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!
In the garden: We had our first frost this week, which is about a month early for us. Yikes!
I got our carrots planted. Late fall is the time to plant carrots here, it's too hot during the summer!
I also planted beets and curly mustard! The same holds true for beets as it does carrots for our area. I'm telling you; the heat and humidity are brutal in our area during the summer!
I got in another harvest of nettles, and I think I can get one more 'smaller' one yet ... and we'll gladly take it!
I also did a small harvest of comfrey, and it's now air drying on a tray under a ceiling fan. Our house is small and very lived in, it's nothing to see herbs drying in various places and I think I've come up with a new place to hang and dry some! Stay tuned as I try it out to see if it works in reality like I see it in my mind!! LOL, sometimes there is quite the difference between the two!!
You can see on the pages above that I've made note on the dates that things have been planted. The curly mustard will be ready to start harvesting in early December, the beets, carrots and garlic will all be harvested in late winter or early spring. (By the way, this particular calendar goes through December 2026! I found it on clearance for $2 at the local big box store so I have plenty of months to fill up with gardening journaling.)
Thrifting, bargain, and/or loss leader shopping at the grocery store, farmers market, etc: None this week!
We went grocery shopping for a few necessities, but didn't find any bargains. They're getting harder to find and that's why when we find ourselves at the right place at the right time, we take advantage of them, like the haul hubby found last week!
This of course means we have to have the money to take advantage of said bargains ... which of course means, that there needs to be a little money always set aside just for this purpose ... a 'food bargain' category in our budgets, kind of thing. Or maybe a portion of our food budget being designated just for bargains that rolls over from week to week until bargains are found and funds used? Savings and the ability to save come in all kinds of forms and this is one!
In the Pantry: 
I dried and jarred up rosemary from my herb garden.
In other news:
There has been a small amount of interest in my doing another preparedness class where I create a make-believe scenario to test one's preparedness. I have done several of these type classes in the past but usually in a private group type situation on FB. I have tried doing them on the blog here, but there is just not much participation and for this type class, participation is crucial. I'm trying to work out a solution and will let you know as soon as I do. For the few who have expressed interest in a class like this, please know that I am working on it.
I really do take everyone's requests seriously and try to address your questions in as timely manner as possible when possible.
I'm really feeling drawn inward to our home, a more circling of the wagon kind of thing, if you will. I love our little home, it's perfect for us and I want to be a good steward of it and of all that involves the people who call it home. We feel so blessed to be in the season of life we are and have a place we can call our own. There's warmth and love within it's walls and yes, mason jars, home preserved foods, drying herbs, books, WIP projects, lots of snuggly quilts and a swing on the front porch! We call it home and we call ourselves blessed. We give God the glory for He truly had His hand in it all along!
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
One simply cannot put a price on contentment ... and contentment with and under God is even better!
Here's my week #3 prep list ...
Print address labels for Christmas cards that get mailed and affix to envelopes.
Purchase one ingredient for making fudge cups and set it aside in a safe place. You know what I mean when I say, 'safe place.' It's that place that requires so much effort to get to when you have a craving for said ingredient, that it's just too much trouble to go after!!!
This is an expensive for us item to make, but in so doing we bless several people during the holidays. And when you do the final costs and the number of people we give it too, it comes down to about $1/gift cup, we don't feel like that's bad at all! About this time of year, we start hearing inquires such as 'you gonna make fudge again this year?' 'That sure is good fudge, don't forget me if you make it this year.' Isn't part of the holidays about spreading good will and cheer. These little fudge cups seem to have the ability to do just that!
Put together one of the gifts we plan to give to multiple people to make sure it's going to come together as we think.
Okay, that's week's #3 prep list, but what about week #2, did I get it done ... let's take a look ...
check gift wrapping supplies ... Done! I don't need anything!
print labels for Christmas cards ... I divided my Christmas Card list into 3 categories (1) those that are hand delivered at church (2) those that get mailed and (3) those that are hand delivered to friends and neighbors in the community along with a goodie. This week I printed off labels for category #1 and attached them to the envelopes.
purchase 1 gift (I actually only have two gifts that I need to purchase, everything else is handmade, already in my gift trunk, a money gift or coming from my kitchen. Christmas gift giving is kept simple on purpose at our house.) Got it ordered!
I have two posts to share from my sewing blog, Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine ...
and
In case you missed my 'Mornings' with Me' post this last week, you can find them here ...
Mornings with Me: 10/15/24
Mornings with Me: 10/17/24
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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My oldest and dearest friend was staying with us this week, so we enjoyed a few days out and walks together. I had hung up my daughter's wedding bouquet to dry in the garage, but the weather turned damp, so I bought it inside and hung it up by a heater in the living room, where it will hopefully dry successfully. I didn't get any crafting done, but my friend wanted to make a new home card for her son, so I found her some materials and helped her to choose colours. I helped my husband to get ready for his first antiques fair yesterday. He made some sales, but not as many as he would have liked. It doesn't seem to have put him off though, so I think I can expect more of that next year!
