A Journal of My Days 2024: 6/10/23

The theme for this year is “Laser focused, hunkered down and spending as little money as possible.” 

We're talking gardening, bargain shopping and pantry building and how we utilize all three to keep us feed and cared for without breaking the bank!

So, how did we do this week?

First off, we finally got some rain, not a tremendous amount, but some and every 'some' helps!

(picture:  baby green tomatoes ... it won't be long until we'll be enjoying tomato sandwiches!!!  Hoot!  Hoot!)

In the Garden:  I've been stealing snips and bits of time to work in the garden.  There is really so much to do it is almost overwhelming.  I have to remind myself to baby step my way to getting caught up.

I was pruning the bottom leaves off of my tomato plants and noticed some 'sucker' sprouts growing where the leaves meet the stem.  I removed four and planted them in other containers.  If they take root, then I'll have 4 more tomato plants to harvest from later this summer.

I continued to harvest from my herb garden: mullein flowers, plantain, echinacea flower heads, grape leaves and yarrow.

I also got all the garlic harvested this week.  It's curing on my front porch right now!  My front porch serves many uses at our house.  Every single inch of our entire home serves multiple purposes.  That's just the way it is in a small home!

The October beans that I planted recently came up beautifully and were growing so well ... until the rabbits found them!!!  It's on!  Beware rabbits, I'm coming for you!!!  You may not have my October beans!

I took each of the seed packets I mentioned winning in last week's post and noted in my 'to-do' planner when each should be planted.  My 'to-do' planner is such a help to me in doing the things that need to be done in a timely manner.

(picture:  baby pears ... the tree is loaded right now)

When I mowed the yard this week, I mowed down the weeds that had overtaken the row garden.  Now to see if I can harvest anything more from the potatoes, beets and onions!

In the Kitchen:  I made banana nut muffins; hubby made a fudge pie and a pecan pie.  We cooked a Boston Butt Pork Roast in the oven and turned it into barbeque and finally I made some ham pinwheels.  What was all this food for ... we kicked off our VBS on Sunday with a potluck meal after morning worship.  There was quite a bit of delicious food for everyone to enjoy!   When choosing what we would make and take, we considered what we had in our pantry ... 95% of what we brought came from what was already in our pantry.  Keeping a well-stocked pantry has so many benefits and being able to cook like this for an event like this without worrying about financing it is definitely a benefit!

Thrifting, Bargain, and/or Loss Leader Shopping at the Grocery Store, farmers market, etc:   None this week!

In the Pantry:   My medicinal pantry came to the rescue for my hubby twice this week!  He got stung by a wasp two different times in two different outside areas.  Both times I applied plantain oil on a cotton ball (held down with a band aid) and within minutes the pain was much better and not long afterwards the swelling was gone along with all the pain.  Plantain infused oil and or vinegar is a staple in the medicinal part of my pantry.  Here's how I make it ...

Fill jar half full of dried plantain

Finish filling jar with oil or vinegar, do not add oil and vinegar to the same jar

Let sit at room temperature for about 4 weeks

Shake daily or as often as you think about it.

After 4 weeks, strain, bottle and wait until needed ... which I hope is never!  Stings are quite painful!

Here's where I have to add that I am not a doctor or have any kind of medical training.  I'm just sharing what I do for my family.

(picture:  future lima beans ... I planted these right before hubby got sick.)

In Other News ...  

As I sit and work on this post, I notice that the farmer who owns the land around us is busy fertilizing and planting.  It's really dry and a trail of smoke follows the tractor as it goes from one end of the field to the other.  Scenes like this are soothing to my soul and I drink it in, it really is the simple things.

Click HERE to read what I've been up to in the sewing/creating world this week!  I'm loving sharing what I'm doing on Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine.  It has re-energized and awaken my love of sewing and creating.

I started reading and looking through one of my birthday gifts (a book) this week and selecting a couple of items I wanted to make.  The book is The Big Book of Homemade Products for your Skin, Health & Home by Jan Berry.  One of the things I want to make is called Plantain & Yarrow Heel Balm.  It's sandal wearing time and I'm trying to keep my feet looking the best they can!  I have everything on hand and or am growing it to make this product, so I put it on my to-do list.

I spent some time creating a Kahoot game on the Fundamentals of Christ's Church (the Church that was started on the Day of Pentecost and that the Apostles worked so hard to get on its feet) for the tweens and teens Bible class I teach.   I would encourage you to do something every day to grow your faith in the Lord.  It might be praying, reading and studying His word, fellowshipping with other faithful Christians, listening to biblically accurate preachers and teachers, reading biblically accurate books, articles and or devotions or it might be as I've done this week prepare lessons to teach.   At the end of their lives, I've never encountered anyone who didn't wish that they had been more faithful in their walk with God.

Let's close out today's post with an update on my physical fitness journey.  I had a good birthday celebration; it was quiet at my request, with lots of well wishes from family and friends.  One thing I did as part of my morning routine was to weigh myself.  Then I flipped back to my birthday in last year's fitness planner to see how I was doing in my maintenance journey.  (I weigh most every day and record it in a fitness journal.)  I was delighted to see that there was a two tenths pound difference from my birthday the previous year.  I also had blood work done at a routine doctor's appointment in the month of May and all my numbers came back good.

My hard work and determination are paying off.  I find maintenance to be harder than losing the weight but when I see the consequences of my choices, I'm glad I stayed and am staying the course.  I remind myself often, to choose my hard ... losing weight was hard for me, maintaining my weight loss is hard ... but being overweight was hard too.  I have to choose daily which path I want to be on for that day.

That's it for me this week, what has your week looked like?

until next time,

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

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

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