Independence Day Update #1
Sharon May 4th, 2009
It is definitely not too late to sign up to join this year’s challenge – just add your name to the comments and start posting, either here in comments or on your own blog. I’m really going to try and do this every Monday for a whole year (well, yeah, we always start out things like this as optimists, right 
).
This was not my best week – I was in the North Country in the Adirondacks last weekend, got back late on Sunday, and left town again for Maine on Wednesday afternoon, and, of course, it is a tough time to be away from the garden. Still, a bit got done.
Plant something: Broccoli, Cabbage, Peas (ok, Eric and the boys planted these), carrots, radishes, beets, parley, onions, chard, lemon balm, sage, thyme, chinese cabbage, komatsuna, early tomatoes, lettuce, saltwort, pansies, johnny jump ups, california poppies, regular poppies.
Harvest something: Chives, nettles, dandelions, rhubarb, asparagus, sorrel
Preserve something: Dried nettles and raspberry leaves.
Reduce Waste: Sorted out the apples from winter, and dried and sauced the last few goods ones, planted the sprouted onions for spring greens.
Preparation and Storage: This was my best category, because while in visiting family I hit a library sale and managed to get us almost to a full set of Hardy Boys book (the old ones) – which actually is a prep, when you’ve got four book-addicted children ; and hit Savers for pants and pajamas for rapidly growing eldest for next year.
Build Community Food Systems – Nothing in my community. Can I count the two talks I did on _A Nation of Farmers?_
Eat the Food – Because we don’t use our fridge, going out of town means eating everything or taking it with us. We managed not to throw any usable food out or let anything get wasted, which for us is pretty good. But we didn’t cook much of anything in particular, since we didn’t want leftovers.
Not my best week, but I’ve got an entire week of gardening ahead of me to catch up! Can’t wait!!!
How about you?
Sharon
- Independence Days Challenge
- Comments(91)
Harvest Something: I was going to harvest dandelions and make fritters, but now most of them have seeded. The weird temperature jumps seem to have made All The Plants Bloom at Once. At least it’s pretty…
Preserve Something: This doesn’t entirely count, since we ate it all within a few days, but we discovered that if you freeze tofu, then thaw and marinate it, then dehydrate it, it becomes delicious crunchy snack food. Without the freezing step it is inedibly hard.
Prep and Storage: Energy bars, a big bag of jasmine rice, and peanut butter for storage. Took a look at what we still have in jars and freezer from preserving and what we wished we had more of, to plan for next year. (More salsa, less chutney, fridge pickles only, more tomatoes and peaches, do not freeze roasted squash)
Eat the Food: Pumpkin or butternut squash in red lentils is *delicious*. I like pumpkin, but it’s kind of a “sometimes food” for me, taste-wise. But it melds so wonderfully with the red lentil flavor and color that it just adds a nice depth and creaminess. And then I used up the rest of the pre-pureed stuff in some very nice pumpkin bread.
Here goes ….
Plant something: 2 new blueberry bushes
Harvest something: not yet …
Preserve something: nada
Reduce Waste: DH invested in stainless steel ecocaneens for all 4 of us — no more excuses for buying plastic bottles of water!
Preparation and Storage: * Put together a 2-week food storage box for my niece, based on the “Small Spaces, Small Budgets” plan at http://www.getpandemicready.org.” * Split 2 BIG buckets of dried beans with my mom (we vac-sealed them in 1-lb. increments). * Sorted/stored outgrown kids’ clothes and brought out stored clothes in new sizes. Made notes of what needs to be made/bought 2nd hand for the oldest.
Build Community Food Systems – Printed copies of the aforementioned Small Spaces, Small Budgets plan and gave one to the lady who keeps my kids. Forwarded a link to it to my coworkers and actually got a positive response from a couple of people!
Eat the Food – Used up some zukes & peppers from the farmers market in a stir-fry for dinner last night. Made muffins with overripe bananas.
It was an incredibly busy week for us here – we were away from home almost every day – and yet I still managed to get a few things done:
1. Plant something: Nothing planted last week though I’ve been busily tending to lots of young ‘uns that I started last month and haven’t yet to gone into the ground.
2. Harvest something: Harvested some sweet woodruff and salad greens – lots more to go.
3. Preserve something: Drying that sweet woodruff. Planning on using it for May Wine and tea (as well as for its lovely springy aroma come wintertime).
4. Reduce waste: Organized all of last year’s jams & pickles (just have the rest of the pantry to organize now).
5. Preparation and Storage: Shopped the annual library book sale & came away with a bunch of books for the girls (we’re homeschoolers). Inventoried and re-stocked the medicine cabinet. Started doing an inventory of the girls clothes so I’ll know exactly what they have (and what they’ll need) for next year.