ReplyDeleteTracy, what a delightful week you had! It sounds like your hubby has found himself a productive hobby that will keep both him and you busy!
DeleteI would enjoy a preparedness course but you are already so busy. Maybe a mini course.
ReplyDeleteDiana, I've got something in the works and as soon as the details are finalized, I'll be posting about it.
DeleteThank you for the links to the Christmas planning!
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine your home. Cozy , clean and warm😊
Lee Ann, LOL, my home has its days where it looks like a tornado went through and like it needs some attention in the cleaning department as well ... just like everyone else's'!
DeleteMore than ever we are thankful for our home. It's our safe and happy place. Even after Helene and all we still have to do we are blessed.
ReplyDeleteWe had a fence guy take a look at our fence that is mostly just like kindling on the ground. All but 2-3 posts can be left and reused. We are waiting on the estimate. We are blessed to have funds in savings to cover it. We will be renting a dumpster for the demolition so we can toss in other items that need to be hauled away.
Our neighbor boy got married and I was able to go to my gift closet for a gift.
I had purchased some pecan ready type crusts at the salvage store for fifty cents each and then wondered what in the world to use them for. Yesterday I baked a chocolate pie in one and it is delicious.The remaining three now have a purpose . I am on the hunt for cheaper versions of some favorite recipes. I found one for that pie that uses cocoa instead of baking chocolate. I will try it next time.
Last month we didn't spend much of our grocery money and I am so glad to have that money left in the food budget and available. I am more shocked every time I see a new grocery ad. When will these prices stop going up? How will we be able to keep eating healthy and well? We eat tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and salads and will continue to do so even if we have to sacrifice somewhere else but I really feel for families these days.
The holidays seem overwhelming at this point. One thing at a time here. We will somehow get through it all.
Lana, if I were you the holidays would be the last thing on my mind, it would be too overwhelming for me as well. You're still very much in recovery mode right now, the holidays can wait!
DeleteWe are finding food prices to continue to rise in our area too, families are hurting and struggling. I have never been so grateful to be a pantry minded person.
I'm sorry that your entire fence has to be replaced, it's just heartbreaking to see what can happen in such a short period of time.
One day at a time is how you have to approach what you're dealing with right now, please be kind to yourself and try not to take on too much. The emotional part of recovering from a hurricane can difficult at best.
Thank you, Patsy. Adding in losing one of my closet friends week before last just is so much. I keep forgetting she is gone. We texted back and forth most days about every little thing.
DeleteLana, I'm so sorry, I know that loss is a deeply felt one.
DeletePatsy you did really well with your planting and drying of rosemary, making your hubbies favourite fried tomatoes, planning ahead for your garden planting and going over Christmas supplies and what baking ingredients you need to make your special Christmas fudge cup gifts.
ReplyDeleteI spent 2 hours in the gardens fertilising our orange and mandarin tree, weeding and pruning tree branches in the year that were hanging too low and got in the road whilst mowing the house paddock area. Nothing worse than being whip-lashed by tree branches.
DH and I went through the meat freezer and we needed some more chicken to top things up. As we had an appointment in town near IGA we decided to pop in and check if there were any markdowns. As luck would have it there was both chicken maryland and chicken thigh bone in on half price markdown. We purchased 3.654kg of chicken maryland for $11.81 or $3.25kg, 1.178kg of chicken thigh bone in for $3.25kg and 2 x 6pk of marked down jumbo bread rolls for $2.10 ea on a 40% markdown saving $39.65 over prices in other local stores.
Continuing on with inventories we looked at our winter clothing and as my and DH's snow boots were getting rather worn we decided to look for some more as well as fleece lined snow pants. I checked out Temu which was extremely cheap and purchased 2 x fleece lined snow pants for myself for $9.35 a pair, a pair for DH for $10.47, 3 pairs of snow boots, 2 pairs for me for $19.95 a pair, 1 pair for DH for $27.76 a pair and 2 apple cutter segmenters for $1.06 ea. All up we saved $206.06 over purchasing similar items here in Australia and we are set now for next winter with backup warmer clothing as we can get down to -11oc here in winter.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead.
Lorna.
Lorna, I chuckled when I read your reasoning for pruning tree branches ... I feel your pain! There is nothing worse than a slap in the face from a low hanging tree branch while intently watching where you're mowing while mowing! It's a painful surprise for sure!
DeleteIt's a good feeling to know that your winter preps are in order, isn't it? You all did good!