In the Garden: We did more planting this week ... watermelon, tomatoes, basket gourds, butternut squash ...
We continued eating broccoli, cabbage, spring onions, swiss chard, radishes and potatoes from the garden and are anxiously awaiting our first squash of the season.
Here's an update on the 'stump' that I planted last week ... all the seeds came up!
From our herb garden I harvested: yarrow, rosemary and St John's wort. The yarrow will be air dried, sealed in a jar and added to the medicinal part of my pantry as will the St John's Wort. I plan to air dry the rosemary and use it to make a rubbing alcohol infusion for cleaning purposes.
I also snipped some young moringa branches and replanted them in a second and third pot. Because of the prolonged and deep freeze, we had this past winter I was afraid I had lost my moringa plant. I was delighted when it started popping up through the soil about a month ago. I'm determined to not have all my moringa in one pot anymore!!!
In the Pantry: we are busy eating out of our pantry making room for preserving season which will start in the not-too-distant future for us.
In the Kitchen: I have enough fresh veggie scraps that I've been saving in the freezer to make a pot of vegetable broth. I plan to get that started today. If I have enough, I just might bring out the canner and can some up for the pantry!
Fitness: I did my balance exercises every day this week and my weights every other day.
Sometimes I get tired of 'maintaining' my current fitness level and then I'm reminded that I was even more tired of being at the level I was before I started the journey. Both levels were and are hard and with every choice I make each day, I'm choosing which hard I want to maintain. Hmmmm, I think I'll stick with maintaining my current fitness level!
I started working on making the apron from the beautiful fabric I was gifted last week. I got it cut out and am ready to start stitching on it.
Bible Study: I chose a new memory verse to work on committing to memory: Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Psalm 141:3. I chose this verse as a reminder to myself! Anybody else ever feel like they need to post a guard over their mouth!
Bargain Hunting: This week my bargain hunting happened at a local Hobby Lobby. I had a purpose! They were running a sale on their thread for $.99/spool, (the regular price of each spool could not exceed $3.49). They also had their zippers on sale for $.99 (I chose longer lengths in basic colors with the intention of cutting the zipper down to the size I would need for specific projects.). I did a stock up on both thread and zippers using my personal allowance money!
For my continuing education, I watched this video on companion planting. Along the same lines, I've been reading The Small-Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery. I first read it through Libby, (online library app) and after sharing some of the info with my hubby we decided this would be a good book to have on hand as a go to for info on caring for our small flock.
That's it for this week, I hope you've had a good week!
Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building
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I love the roses from your own yard and the jar. :) The fall out from that cold weather is still showing up here, too. A funny story about St. John's Wort-a friend told us that he had made a tincture of it to help relax his wife and that he put it in her tea every morning before she went to work. I asked him how much he was using and he said two tablespoons. I replied that I would be relaxed too if I had a shot of vodka in my tea every morning! That had not occurred to him. So, who knows if it was the herb or the vodka! He has long ago gone to be with Jesus but we still chuckle about it sometimes when tinctures come up.
ReplyDeleteMy best day in this past week was Mother's Day because my Mom knew who I was when I talked to her on the phone and she was not crying. It's the small things that matter sometimes.
We bought eggs for 70 cents a dozen and the salvage store had a large selection of Fresh Express salads 5/$4 good trough 5/30. We stocked up! The salvage stores are getting great food and deals in right now. It is good to see this change. The ham that we bought for $8 at Easter was processed into the freezer this week. It resulted in 31 meals of slices and cubes all packaged and ready to use. I put the bone and veggies in the oven that night for a yummy dinner and we had plenty of meat for two from the bone. I baked hamburger buns and restocked the freezer with biscuits and chocolate frosting. My jar of fruit crisp topping that I keep in the freezer came in handy for using up three very ripe pears and a bruised apple. That was a delicious combination!
Lana, your St John's story is so funny, no wonder she was so relaxed!!
DeleteI'm so glad your mom recognized you, that indeed was a great Mother's Day.
It sounds like your salvage store is experiencing the same thing that is going on locally, it's hit and miss. Sometimes the shopping is good and sometimes it's really sad.
I loved reading about the ways you worked in your pantry ... ham, hamburger buns and all the other things!
You inspire me!
I love that verse, and it's one I need to memorize, too. This week has been one of recovery for me, a combination of jet lag and covid fatigue all rolled into one. But it's given me time to focus on the soil amending that's needed for my deck pots and planters, and to make a list of what all I want to plant. If I can muster the strength, that will be my weekend project.
ReplyDeleteLori, I experienced 'covid' fatigue both times that I had it as well. Give yourself time to completely get over it, I can't imagine what it feels like to have jet lag and covid fatigue at the same time.
DeleteI like to use mason jars for flowers
ReplyDeleteLee Ann, they have many uses, don't they!
DeleteYour roses--both real and crotcheted, are absolutely lovely.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh, that verse! I surely need to commit that one to memory as well.
Sue, thank you and I think if we're all honest there are times when we could all use a little reminder along those lines!
DeleteYour crocheted roses are lovely! Could you share the youtube video you got the instructions from? We're busy planting, planting, planting. I decided to make a "salad" garden in the part of our container garden in the front of the house as and reserve all the rest of the veggies for other containers and the raised bed. Busy days getting it all done. I made the seed tape and used it for all but the largest of seeds. This will certainly save me from back aches planting. Getting older is not for cowards (lol). Cookie
ReplyDeleteHi Cookie! You're right, getting older is not for cowards, that's why I try really hard to find ways to do things the easier way! I like the idea of a 'salad' garden all together in one place. I'm going to try to remember that for this fall, it's too hot for a 'salad' garden to grow in our area now. Here's the link to the rose youtube video ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_OSJyrJ1Zc
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