6. Build Community Food Systems: A friend of a friend gave us a pile of seeds rescued from a greenhouse. I passed them along to the fabulous woman who is getting out Community Garden up & running. Oh, and I invited my girlfriend to join the IDC
7. Eat the Food: We’ve been eating salad and chives out of the garden and eating down last year’s frozen farm bounty. Have to get a move on as our CSA reopens in just a few weeks. Here are links to a couple of recipes we enjoy that I’m able to make almost entirely from the pantry & freezer (and one of them even includes kale):
Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fettuccine-with-Sausage-and-Kale-233976
Potato, Green Bean, and Corn Salad (I add slow roasted cherry tomatoes from the freezer to this. It’s good now but, needless to say, even better come August): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Potato-Green-Bean-and-Corn-Salad-15282
-Nicole in NJ
Harvest: Kale, green onions, chives, lettuce! And totally eyeing the rhubarb.
Planted: Sugar pie pumpkins and buttercup squash. A lot of the garden is already in: carrots, potatoes, onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes, garlic, kale, peas, and beets. Beets not doing so well, will probably have to replant those.
Preserve: Nope.
Prep and storage: Built two new 3 x 10 garden beds. One raised for tomatoes and one just brick-edged for squash and pumpkins. Also redid the pvc structures on all, so I have the potential for all but the squash beds to be under row covers, around 210 sf.
Eat the food: I have a lot of dried tomatoes and nectarines to get through. And jam. But I’m working on it! Also just made a cherry pie from freezer cherries. YUM!
I forgot something under “Reduce Waste” — or maybe “Eat the Food”: I used some blueberry yogurt (left over from DD#1′s snack) to make pancakes — and they were AWESOME!
in Virginia:
plant something: kale, parsley, marigold, crimson clover, arugula, asian mustard greens, lettuce,
harvest: rape cover crop (looks and tastes like kale), creasy greens (wild), violet leaves, chickweed
preserve: I wanted to make sauerkraut using the savoy cabbages that I put in the root cellar last week (and wasn’t doing too well – the temperature was 60 and outer leaves are turning yellow). Does making kombucha count? I do this every week.
reduce waste: I have stopped flushing away water severl times a day and am using urine in the garden.
prep and storage: Wow! I really felt the support of Independence Days group this week. i cleaned and inventoried the chest freezer. I inventoried and stored bulk grains, beans, and other supplies in 5 gallon buckets and tins. I bought extra cabbage and potato and stored in the root cellar – (the savoy cabbage had to be removed). Thanks to all of you for your support this week – I made big progress with organization and storage.
build community food systems: sent email to a friend across the mountain with links to Bountiful Gardens and info about raising grains. (She expressed interest in raising grains this year.) Our next-door neighbor came by to get a couple potatoes for his soup.
Eat the food: rape (covercrop like kale), asparagus (from a neighbor), chickweed, creasy greens, violet leaves. I ate a lot of Tibetan Spiced potatoes this week. It takes minutes to put together – leaving more time to go back out and work in the garden. Here’s the recipe:
Tibetan Spiced Potatoes
1) The day before: buy spring potatoes at market and boil a pot of them (5-6 medium large – whole) and store the whole cooked potatoes in fridge.
2) in cast iron fry pan, sautee:
- minced onion, garlic, green chili, and salt
-(cumin seed, pinch of tumeric, fenugreek seed) – add these only if you like Tibetan spices)
3) add: diced tomato (1 or 2 fresh or part of a can – just enough to add flavor and color)
(the following is a variation on traditional recipe):
4) chop and add a green vegetable or two – (whatever is in season. – I used asparagus, kale, and finely chopped cabbage).
5) add protein – (choose one or 2):
- mung sprouts or lentil sprouts,
- tofu or tempeh
- or meat – chicken, etc.
I used mung sprouts and tofu
6) add diced potato (1 or 2 or more)
Done! It just takes a few minutes and it is a one-pot meal, so cleanup is easy. Just remember to boil the potato (whole) the night before.
Planted some brocoli, cabbage, and more carrots( I ran out of seed last week), I’m also starting a raspberry patch.
Preparation and storage, garrage season started with wimper but I did get some nice pottery for gifts or planters as well as a brand new, never opened twister game for power free entertainment. This won’t get used yet as the kids would instantly turn it into a full contact game but in a year or two they will be big enough to have a go at it.
I’m still waiting to see if our poorly run community gardens have room for us. We should have been in there a month ago but they don’t allow pre frost gardening.
Started assembling potatoe cages, using chicken wire I had rather than buy lumber.
I added sugar, salt, and new seals to the canning supplies and added some noodles, fruit and canned fish to the pantry.
Oooh, I don’t think I’ve signed up yet, so consider this my official request to participate!
Plant something: Planted broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, pole beans, bell pepper, spearmint.
Harvest something: Nothing this week although I should get cracking on the kale and turnips.
Preserve something: Dried basil, made raspberry syrup.
Preparation and Storage: Added quite a bit of bottled water, rice, veg. oil, dried beans, canned food, dried pasta.
