A Journal of My Days: 10/21/24

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!

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!!

With just a few things to do before we close the door on this year's gardening season, I'm already turning my thoughts to next year's garden.   Not being able to 'garden' this year as we have in the past has made my itch to garden stronger.  I'm already putting thoughts down on paper for next year, a calendar has been designated and sticky notes have come out.   I'm making a list of new things I want to try, perennial things I need to replace that didn't survive our hot, dry summer, things I want to relocate to a new area and of course a list of my tried and true.  

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.)

In the kitchen:  I fried up these green tomatoes for my hubby, it's one of his favorites so whenever I can and the season is right, I fix them for him.  We had a few small ones still left on a tomato plant that I'd been keeping an eye on, so I harvested and fixed them for him. (It was a good thing I harvested them when I did for it frosted just a very few days later!)  He was delighted, and I was delighted that he was delighted!  It's always nice when our work in the kitchen is appreciated, isn't it?

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!

Every year I look forward to Cath Armstrongs 'Own Your Christmas' challenge from The Cheapskate Club.  We're on week #3 and while my list looks somewhat different than hers, it's moving me toward having a less stressful holiday season and that's my overall goal and purpose of doing this challenge!

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!

Lesson three in our study on Martha in our Thursday ladies Bible class has been posted HERE.

I have two posts to share from my sewing blog, Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine ...

Transitioning Summer Clothing to Fall and Winter Wearing

and

Working on Draw String Bags

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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