Weekly Update
The last few days have been crazy. I haven’t done as much as I would have liked for this challenge but I’m going to keep going. Here is a summary for the past week few days
1. Plant – Cucumbers (but my son turned over the pots, will have to redo). Lettuce (but some rodent ate most of it, will have to redo) Luckily I over planted so I have some extra seedlings to put in and this time I’m going to try cages over the plants. My peas were also dug up in one bed. I don’t know if it is a rat (we had one visiting our compost pile) or the squirrels who like to “plant” the peanuts in that bed.
2. Harvest – Chives, Green onions
3. Preserve – Nada
4. Prep – Washed buckets for storing food. Discovered, by accident that using Borax and hot water does wonders for the pickle smell. I was a bit concerned about using the borax, but it says you can use it to rise china, so I thought I would go ahead. I discovered this after using a pickle bucket for a diaper pail and having the smell that could knock me over when I entered the bathroom. I tried sprinkling the bottom with borax and still doing dry pail for the diapers, and that helped some. Then I tried wet pail with borax a few times and after emptying the diapers there was no trace of the pickle smell. Today I just emptied my first trial bucket and there wasn’t any noticeable pickle smell in the bucket. I also bought some canning jar lids and pectin that was on sale. I think the jar lids at the commissary might be cheaper than ordering them in bulk. I have to check the price.
Also “prepped” a bunch of fence from the Habitat for Humanity store. We don’t have the time or skills to install it right now, but we will need a good fence before we start keeping rabbits, which is part of our someday plans. Hopefully someday soon, but one day at a time.
5. Manage – Sorted through apples and onions. Had quite a few onions to toss.
6. Support Local Foods – Purchased milk from local-ish source. Our very local (in our county) family farm where we bought organic milk sold out to a larger operation, so now we just know that the milk comes from our state, not sure where. Also getting produce home delivery today, with some local produce.
7. New Skills – Built raised bed with concrete blocks. My husband helped me get started but I cleared out a lot of the grass and set the blocks and then filled the bed from our left over garden dirt from last year. Now I have to get out there and plant something. I also have to pray that it isn’t destroyed by my son or the rodents.
