Time for an Independence Days Update
Plant something: Transplanted Catnip and Mint
Harvest Something:
We harvested cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, beans, melissa, catnip and horehound.
Preserve Something:
I have the herbs drying on my rack in the kitchen to be stored for winter use other than not much was done. I am not really behind though because my tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. I definitely need to put away some pickles this week.
Manage Reserves:
We are in the middle of a major re-org around here so a lot was done in this area. We cleaned the garage and put up shelving that units that we had to make room for more storage and a workbench for my husband.
One whole shelf unit was devoted to equipment to preserve stuff such as my canner, my food mill and pestle, my dehydrator and empty jars. I have one more shelf unit to put up and that will store some of my bulk food tubs so that they are no longer stacked on the floor in the kitchen.
I went through my cupboards in the garage and got rid of some old preserves to make room for the new. I also got rid of some old cans of paint and made room for all of our dyeing, soapmaking and candlemaking supplies in a cupboard that can be locked. This made some room in my herb closet for new herbs that are coming in from the garden and from my herb order. I am also bagging up herbs that are older to be sold this week. I try not to let anything in my herb closet go for longer than a year. Its not that some things won’t last longer. I just like for them to be fresh.
I also went through the homeschool stuff. I threw out old crayons and colored pencils that were worn down to the nubs and replaced them. I boxed up last year’s work and got our crate ready for this year. We picked up an used school table at the University Surplus store for $20 and some cheap stacking crates so I am busy trying to organize the study nook downstairs also.
We had paint leftover from when we painted the living room last year so we painted over some marking on the table that was not necessarily age appropriate. We are touching up the desk while we are at it.
More science supplies have been ordered and I cleaned up enough old stuff off the game shelf to make room for them. Much of this was accomplished by buying one of those organizers that usually holds nuts and bolts in a garage and using it for science experiment stuff.
In general, we sorted through stuff and made a yard sale pile and a Goodwill pile. The Goodwill stuff is already sent away and I put an ad in the paper for the yard sale. I admit to not being able to get rid of baby clothes and cloth diapers yet although I did sort through them and delegate some of the more worn stuff to the rag pile.
Cooked something new:
We were awfully busy this week so I didn’t do a lot of fancy cooking. I did make a nice herbal tea that was a new blend for relaxing with fresh chamomile, borage, catnip and lemon balm. I wish I had fresh herbs all year long. It was divine.
Stored Something:
I stored away some of the things I have ordered in bulk from Frontier including of vegetable broth powder. I also have ten pounds of lye stored away with the soap making supplies.
I also stored away enough pencils, colored pencils and other supplies to last for the whole school year.
Prepped:
This is the time of year when I place a giant Frontier order. I have a wholesale account. I order the herbs that I am not growing, carrier oils and essential oils so as to begin preparing ointments, tinctures and other medicinals we will need in the winter months. Most of the order was consumables however I did order an inexpensive otoscope with extra replacement bulbs, a couple of packages of sea sponge tampons, and a couple of tea balls. I considered not ordering the stuff this month but it would be silly not to take advantage of the free shipping.
Our lamp oil is also on sale this month so I ordered four gallons to be housed in the cupboard with a lock. That reminds me that I need to replace a broken lamp shade.
In all good conscience I have to admit that I respectfully withdrew myself from the August Buy Nothing challenge. We got a largish settlement check from the drunk driver’s insurance company and my husband takes his vacation in August so this is the only time we have to get our yard back in order. We decided not to put a tree back into the front yard so we are spending the money to build a grape arbor where the tree was. We bought quite a few tools this week so that we could do the repairs ourselves rather than pay other people to do it. We also bought materials to make cushions for some barstools that we rescued from the curb as well as the materials to refinish a dresser and coffee table that we found. We live in a college town and the end of July is a phenomenal time for such things. College students dump “stuff” with reckless abandon when they are moving out.
That is more money than I have spent in ages but it is stuff that will help us out around here.
I learned a new skill this week as well. Two local knitting shops are doing a fundraiser for the food bank I volunteer at. They had people knit squares and Saturday morning a bunch of us got together and crocheted them together. I should add that although I can crochet a cable from here to China, I never knew how to start the next line. So with a little help from friends, I learned how. My daughter and I are already planning how make our own blanket.
The crazy thing is that until I sat down and did this, I didn’t think I was getting much accomplished this week. I think that I utterly deserve to attend Fiddlemama’s hootenanny this evening.
