A Journal of My Days: 7/29/24

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 fed and cared for without breaking the bank!

(Pictured:  Echinacea flower head from my herb garden.)

So, how did we do with both of us being sick with bronchitis at the same time?

In the garden:  I harvested the last of the elderberries.  The race was on between me and the birds!  They like elderberries too!  I like them for their medicinal properties, I'm assuming the birds like them for their taste.  At any rate, I had to be on my toes and diligent in harvesting them because the birds were doing the same thing!  It was a race ... truthfully, all I wanted was enough to make elderberry syrup and tincture for the year, I wasn't greedy, the birds were welcome to the rest ... but I did want my share!

I've been in seed saving mode.  I saved seeds from two different varieties of tomatoes and from lima beans.

Over the weekend I felt well enough to do some work in the garden in preparation for fall planting.

I removed old spent plants from containers ...

Pulled weeds and ...

Checked on the cabbage seeds I had planted before we got sick.

I also harvested moringa and cut back some of my other herbs.

Yes, I was a bit tired, but it was a good tired!

Our harvests have been small as pictured, but with both of us being sick at the same time the size of the harvests were a blessing.   Pictured are tomatoes, cucumbers, pears, squash and apples.

In the kitchen:  for four days straight, we ate off of paper plates and prepared the simplest meals possible that used the least number of 'dishes' to prepare ... why did we do that?  In the midst of both of us being quite sick at the same time, our brand new well pump that was installed in December of 23 when our new well was dug ... stopped working.  Yes, it did!   Long story shortened, the company we purchased it from stood by their product and repaired it with the promise that if anything else went wrong they would replace the whole pump.  I'm sharing this saga with you to make a point ... we were prepared with stored water, paper products and a plan.  Living a prepared lifestyle made the difference between an uncomfortable situation and an unbearable one.

Thrifting, bargain, and/or loss leader shopping at the grocery store, farmers market, etc:  None!  We didn't go anywhere or do anything we didn't have too!

In the Pantry:  Once I started feeling better, I started on some small dehydrating projects.  I didn't have the energy to take on big projects, but smaller projects were just fine.  Pictured are dried echinacea from our herb garden and pineapple pears from our pear tree.  Those dried pineapple pear slices are delicious!  I've been snacking on them, will use them chopped up to go in granola and in the sliced form they are in now to make fried pies for special occasions.

I'm doing the same thing with apples from one of our apple trees.  

I prepare one dehydrator full at a time and no, I don't use any kind of pre-treatment.  I just peel, half, quarter, cut the core out and slice right onto the dehydrator trays.  The simpler food preservation can be, the better I like it!

In other news:

Click HERE to read what I've been up to in the sewing/creating world this week!  I haven't done any sewing but do hope to finish the seersucker dress I have started this upcoming week.  I also picked out a small cross stitch project to work on, we'll see if I get around to it.

It's the little things that make my world go round like one of my granddaughters reaching for her iPad one morning to call grandma shortly after she had awakened!   Be still my heart ... this long-distance grandma thing is hard!  I pray for a close relationship with all my grandchildren and do whatever I can to make it happen.  If you are a long-distance grandparent, I would love to hear things you do to grow your relationship with your grands.

I saved enough affiliate money to purchase a new to me sewing book that's been on my wish list for a few weeks, Wardrobe Embroidery by Warunee Bolstad.  This book has given me inspiration and the tools to extend my wardrobe or freshen it up with a new look.  (Thank you to the friend and reader who introduced me to this book.)

My teaching notes on self-control that I used in teaching a young wives and mothers Bible class have been posted.  You can find them HERE.

We're enjoying watching the Olympics, is anyone else watching them?

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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