1. Plant something – (USDA Zone
Willows. Golden peas; moved sunchokes. “Bushed” the Sugar Snap peas with willow cuttings. Some assorted greens, with radishes.
2. Harvest something – Elephant garlic, onions, kale, maple blossoms, chard, broccoli, leeks, dandelions. Blew 26 goose eggs (with basketball pump); froze eggs. Harvested one egg-bound hen; made stewed chicken and saved all the broth. Caught three trout,
3. Preserve something – Baked and froze bread. Froze kale.
4. Reduce waste – Bringing home cardboard, newspapers, bottles, and bubble pack every day, for use in projects around the place. Using, with permission, neighbors’ grass clippings in garden. Weeding like mad.
5. Preparation and Storage – Designing barn extension and new cold room. Made caster platforms for the flour barrels. Have collected about sixty wine bottles for winemaking. Baked four loaves of spelt bread with kale; froze 2, will give away one.
6. Build Community Food Systems – Beloved and son volunteering at Extension Service as Master Gardeners. Continued blogging “A Self-Supporting Home”, first published in 1904, as it contains densely packed garden, animal husbandry, orchard, and apiary information. Sold free range eggs, gave away garlic bulbs, runner beans for seed, bread. Traded some plum sauce for “pot stickers” (dumplings).
7. Eat the Food – From storage: wheat, oats, spelt, rye, buckwheat, brewer’s yeast, sunflowers, flaxseed. From dried: Runner beans; basil. From frozen: trout, blueberries, blackberries, apples, plum sauce, pear sauce, bok choi, sugar snap peas. From poultry: duck eggs, chicken eggs. From garden: elephant garlic, onions, kale, maple, chard, broccoli, leeks, dandelions. Also: Maple blossoms.
You know- it must be how high my expectations are for myself, because when I first read the categories I thought “oh I have done much lately.” Then I realized that I had actually done A LOT!! I’m especially proud of my community food security project because WE PLANTED A FRUIT TREE AT THE HOME OF EVERY KIDS IN THE ENTIRE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!
Plant– 5 plum trees and 5 cherry trees on my farm
Harvest– nettles, Virginia Waterleaf, dandelions, spring onion
Preserve– froze some sauted nettles
Reduce Waste– using up the last of the cold storage apples (boiling down with a bit of water and cinnamon and cooking into oatmeal for breakfast)
Food Storage and Security– took a class on eating the wild greens that grow in our area, as a group cooked a most amazing meal with all edible greens from the fields and woods. (write up on my blog)
Community Food Security– worked with the Foodshelf, the University, the Community Service club to plant a fruit tree at the home of every elementary kid in the school district (50 miles wide!). This was a great project and the community seems really proud that we pulled it off!! There are a couple hundred more fruit trees in our rural, isolated area now. Sharon- if you hadn’t had this challenge I would have just crossed this off my to-do list and never really paused to celebrate this accomplishment.
Wow! I feel pretty good.
Kathy
Kathy: AWESOME week. The fruit trees for the kids is one of the coolest things I have seen in a while.
Not being from the Northeast, I’m not familiar with the Saver store that you mentioned, Sharon. Is this a locally-owned store?
Cathy, Savers is a “thrift department store.” Think Value Village, if you have those where you live.
Here is my blog post on the ID update.
Lots of fun!
I actually did it, being deadline impaired, I’m shocked. I put it all up on my blog, permalink is http://rebelpigs.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/week-1-indepedence-day-challenge/
Sort of a rough week for gardening here too. It’s been rainy and now it’s cold and rainy. I’m in the middle of a major work deadline (which seems to mean round the clock) AND in the middle of last week, I stepped on a book that someone left on the steps and took a bad fall, resulting in enough little sprains to ankle and wrist areas to make gardening and some cooking impractical.
Plant something: pampered my tomato, basil and other indoor seedlings since I couldn’t pot them on, monitored the outside plantings for rain and squirrel interventions. Started another pineapple top in water.
Harvest something: sage, tarragon, onion greens, red and green leaf lettuce for sandwiches
Preserve something: dried orange peel
Reduce waste: working on eating down the freezer, making it a personal habit to hold the banister so I won’t waste my body and time, . . . and a household and office rule, not to put stuff on stair. Working on reducing the number of dishes we use during the day so that we run the D/W less — my partner’s idea, he’s learning. Contacted our coffee supplier to check the compostable status of its bags (sadly not good news).
Prep and storage: some flu prep stuff (keeps my partner happy) and found a source for Pleo batteries (our electronic pet’s manufacturer is in liquidation bankruptcy and we’re hooked)
Community food systems: shopped the first farmer’s market of the year, good to see our farmer friends again and get some fresh green stuff; contributed from my food storage to the town’s church-sponsored food drive; talked gardening with my mom (she calls what I do “farming,” moms are so nice).
Eat: not something we have a big problem with here. Apart from the farmer’s market and our neighborhood bakery, we didn’t shop for food this week which is a victory. Tasted a violet leaf.
