From My Home to Yours: 4/3/26

 From My Home to Yours

4/3/26

~ It's Strawberry Season! ~

Aren't these strawberries pretty!  It's strawberry season in our area and time to restock the pantry for the upcoming year.  (Hubby bartered fresh eggs from our chickens for part of the strawberries we got!)

The first method I used for preserving strawberries was to wash, cap and prepare them for flash freezing.  After about 3 hours in the freezer, I removed them, labeled the bag and then bagged them up.  I returned the bagged strawberries to the freezer and repeated the process.

These bagged flash frozen berries will mostly be used in smoothies with an occasional use of being turned into a topping for ice cream, etc.

Hubby requested I make him some strawberry freezer jam so I did.

Here are the caps and as I am trying hard not to waste anything, looked for a way to prepare them that we would eat.  I read about several different things I could do, but none of them were a good fit for our family.  Instead, I fed them to the chickens ... and they loved them ... and they'll give them back to us in the form of fresh eggs.  There are always options for getting the most out of a harvest ... even when it means the best option is to feed it to the chickens! It's wasteful to preserve food in ways your family won't use ... sometimes we might need to remind ourselves of that!

We did it again ... hubby mentioned that he would like to have another raised bed, so ... we built another one out of cinder blocks that's just like the one next to it.  All we lack having the project completely finished is installing the hog and cattle panels that will connect them.  If all goes well and we get it completed, I'll include a picture of it in next week's post.

We planted squash this week along with more cabbage plants we grew from seeds.

Let's check on our raised beds ...

In this one are ...

storage onions on the outside 

potatoes in the middle

pole lima beans against the trellis (they're a bit hard to see in the picture)

In this one are ...

cabbage plants in the center under the wire baskets

storage onions on the outsides

radishes all in between

I continued reading book 6, Carried Forward by Hope, in the Bregdan Chronicles, by Ginny Dye.   I also finished listening to With Each Tomorrow by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse and started listening to Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson during my daily exercise.

Ladies, the 8th lesson in our Bible study on Naomi has been posted.  You can find it HERE! We've got one more lesson in this study and it'll be finished!

No sewing this week as there simply has not been time ... preserving strawberries, building a new raised bed and gardening in and around the usual family and home activities left me with no sewing time!

I noticed this iris in my front yard and snapped a picture ... isn't it beautiful!  God's handiwork just can't be beat!

The same sentiment applies to this rose ... which is growing in a pot at a corner of our house.

That's it for this week, I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...  

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry  

~ quietly holding the home front ~

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

Other Places You Can Find Me ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

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