the water base-
5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-
I am embracing my newfound Scandinavian DNA with exploring more Scandinavian foods I'm not familiar with. I had found out about a famous American Scandinavian Chef I had never heard about Beatrice Ojakangas. She has some great YouTube videos with a lot of different types of food. I found three of her cookbooks used on eBay and bought some. One is on baking with tons of really unique whole grain bread recipes. I'm looking forward to trying some! The other book is on it's way-
6. Build Community Food Systems-
Too early for the farmers market.
7. Recycle/Re-Use-
We are looking at removing the rest of the turf in the front yard. We may move some of our plants from the backyard to the front as well as start some from seed. We'd really like to eliminate mowing and I've been pushing Dave to do this for sometime. He has been re-inspired when he saw a family members yard in Portland. I'd like to have some nice raised beds and more shrubs/pollinators.
8. Skill Up-
Been wanting to expand the types of breads that I make and I think the new cookbook will help. I'm learning new Physical Therapy exercises with my physical therapist for helping my back strength post surgery. Going really well so far!
9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-
Had all our carpets steam cleaned, looks much better! Also doing my physical therapy. My back is stabilizing and I'm starting to get some endurance back. When you're in a lot of chronic pain you don't move around much and really affected my strength/endurance walking. But I'm doing much better lately. Hope to be on my bicycle and riding with Dave by summer. I decided to redo a little bit of my kitchen decor and I removed my aqua colored antique jars and a little sign I had. I decided to go with something a little bit more Scandinavian. I bought a nice print for $5 on Etsy and printed it myself it's a famous Finnish concept, Sisu, artist on Etsy is BellissiCasa -
I already had the frame so I just printed it out, cleaned up the frame and it's perfect on the kitchen counter. Then I also have another smaller frame and I found a free Dala Horse folk art print that I printed and fit in. I added my little Shamrock wreath for St Patrick's Day. It's nice to freshen things up a bit! And only cost me $5.00-
I stored all my other items, but for now it's a nice refresh! I bought a cute Dala Horse garden flag, going out soon-
Happy St. Patricks' Day!
I made my corned beef last weekend since Dave was out of town this weekend. Made carrots and cabbage to go with it and bought some of Trader Joe's Irish soda bread, which is so delicious! Moist and has Caraway seeds. It was nice to have a weekend to myself to do some little projects here.
Too hot this time of year just keeping things alive. Garden is looking good though!
About one egg a day. New veggies coming along-
Been getting a good amount of cucumbers, mostly lemon. Starting to get some decent sized green cucumbers for slicing. It's been too hot for the tomatoes to set fruit, but there are a few small tomatoes. Peppers are coming along as well, no squash yet. One of our chickens Luna has not been laying for about the last month. Really odd to only be getting about one egg per day. Debbie still looks slower, but is hanging in there. The vet I took her to months ago said she had a mass and had a lot of edema. She seems to be holding her own! I'm surprised she's lasted this long. I definitely don't want to lose two chickens! Luna looks pretty healthy and seems okay otherwise so I increased her, and the flock's, protein content by getting them some dried meal worm mixed treats. They love them! Hopefully egg production will start up again. This is why I dehydrated lots of eggs last year when we have a over abundant supply. We use a mister in their shade area to keep them cooler, cheap and effective, also water down their run daily and cool treats like cuke slices-
3. Preserve/Store Something-
As always with food prices been watching for good deals. Found some really good deals at Trader Joe's recently. One of my favorite quick fast/work dinners is Trader Joe's non-cured pepperoni pizza. I top with whatever vegetables we have at home like olives, peppers, onions and then bake. It's a quick dinner for the two of us. Four good slices (for two of us) for $5.00. Serve with some veggies or salad. Lots of apples, pears, and peaches on the trees will be doing lots of canning this year! I haven't made my chunky applesauce in a few years so will be making some this year-
4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-
5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-
Bought some Asian noodles and tofu at a local Asian store and made stir fry! Use lots of fresh ginger, Hoisin sauce and vegetables. On the noodles did Tamari sauce and sesame oil. Topped with sesame seeds, excellent!
6. Build Community Food Systems-
Haven't made it out to the local farmstead place yet, a little bit early. It's also quite a lot of gas to drive out to Caldwell, so putting that on hold for now to keep our expenses down. No eggs to give away right now.
7. Recycle/Re-Use-
Went through my clothes and craft closet. Donated some decorative things for the house that I just don't really use anymore. Sold my old Peugeot bike for $175.00! Dave's old one is for sale too. We bought two newer used ones, much easier to ride. Went to Goodwill and found some great stuff recently! Bought some used music CD's on eBay as well as a couple of tops. We went to two different Goodwill stores and found some really great deals. I got mugs that match my earlier one (except gray) and a really fun French Chateau clock that I repaired. The top of had a hole. Got a fun snowy yard sign that's folk art looking for winter. Got some sidewalk chalk for the grand kids. Stopped at Hobby Lobby and got a nice welcome sign, summer clearance priced-
8. Skill Up-
Still learning lots about my new-er job and doing well. Excellent benefits working for the Federal government! A bit of a bureaucracy however but that's the way it is.
9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-
We have our blue towels from Ikea that we really like. We went through the second time where the set of towels is in pretty good shape but the washcloths were getting really scratchy. Because we have really hard water and the washcloths are wet most of the time they get pretty icky and discolored after a while. Since I had a hand towel I had not used yet as part of the set I decided to make two washcloths. I basically measure them out against an existing washcloth hand them on the sewing machine and added a loop to one of them. Much softer and thicker! And didn't cost anything-
I have been debating for years washing one, or both, of my Grandmother's Depression Era quilts. One was in much worse shape than the other so I decided to wash the better one first. The main problem with it is the edging was pretty well shot. We have a setting on our washer that's called Deep Water that basically fills the whole washer up. We rarely use this setting, but I decided to use it for the quilt. I read when washing really old quilts to wash them, then stretch them out on the grass in the sun to dry. You wouldn't want to do this right after you mowed however! So I washed it and dried it and wow what a difference, used warm water, mild soap and Clorox 2-
I don't think I'd washed it in about 20 years or more, was afraid to. I started thinking about what grandma would think and she probably would think that I should watch the other one too! So I did. The one in better shape I think I'm going to go ahead and buy some binding for her and do the edges-
The one that's more worn I may go ahead and try to buy some matching fabric for some of the squares that are pretty well beat up and replacing those. Time will tell but I'd like to preserve them as best as possible. All clean #2!