Finally, the first potatoes are in. We had a nice warm stretch of planting weather last week and the rest of life did not cooperate. Yesterday, I planted the potatoes. That’s my new motto, “plant potatoes anyway.” Also got the garlic in.
Overwintered leeks and volunteer kale, the spring staples, are still providing daily meals. Kale and leek fritata, K & L in bean soup, K & L sauteed with hoarded garlic and leftover rice.. The bok choi and everything else in the winter garden bed bolted and made a fabulous display. There isn’t much other bee forage except the dandelions in the lawn, so I’m leaving the mass of yellow for now.
Woefully behind in preparation. Doing very well with the eating part. Ate the last winter squash.
Yogurt cheese making is improving. It’s still too soft and runny, despite hanging 36 hours. Perhaps Leila has some hints. I put up some small balls of gooey yogurt cheese in oil flavored with peppercorns and rosemary, anyway.
We ran out of harrissa, salsa and chili sauce again this winter. I broke down and bought some fat brown onions from California. The local onions run out or go soft by April. The onion gap is an unsolved problem. The leeks readily self-seed and the volunteers can be transplanted in the spring. The cipollini and red torpedo onions that I grow because I am too cheap to buy them have so far failed to set seed.
The veggie start business is puttering along. I’m working at it harder this year. I have fewer projects in the formal economy, no surprise there. In good years, the start business funds my gardening tikkun olam, with enough left over to pay for some fancy medicinal herb seed for my own garden. So far this year, I gave away lots of seeds and starts and am still showing a wee profit.
Shira in Bellingham, WA
Ooo, sign me up for it. I’ll post it on my blog for my Tuesday post! Coastal Virginia
Plant something–Basil. It has been wet here, and so we’ve not been planting tons
Harvest something–thinned butterhead lettuce, spinach and beets for a few salads.
Preserve something–nothing this week
Reduce waste–continued recycling with church and home, composting
Prep and storage–Added black beans to longer term storage
Community food systems–taught Couponing in Critical Times class, booked for at least one more class at end of May, began blog to teach others about food storage and increased self sufficiency, at least in part through use of coupons
Eat–enjoyed salads from the garden, having venison tenderloin from freezer tonight
Plant something: Cucumber and melons (under cover), kale, arugla (sp), soy beans, beets, carrots, parsnips, transplanted (in greenhouse) tomatoes, eggplant, peppers (hot and sweet), already had planted (so I remember what all I’ve got going) potatoes, garlic, shallots, lentils (they are up!!!), peas, dill, herbs, and I’m sure I’m missing some…
Harvest something: green onions, oregano
Preserve something: nothing new, working on vanilla extract.
Reduce Waste: researched how to compost citrus (slowly, small amount at a time, or wait until they are rotten) and set aside a specific place for citrus composting (we found a 3lb. bag of organic lemons for $1 at a local bargain store)
Preparation and Storage: “tested” car kit – made necessary additions, need to return it to the car… I’ll do that when I’m done here. Worked on menu planning/determining how much of what to plant, didn’t get far.
Build Community Food Systems – Planted edible flowers and vegetables with local kids in raised beds at their apartment complex, we discussed how plants grow, what’s important for growth, and why we should grow even just a few of our own. This is an ongoing project I’m working on, a community garden (and one set of raised beds) run by the kiddos (K-10) that live in the apartment complexes (that are specifically for families who earn a significant part of their income from “migrant” labor), if anyone has any ideas, links, or suggestions, please let me know (comment on my blog… wherever you feel inclined)…
Eat the Food – made beans (vice opening a can of ‘em), cleaned out the fridge, insisted on leftovers versus cooking again, made “Jordan Surprise,” a family dish with a very precise recipe: use what’s in the fridge/pantry that needs used, and make it taste halfway decent.
–Erika
Plant something:
beans and squash
Harvest something:
lettuce and chickweed
Didn’t do so well on the rest.
Plant something – direct sowed nasturtiums, parsnips, beets, chard, early potatoes; started indoors: leeks, onions, shallots, melons, basil; transplanted: kale, leeks, sunflowers, some flowers
Harvest something – herbs, arugula, lettuce, mustard greens. For the hens: dandelion, pepper cress, mustard greens, prickly lettuce, comfrey
Preserve something – baked quite a bit of bread while the weather is still cool-ish. Froze a lot of the stuff.
Reduce Waste – still using envelopes from bills and junkmail for my to do lists.
Preparation and Storage – Got a shopping list for bulk dry goods to pick up tomorrow. Lots of garden prep.
Build Community Food Systems – nada this week
Eat the Food – found a good use for the pumpkin I dehydrated last year. I chopped it and added fresh sage from the garden, plus some cream and parmesan for a delicious pasta topping.
Very busy week. Just posted my Independence Days Update here.
