Independence Days – Year III
Sharon March 1st, 2010
Many of us need nothing in the world so much as more time. Adding new projects is exhausting – and stressful. And yet, we know that there are things we want to change – for example, most of us would like to grow a garden with our kids, or make sure that we know where our food comes from. We’d like to live in communities with a greater measure of food security, we’d like to know more about what we’re eating. We’d like to have more contact with nature, we’d like to be more self-sufficient. We’d like to have better food at lower cost, we’d like to have a reserve for an emergency or to share. We’d like to do more in our community and to eat with one another. We’d like to sit down to a home cooked meal more often.
We want these things but we don’t know how to get them, in large part because when we think about growing a garden or preserving food, or working in our community, we imagine we must allot large chunks of our time. We imagine it is impossible – because we know we can’t pull hours every day out of our frantic schedules.
But what if we didn’t have to? That’s what the Independence Days Challenge encourages all of us – busy working families and farmers, city dwellers and suburbanites and country folk – to remember. That is, it isn’t all or nothing, we don’t have to wait until we have a whole afternoon free or are on vacation. What if we could do it gradually, just a little bit every day or week – what if we only had to plant our few seeds today, and tomorrow, pull a couple of weeds and harvest two salads, and the next day make three jars of jam?
What’s amazing about this is how fast it adds up – a few minutes here and there turn into a much greater degree of self-sufficiency. I know this because I’ve been doing it for two years as part of the Independence Days challenge. And I know it works for people like me, who farm and for whom growing and canning and harvesting are part of everyday life, and I know it works for people in the city who may have no garden space at all but a few window boxes but can still preserve some of their own when it is plentiful, reduce their waste and work at community-level food security. No matter how much you are able to do, doing a little when you’ve got a few minutes makes the critical difference.
Does this stuff really matter? Is it worth your time? I think so – as I wrote in my book _Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage and Preservation_,
“All of us need to devote some energy to fighting battles that will probably be lost, simply because we have an obligation to fight the good fight. But most of us can’t live on a steady diet of tilting at windmills. We also need to do work where we know we can accomplish something and where we know we matter. That’s why I think food preservation and storage matter so much. Ultimately, we are talking not only about the fairly manageable question of what to have for dinner, but also about about transforming our society, our use of energy, our food culture, and, of course our culture as a whole.”
Today is March 1 and the beginning of a new year in Independence Days Challenges – my third time doing this challenge. I have a lot of new readers these days, a lot of people who are reluctant to join up in the middle, so it is time to start afresh.
What is the Independence Days Challenge? The name and the inspiration came from the late, great Carla Emery, who I was lucky enough to have as a friend. She was the author of _The Encyclopedia of Country Living_ which was her way of preserving lost knowledge about how to grow, harvest, cook and preserve. She saw the traditional ways disappearing, and she recorded them, and built upon them until by reading her book you can learn to make a BLT that starts with a piglet, a tomato seed and a field of wheat.
She wrote about Independence Days:
“All spring I try to plant something every day – from late February, when the early peas and spinach and garlic can go in, on up to midsummer, when the main potato crop and the late beans and lettuce go in. Then I switch over and make it my rule to try and get something put away for the winter every single day. That lastas until the pumpkins and sunflowers and late squash and green tomatoes are in. Then comes the struggle to get the most out of the stored food – all winter long. It has to be checked regularly, and you’ll need to add to that day’s menu anything that’s on the verge of spoiling, wilting or otherwise becoming useless.
….
People have to choose what they are going to struggle for. Life is always a struggle, whether or not you’re struggling for anything worthwhile, so it might as well be for something worthwhile. Independence days are worth struggling for. They’re good for me, good for the country and good for growing children.”
Carla reminded me that I don’t have to plan a weekend with my canning kettle to make jam, that I don’t have to spend all my time at the community food center to make a difference there. And I found that when I sat down and tallied up everything I accomplished in each season of the year, I was doing more than I thought I was. And you will too.
So how does it work? Well, first of all, you can take that awesome image that Robj kindly made for us, and put it up on your blog or website to let people know about the challenge. Second of all, all you have to do to sign up is to post in comments here that you are joining in – and if you can’t start today, well, join in later!
Then, just once a week (or when you get to it) commit to writing down what you’ve accomplished. You can post it in comments here at the blog, or you can put it up on your blog and include a link. That’s pretty much all there is to it. The only rule is this – don’t tell us what you didn’t do. Don’t compare yourself to everyone else. Don’t look and say “but I never…” Because the reality is that it is always easy to see where you didn’t do things, or to see where you haven’t done enough, and that blinds us to what we have accomplished. This is about our successes.
