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Friday, September 9, 2022

Produce Auction, Thrift Store Shopping and Seed Saving!

Hello everyone, it’s good to be back!

One of the things we did while I was taking a break was go to a Mennonite produce auction. 

Look at all the produce, it filled this huge open building and consisted of a wide variety.   It was all literally auctioned off to the highest bidder.  I walked the entire building choosing what I would like to have, we decided the highest price we would pay and then hubby did the bidding.  On absolutely everything, we got what we wanted at less than what we were willing to pay.  For example, look at those boxes of butternut squash, we paid $6 for one of those boxes!

We brought back purple hull peas, butternut squash, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and okra. 

It has about worked me to death to get it all preserved, but it’s a welcome boost to our pantry so I’ll take it!  

(Right after purchasing all the produce, hubby broke a rib so any help he would have been flew right out the window!)

We also went thrift store shopping and I found three cookbooks and two 100% cotton good quality stain-free queen and king size flat sheets.  

I’m especially excited about the autumn cookbook as that’s the season we’re entering.  (I'm a big fan of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks!) 

I paid $2.99 for each of the cookbooks and $3.99 for each of the sheets.  I have a sewing project in mind for the sheets so stay tuned for an update on that in the near future.

The fall garden is planted and now we’re getting things ready to start growing in the greenhouse over the winter.  

I harvested these renegade tomato plants from a pot in our container garden and transplanted them into 25-gallon containers for growing in the greenhouse.  If all goes well, we should have fresh tomatoes to eat throughout the cooler months.

I’ve been saving seeds for next year’s garden.  I have Cherokee purple tomato seeds drying (Personally I think this is an ugly tomato, but the taste is out of this world!  Yum!), white acorn squash seeds drying (this is a new squash to us, and we both liked it so much that we decided to start growing our own.  It’s also known as mashed potato squash), plum granny seeds drying (I want to grow these purely for the scent they give off!), cocks cone seeds drying (I happened upon a different variety then the one that I have so I purchased one to get the seeds from it.), and I purchased my garlic for this year’s planting (two varieties (1) music and (2) elephant.)

Until next time, 

patsi

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

A Working Pantry is a way of life, a lifestyle if you will!

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.' 

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11 comments:

  1. Oh wow? That produce auction is something I would love to do too! I'm sorry about your Hubby's broken rib. Those Cherokee tomatoes are so ugly but boy are they good! They make the messiest sandwich we have ever eaten! Good to have you back!

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    1. Lana, those cherokee tomatoes do indeed make the messiest sandwiches, but well worth the messiness in my opinion! It's good to be back!

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  2. Welcome back! And so sorry about your husband's rib. That kind of injury can be quite painful. Prayers for healing.

    Curious as to how you preserve your squash. I've frozen butternut squash soup. But, here, they stay throughout much of the winter in a basket in the garage. So long as it's a cool dry place, both butternut and acorn (and pretty much any of the hard squash) stay nice. I've actually kept both butternut and acorn on my counter in the winter for several months. Wondering what needs to be done to preserve them in other parts of the country.

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    1. Lori, thank you for your prayers. For the yellow squash I am making squash casseroles and freezing them, I'll also can some. For the butternut squash, I'm just going to stick them in the coolest part of the house in a crate, keep an eye on them and use throughout the fall and winter. No more than there are of them, I think they will be fine.

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  3. Golly Patsy, I'm sorry about your husband's injury. It's been a rough summer for the two of you with your fall and all. That's an AMAZING price on the butternut squash considering I paid $2 for 1 tiny one the other day, lol.
    And what is a tomato sandwich or burger without the messy tomato/mayo part?

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    1. Terri, it has been a hard summer for us, but it's all good! God has been faithful to see us through each episode.

      Aren't tomato sandwiches and all their messiness just so good!

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  4. I'd love to know more about growing tomatoes in your greenhouse in the winter. Can you do a post on that?

    The auction! Oh my I've never heard of this before.

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    1. Jenny, I'll be glad to do a post on how we grow tomatoes in the greenhouse, it'll likely have to be a series taking everyone through the process throughout the fall and winter though. I'll get to work on the first entry as we've just planted them.

      The auction was great. We try to go at least once a year and sometimes we get to go twice!

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  5. I hope that himself is taking life a little easier and the broken rib is healing quickly.

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    1. Jane, thank you. Right now he doesn't have much choice but to take it easy, every time he tries to bend over or twist his body he has pain!

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  6. What a great find! The auction looks fun. And I'm a big fan of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks too. I have recipes in two of them!

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