First hard frost of the season here………..for once the weather forecasters were actually right, so I had some warning.
Harvested: Picked every remaining tomato with a hint of red on it. I still need to check out the remaining green beans and salvage what I can from them. Also picked most of the remaining dried beans before they split on the vine. Currently collecting chickweed and puha for the chickens.
Planted: Leek, cabbage and chard seedlings. Also some elephant garlic, even though it is the wrong time of year a discarded head was putting down roots in the garden.
Prep and storage: Stocked up on pasta and rolled oats, and local meat from the Farmer’s Market. Also started adding a few extra items to the weekly shop to stock up on cold remedies – usually when a cold hits we find there’s no cough lozenges etc. in the house, then you have to make a special shopping trip when you least feel like it. Also the supermarket tends to run out of the more popular brands during flu season. So last week it was Panadol and throat lozenges, next week tissues.
Eat the food: Cooked beef brisket for the first time, another triumph for the new slow cooker
Have also noticed that the slow cooker does a good job keeping the kitchen warm when I run it all day. I may just move it around whichever room we want to heat in the future
My husband’s job has moved from NJ to Boston, MA. After 16 years in our current house, we have to move. I’d love to participate in the challenge but things like planting don’t make sense now. I have cut down on buying anything new (since January) except for kid’s shoes.
I’ve been keeping a blog about our moving experience. If you’d like to check it out look for a post from late February that details many of the environmental advances we had made in the house that we will leave behind.
But we will take our good habits with us.
So, here’s our list for week two of the Independence Days Challenge:
Plant Something:
Weeded and cleared in the garden. Turned over a few beds. Planted chard, marigolds and more lettuce outside and seeded a large array of seeds in the basement…tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, eggplant, kale, broccoli, basil, flowers, etc.
Harvest Something:
Harvested our last asparagus – year two, pick a few. Also harvested our first rhubarb, more chives, some overwintered sage, thyme and oregano.
Preserve Something:
Picked some herbs for drying. Must set up some drying lines on the front porch or in the pantry.
Reduce Waste:
Used egg cartons and toilet paper tubes cut in half for seeding cells in trays. Much better than spending money on peat pots.
Preparation and Storage:
Uploaded Open Office to my home computer to put our food storage, shopping and inventory lists on a database for easy sorting, creation of shopping lists and storage.
Build Community Food Systems:
Talked with the green team at work about building some raised beds at the office.
Eat the Food:
Baked a honey rhubarb coffee cake with the first of the rhubarb, used some of the freshly picked herbs in a big pot of beef stock I made from beef bones frozen after a meal last week. Used the last of the asparagus with home-made sourdough and cheese for a delicious pizza.
I harvested Japanese Knotweed and started a batch of wine with it. Met with friends who welped with the wine and ate bishop’s weed (yummy) pickled ramps, (double yummy) and pickled milkweed seed pods (triple yummy) I have been gathering fiddleheads and looking for a recioe for pickling them. Eating a lot of great salad greens and lambs quarters. I dried some organic lemons that my daughter left behind. Prepped by purchasing some wine making supplies.
my week started out great then sizzled out when it started raining…
http://fieldoftansy.blogspot.com/2009/05/independence-days-year-2-week-1.html
I updated here last week but I’ll put a post up on my blog later today. It’s been a busy week here in Iowa.
Saltwort? Is that the salicornia that I find in the salt marsh in Rhode Island. It’s quite tasty and I never knew it was cultivated. Too scarce around here to harvest but it makes a pleasant nibble.
Plant/grow something: Made (and ate) yogurt
Harvest something/eat the food: Ate a backyard salad, and put our chillies in just about everything.
Prep/store something: Stocked up on winter medical supplies (including handwash, eyebath & thermometer). Bought 2nd hand copy of ‘The Mediterranean Pantry’.
Bought a case of organic Aus wine direct from the grower (who isn’t exactly 100mile local but is as close as I can get for good local organic wine at present).
Also bought a Diggers Club membership, seeds, and seaweed powder for the garden.
Cook something new: Made a roast beetroot, walnut & spinach risotto.
Reduce waste: Made borscht from the rest of the beetroots & beet greens, continued bokashi-ing, put leftover bubblewrap (from our move) on Freecycle.
Hi everyone – this is my first post – I’ve been following your site for a while, Sharon , and really enjoying it – I love your positivity! Its so easy to get paralysed by the enormity of the whole peak oil, global warming thing – you made me realise that our small actions do count. Anyway – here’s my report
Plant something – chives, radish, broccoli, lettuce, pak choy
Harvest something – okra, silverbeet, carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes
Preserve something – stored potatoes and pumpkin, froze some eggs with sugar
Reduce waste – sewed buttons on my pyjamas, added weather strips to a door with a gap. We’re trying not to use our underfloor heating this year (uses a LOT of power) so have installed a slow combustion stove that we can also cook on top of, to complement our open fire. The open fire has a shaped firebox to increase efficiency but still nowhere near as efficient as the new fire. Also trying to get husband and son to put on more clothes if they’re cold – its nearly down to freezing at night here now. We have our own timber from clearing some trees years ago so the wood for the fires is just down the paddock
Preparation and storage – bought more rice, tinned beans, tinned peaches, pasta, rolled oats. Also paracetamol, ibuprofen, throat lozengers, cold and flu tablets, sanitizing hand wash and wipes – just in case the flu hits here. Put together a emergency kit for son’s car (we already have one in ours) – so far it has first aid kit, glow stick, torch, and one of those shiny blankets.
