Planted: broccoli, carrots & beets

Harvested: lemon balm, red clover, lettuce and eggs

Preserved: red clover syrup, echinacea tincture, vanilla in vodka

Stored: 2 wool blankets from garage sales. Several books including a midwifery text from Goodwill. 36 bars of ivory soap, 2 gallons of bleach, band-aids, 2 reams of paper(if you read *Into The Forest*, you’ll know you can’t store too much paper 1lb of dried mushrooms, 10lbs of chocolate chips, 30lbs of organic sugar, 2 gal maple syrup, 2lbs of peanut butter.

Managed: ordered 13 Bard Rock hens (1 rooster) will arrive the 24th.
Spoke to a woman about buying many, many boxes of canning jars in 2 weeks.
Arranged to buy wood and put our name on a list for downed wood we can cut.
(this is the first time we have ever had to resort to buying wood, we still have plenty for next year, just thinking ahead)

Reduced waste: I always use my own bags, strange story: I went to a mall the other day, to save my son a trip to buy something for his girlfriend. While we were there my youngest son (who was with me) wanted a cinnamon roll. I wanted to take it to go but I told the woman behind the counter that I didn’t need a bag. She said, “It is our store policy that you must take a bag” I said, “It is my policy not to use bags except for the ones I bring” We stood there for a minute and she said, “you will get stopped on the way out because they will think you stole it.” I said, I will take my chances and I have the receipt. She stormed off… Sheesh!!!

I started using baking soda & horsetail vinegar to wash my hair- getting used to it!
I have used honey to wash and calendula oil to moisturize my face for about a year, so I feel good about stepping out of the beauty industry loop. (although I still use eyeliner, mascara & lip gloss fairly regularly)

I got a bunch of food grade buckets from my husband’s restaurant.

Local: I bought 10 broilers & 10lbs of chicken feet (for stock) from my farmer friends down the road. Talked to a neighbor about freecycle.
My husband worked on the neighbor’s pasture removing blackberries so we can use it for cows we are getting soon. (we will be sharing the bounty with her)

Cooked: sprouting wheat for chickens- man do they love it!

Learned: finally getting around to learning to knit, took me long enough!

Thanks to everyone for the inspiration!
~Traci in Washington

I forgot to mention that I have been trying to live trap the chipmunk who keeps eating my peas and leaving a pile of pods neatly stacked on the side. So far he goes in far enough to eat the bait peas near the entrance but not far enough to trip the trap.

The other event this week was having a healthy tomato plant sicken and die within a day. After much perplexity we decided on a nearby black walnut tree as the culprit. It has grown and extended roots as far as the garden. So we transplanted the remaining tomato plant to another bed. It is still struggling as is the tomato that is farther from the walnut but near enough to be affected. Unfortunately the tree will have to come down this winter as we have to have a garden and are too old to start digging new beds.

Thanks for the kind words.

It sounds to me like you’ve got your priorities in order.

Sharon

I’m 70. living in a rural area with my partner (who does most of the work I’ve described here. We’re retired, trying to prepare for harder times, but don’t expect to be able to be self-sufficient if the worst happens.

Building community seems to have gone as far as it will, neighboring clans being suspicious of the newcomers even after 18 years. I hope more cooperation may emerge if times get tough–they are not unfriendly.

Our life here includes time to enjoy the birds, woods, wildflowers and the few years we probably have left. I admire the efforts here and will continue to read the postings. It has been helpful for me to focus on these areas wekly to see where I can improve.

So: Planted: replanted beans in open spots.

Harvested: peas, lettuce, raspberries.

Stored: froze peas, split and stacked wood.

Local Food: Cut out and posted times and places for local farmers’ markets. Will try to synchronize weekly trips to town with these where possible.

Okay, I take that back. I harvested at least 6 tortillas worth of cilantro and I started a new job, which, thank the gods and goddesses, has me making substantially more money than my last, so I can stock up and prep more than ever. I just haven’t had the time when I’ve had the motivation, nor have I had the motivation when I had the time. But I’ll get there. I know I will.

As for the rest of it? It’s *still* in the 40s and 50s here and raining. Most of the planted are about to expire — some of them already have. I have no desire to be outside at all, and the dog is damn lucky I’ve set a schedule of walks or he’d get none. Funny thing about this weather is that if it were in fact February, I’d be rejoicing that it was not *36* degrees and raining, but the fact that it is *June* and 45 degrees has me grumpy and slow and angry.

And yes, I fully understand that 45 degrees and raining is many, many leagues better than earthquakes and famine and floods and tornadoes and 104 degrees with 99% humidity. I know that. Really, I do. At least my house is still firmly settled on its sort-of foundation and my pantry items are still dry and where I left them and I’m not missing anyone I know to the whims of nature.

So it’s a really, really, minor thing that the few dollars I spent in seed is rotting, and there may simply be no harvest this year. Though if I really needed that food, if I were living in one of the many places in the world with severe food shortages and famine, this weather would be a disaster. Heresy to say this these days, but maybe this is the year to be grateful for the fact that not all of our food is locally grown…that we have refrigerated trucks to carry corn and green beans and eggplant from warmer, sunnier parts of the country to our local markets. We might not all survive weather like this very well otherwise.

Plant something: I have been out of the loop and went away over the weekend and came down with something while away; writing this from bed (with SOOO much to do … but Beloved put in a full day in the garden Saturday, and the heirloom squashes are in. And most the transplants, of all kinds, got over their shock before the hot weather commenced.

Harvest something: Radishes. Lettuce. Broccoli. Spinach. Onions. Dandelions. Plantains. Rhubarb. “Hay” (grass clippings by the wheelbarrow load).

Preserve something: Made pickled radishes, with shallot and garlic shoots

Store something: As above. Straw bales. Kindling. And moved a load from the compost barrel to the heap.

Manage Reserves: Painted house (not all of it, one wall), tumbled the compost.

Prepped: Cut down all the vinca (invasive species) and will be covering the plot with cardboard to smother it, start a new winter bed next year.

Worked on Local Food Systems: brought enough of my own home-grown or home-baked food for a trip away, didn’t need to go to restaurants.

Reduced Waste: Gathered yet more egg cartons for the egg business, and wrpte “return me please” on each one.

Learned a skill: how to make a garden bed without digging.