Build community food systems – brought home some leftovers from a friend’s catering business – we play tennis every Monday and people often bring excess produce to share.
Eat the food – baked a sourdough loaf – I’ve nearly got the starter right. used tinned beans, okra, carrots in my satay chicken and rice dish. Also baked anzac cookies and shortbread cookies – instead of bought ones.
I havent signed up yet, but will after I post. I’m in a weird position, as we are straddling two states. I’m still living in phoenix, AZ and my hubby has already relocated to our new home in Florida…near family. We are native Floridians and the desert is just not sustainable. Gardening in the desert is difficult if you also work fulltime and have a toddler.
Harvest something…2 sad little tomatoes from the phoenix garden.
Plant something. The 36 sweet potato vines arrived and hubby planted in our SW florida garden.
Preserve something..nothing. : ( We have been in limbo, so no current gardens. althought next week, the local farm will have peaches ready, u pick.
Reduce: Received approval to work from home…in Florida. This is a huge deal, since I’m the only one that will be out of state…arizona state! This means hubby and I will both be working from home and will have a zero mile commute. In phoenix, I currently commute 78 miles a day! Yes, its a prius, but its still bad, so by middle of june, that will be down to zero. so, although i’m still commuting, the approval happened this week, after 8 months of “negotiations,” so I’m counting it. ; )
Prep/storage. Bought an 1100 gallon water tank for the florida house, will hook up for rainwater catchment. The rainy season is coming.
Build community: Gave 3 containers of PB, 2 cans of tuna, one can of sardines, some soup and veggies to the local food bank…collection boxes at work.
Eat the food. peanut butter, and mac and cheese. Rice and beans.
Rats – I didn’t do too well….
Planted some marigolds
Harvested – nothing
Prepped – not much other than stocking up on staples at the store and Vitamins!
Preserved – nothing
Eat the food – finished leftovers in the fridge…
I have to get better about making more effort
Letsee….
Plant something: Drip drop….been so rainy here, but I think I planted the lettuce and carrots last week. (In the past month I’ve planted 2 elders, 2 goumi, one cherry, one nectarine, 10 raspberries, a kiwi duo, gooseberry, currant, grape, and 25 strawberries. More to go, but my poor li’l bareroots are waiting for a drier day.)
Harvest: dandelion greens, mustard greens, chard, arugula, lettuce, chickweed, parsley, and bolted radish flowers
Prepped: getting big order together for our first Azure Standard shipment, and working on emergency supply lists & first aid
Preserved: dried rosemary, oregano, and spearmint for teas
Eat: the greens all went directly on toast or pasta, or were direct-grazed.
Community: helping start a local food-buying club, talking up gardening with neighbors.
I think I’d better start writing this stuff down, ’cause even a little at a time gets to be a lot to remember….(I guess that’s the point, huh?)
This week and weekend were all about the unpacking. House is now approaching liveable, and we have a few weeks before the first set of visitors arrives which gives us just enough time to sort out the spare/box/junk room. One obstacle to gardening is the fact that we don’t have a key for the back door of the new house – hopefully we’ll replace the lock this week!
Planted something – a compost bin (well, it involved digging, placing in the ground and backfilling)
Harvested something – the last of the basil
Preserved something – stewed quinces ready to cook down into quince paste tonight
Reduce waste – fail. Did a major hardware shop and bought a new washing machine (choosen for energy and water efficiency) so that might be less waste down the track, but not now.
Preparation and storage – maybe the hardware counts here? Also ordered strawberries, raspberries, thornless blackberries and some seeds.
Build community food systems – got a load of jars from a friend with a promise to return some filled ones later on. Spoke to a work colleague about getting rhubarb from her garden to grow in ours.
Eat the food – Rogan josh from scratch on Saturday (small indent in the frozen lamb); Basil, garlic and cheese tortellini from scratch on Sunday (last of the fresh basil); BB made borscht last night (used half the excess beetroot).
Posted update on my blog, Farm Natters. Glad to see so many folks joining in on the fun!
I’ve been following your blog for a while (and love it! I’ll echo mudgeefarmgirl- your positivity is refreshing, and inspiring) and am finally jumping in with this challenge.
Plant something: Cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, pumpkins, zucchini, zinnias, sunflowers.
Prep/Storage: The recent swine flu buzz has been somewhat of a wake-up call/what if? moment for me, and I did a lot of taking inventory and prep last week. Was happy to realize that I had ~6 weeks’ worth of food/supplies already on hand. Added more canned tuna, rice, peanut butter, oil, salt, baking soda, and pineapple to the food storage; hydrogen peroxide, bandages, vitamins/herbals to the first aid kit; and happily stumbled upon a bunch of wind-up and solar LED flashlights and headlamps on clearance at Target and bought those.
Community Food Systems: Everything I planted was from local growers, and was planted in a plot in a community garden! Also picked up my first bunch of produce from the CSA last week.
Eat the food: Have been obsessively eating radishes, carrots, salad turnips, and greens from the CSA. It never ceases to amaze me how much BETTER fresh, local produce tastes than even the fancy organic stuff from the supermarket.
Stumbled upon your website, with relief. The flu scare sent me looking for info on how to prepare, which led naturally to many, many sites on preparation and the many ways the world is nearly at an end.
The prep info at these sites is useful to a newcomer, but the end result of visiting all those sites has been frustration and depression – not because I think the world is ending, but because I couldn’t find anyone who believed in emergency preparation but was still committed to a rational, responsible, and still optimistic response to threats. This site is refreshing.
Plant something: Bought a few packets of seeds to fill in where some cucumber plants didn’t make it, parsely is going to seed and cilantro is about finished.
Harvest something: cherry tomatoes and herbs
Preserve something: froze all the leftovers, besides raw fruit and vegetables, that weren’t taken home by guests after a party
Reduce waste: packaged all the leftover raw veggies together and all the leftover fruit together and ate it all up by grazing over two days.
Prep and storage: drugstore had a lot of things on clearance, so stored a dozen bottles of baby aspirin, aseptically packaged salmon and pasta sauces, acetamenophin, benadryl, aluminum foil, etc.
Eat: served tomatoes and herbs from the garden at the party
1. Plant something – We planted a dwarf plum tree and a crabapple tree. We got the crabapple for free when we participated in the local river cleanup. I’m wondering if I could graft apple branches to the crabapple when it’s older.
2. Harvest something – I picked our first stalk of asparagus this weekend. Hopefully next week we’ll have more.
3. Preserve something – Nothing yet, but I have plans to dry herbs this week.
4. Reduce waste – I put up the clothes line again, and I’ve started drying clothes outside with it.
5. Preparation and Storage – My DH is checking to see if we can get old pallets to make a fence for our yard. This has become increasingly important because of the kids that hop the low fence we have now and wreak havoc in our garden. I picked up a bunch of spring clothes for my oldest when I was thrifting.
6. Build Community Food Systems – Nothing yet, though I’m planning a vermicomposting workshop with some friends for later in the summer.
7. Eat the Food – I’ve discovered the wonder of pureed foods. My kids will eat all kinds of greens if I cook and puree them and use that as pasta sauce. Sometimes I make a simple roux and then add the pureed greens to that with a little milk if I want it creamier. Also, I’ve started making smoothies with older fruit, or fruit that wasn’t popular with them, like melon. We’re wasting a lot less food now and the family is eating a lot more greens. My new favorite is making a fritatta with pureed spinach in it. It turns the fritatta a lovely greeen color, so all we need is the green ham and we’re set!
oops.. I have to amend my post.
In the storage/prep section…Forgot that my hubby sealed the dry milk and rice in mylar bags in 5 gallon buckets, and put the whole wheat and beans in buckets. With the high humidity in florida, this was a priority!
In South-Western Ontario…
1. Plant something – from seed: radishes, carrots, lettuce, peas, spinach, beets, chard
2. Harvest something – mint that has just started to pop up
4. Reduce waste – Overhauled and re-organized my pantry and took stock of everything, checked expiry dates and organized accordingly so nothing goes to waste. Also hung laundry out to dry, now that nicer weather has finally arrived.
5. Preparation and Storage – Picked up some extra prescription medication to add to my stores – took stock of what I have so far, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I have about 8 months of medication stored. We’re also looking into beekeeping, which we hope to start in the next month or so.
6. Build Community Food Systems – Connected with a group of local aspiring beekeepers, with whom we plan to form a beekeeping co-op to offer support and equipment sharing.
7. Eat the Food – I’ve been eating oats from storage for breakfast for the last week. Made spaghetti sauce tonight using tomatoes that we canned last summer, as well as organic ground beef from a local farm where we purchase our meat.
Plant something: Not this week, but we did put rabbit fencing over the top of the compost bin to try to keep one of the dogs from climbing inside and eating compost and poisoning himself. (It didn’t entirely work; the effort continues …)
Harvest something: Lilac blossoms. I’m planning to make jelly, and maybe scented sugar, or vinegar, or something. It’s my first time doing anything edible with lilacs.
Eggs from local farmer. Vegetables from local CSA; too many so shared some with a friend.
Preserve something: No
Prep/storage: elderberry syrup; a few more items for the emergency box and pantry.
Husband continued massive garage-cleaning effort; put several items in my car for the building supplies restore and the thrift store.
Got out a library book on home herbal remedies.
Community food systems: Wrote a news story about the community garden expanding. And another about the county receiving federal funds for emergency food.
Eat the food: Made a pot pie and tofu dumplings both using vegetables from CSA basket, and leeks from the garden.
Plant: Cucumbers, Pumpkin, Arugula, Alpine Strawberries, Sunflowers, CA Poppies, Lilies…so much has been planted over the last few weeks that I’m not sure what went in when, but these just went in the ground yesterday.
Harvest: Radishes, Collards, Mustard Greens, Chinese Mustard, Spinach, and gave lots of dandelions to the chickens. Did a ton of weeding and most of it got either eaten or scratched through by the chickens.
Reduce: Discovered the chickens *love* their own egg shells. (So far this has not resulted in them trying to get into their eggs on their own…) Need more compost bins. Just made a deal with my ex to obtain a concertina from him for a friend’s birthday. Ex hasn’t used it since I bought it for him 10+ years ago, but my friend will use it and love it! Bought my brother an airline gift certificate for his birthday, thus avoiding another gift of useless “stuff” and hopefully getting him closer to coming to visit me. The carbon footprint can’t be avoided, unless I never see him again.
Prep: Learning to knit! Ordered wall o’waters for my tomato plants. Absolute must around here.
Eat: Made a quiche with all my eggs. Trying to eat less meat, not only because it’ll force me into eating more veggies, but because I don’t want to eat any factory-farmed meat. At home I aim for the local and humane — and don’t always succeed — or none at all, but I’ve been ordering whatever they have at restaurants and lord knows the local chinese, indian, thai places I frequent are likely buying the factory-farmed.
Community food: Gave 6 eggs to a friend. Spreading the love of the backyard chicken. Spread the word on the neighborhood blog about a new local restaurant that has great food and delivers by bike
Preserve: Nothing.
Plant something – Chard and kale in a pot on my windowsill.
Harvest something – Well… I’m going to count the local vegetables I buy – farmer’s markets wouldn’t exist without customers! So – spinach, asparagus, ramps, kale, parsnips and onions (storage, of course)
Preserve something – not this week.
Reduce waste – There’s a group that collects compostable stuff at Greenmarket. We’ve recently started bringing over our vegetable scraps and coffee grounds.
Preparation and storage – I keep a list (in a to-do list!) of fresh food, and another of things in the freezer. Used it. Got 14 lbs. of soybeans (I make my own soymilk.)
Community food systems – well, not local community, but I was asked to be moderator/contributor on an email list designed to teach people starting to learn to cook. It’s for people leaving prepared foods behind (for a medical reason, so it’s not fully a choice for all) and learning to cook nutritious meals from scratch.
Eat something – mmm… sauteed ramps and asparagus… Lentil soup.
New York, NY
I’m so excited to get started … again
. What fun! I posted my update on my blog.
And, Sharon, I hope Maine was good to you. I was disappointed to miss your talk on Saturday
.
Here’s the link to this week’s update on my wiki: http://smallvictoriesgreen.wetpaint.com/page/May+04+09
Took the kayak out on the water for the first time this year with a friend. Yipee!
from a ridge in northern Mendocino county, Cali
Harvested: Red Clover (super abundant this year), lettuce, arugula, parsley, sweet peas (just a few, they’re so fragrant), rosemary, sage.
Planted: replaced what got hit by frost (tomatoes, romano beans), red leaf lettuce, squash, cukes, and more tomatoes.
Maintenance: fertilized everything including fruit trees, all flowers and roses, and the up and comers in the veggie garden. Weeded, endlessly. A real battle — terrible invasive species of star thistle. Groomed fruit trees giving them lots of attention.
Preparation & Storage: drying red clover heads. Inventoried jar stock. Got more tools: small pitchfork (shades of true Americana), upgraded hoe. Sharpened machete for weeds.
Community food system: emptied old grains/beans/etc out in meadow for birds, etc. Gave neighbor some lettuce.
Eat the food: super yummy salads. Used rosemary, red clover, and thyme in the bath. A great soak!
I found this blog via The Automatic Earth blog. I loved reading the thread — so great to know we’re *out there* doing this. Thank you.
Plant something:
2 apple trees, 1 pecan, lemon balm, rosemary, lavender, nicotinia, dianthus, petunias
Harvest something:
lettuce, chard, fennel, cabbage, chickweed, poke root, yellow dock root, dandelions
Preserve something:
dandelion tincture
Reduce Waste:
fed ducklings old greens
Preparation and Storage: sorted root cellar goods
Build Community Food Systems: shared about
permaculture to friends
Eat the Food: … what, we’re supposed to be eating what we grow??
oh no!
I was actually reasonably busy this week! I have chronicled it on my blog…