What actions count? Well, we’ve got seven categories here, and anything you deem to fit counts as an accomplishment. Here are the categories:
1. Plant something – This is obviously something that many of us are doing now anyway, but it should be a reminder that gardening isn’t “put in the garden on memorial day and that’s it” – most of us can grow over a longer season than we do, and enjoy fresh foods grown through spring, summer and fall, and even into or through winter in many places. Even if you live in an apartment, you can sprout seeds. So keep on planting!
2. Harvest something - Folks in the Southern Hemisphere are doing this full swing, but as soon as you pick the first dandelion from your yard, it counts if you ate it or preserved it. Don’t forget to include food you forage – whether from wild marginal areas, or even just from the neighbor’s trees that he never harvests (ask, obviously).
3. Preserve something – For me this starts as soon as the asparagus, nettles and rhubarb are up. Canning looks like a big scary project if you have to can a truckload of green beans on a hot day in July. Dehydrating seems overwhelming if you have to pick the pits out of 4 bushels of plums in a single afternoon when you’d rather be doing something else. And yes, sometimes everything comes ripe at once, some big jobs can’t be avoided, and you just put on the loud rock and roll and go at it. But a little at a time is possible, you can be canning corn relish while you are washing up from dinner, or stick the strawberries in the sun to dry on your way out the door. Natural cool storage can take two minutes. Starting a batch of pickles takes five. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming – and it is a way to preserve what is plentiful, inexpensive, delicious and healthy for a time when there is less of it.
4. Waste Not– Once you’ve got food, whether purchased or home preserved, you have to keep an eye on it – we waste nearly half of all food, much of it in our homes. In this category goes making sure you use what you buy or grow, cutting down on garbage production by minimizing packaging and purchasing, composting, reducing community waste by composting or feeding scraps to your animals, and taking care of your food storage – everything from keeping records and writing dates on jars to checking the apples and making sauce when they start getting soft. BTW, reduce waste also refers to money and energy – stretching out your trips to the store and not “spending” gas on your food, cutting your grocery budget and reducing cooking energy. These are things that are good for the planet and good for all of us.
5. Want Not – This is the category where you report the stuff you’ve done to get ready that isn’t growing/storing/preserving food. That means the food you buy for storage, the things you build, scavenge, rescue and repair that get you further down the path. Did you get a good deal at goodwill? Biu om bulk or with coupons? Scavenge some cinder blocks for your raised bed building project? Share with a neighbor? Find a grain mill on Craigslist? Buy some more rice and put it away? Inventory the medicine cabinet? Pick up a new book that will be helpful? Tell us! The reality is that every nation, every government agency concerned with the security of its citizens, assumes that most people will be able to handle a short term emergency or service disruption themselves – but most of us can’t. There are people who simply can’t prepare – they lack the ability to do so. But if you aren’t one of them – if you can do even a little, you can make sure that when help is offered, it goes to the people who truly need it. Moreover, you can make sure you are there and able to help others when it is needed.
6. Build Community Food Systems – Great, we’re all doing this stuff at home. But what did you do to help spread the message, because that may even be more important. Did you talk about your victory garden at your kid’s school? Offer to share space with a neighbor in your sunny yard?
Pick up some groceries for a neighbor who doesn’t drive anymore? Bring a casserole over to the family that lost their job or moved in? Donate to your food pantry? Teach the neighbor kids to make yogurt? Offer to teach a canning class? Show someone else where the nettles are growing wild? Talk about your food storage or gardening plans? Share a plant division or seeds? Help out with the food pantry garden? Give a talk about the importance of small local farms? Run for your zoning board? The first line of security for all of us is each other – we are all enriched by a more food-secure community.
7. Eat the Food – Sometimes I think people have more trouble actually eating their garden produce or CSA shares than they do growing or buying them. Ultimately, eaters have more power over our agricultural future than they know – farmers can’t necessarily lead the way – they have to sell what eaters want. So cooking and eating are the way we will change the food system. This is where you tell us about the new recipes you tried, or the old ones you adapted to new ingredients, about how you are actually eating what you store and store what you eat, or getting your kids to try the kale.
Welcome to year three!!!!
Sharon
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- Comments(68)
Sign me up! I loved doing the Independence Days Challenge last year, and I’ve already got my leek seeds started for this year, so I’m ready to go! It’s so great to know that there’s a whole community of people I can share my challenges with and learn from. Thanks Sharon!
I’m in. Today is breeding day for the rabbits. Given that, go figure on the doe that gave birth to 7 kits last night! (cage limitations kept her with her brother too long, oops!)
Time to go take pictures to add to my own blog!
I will try to participate as much as I possibly can this year.
I need to write down your category definitions somewhere, though, ’cause I always forget what “want not” especially entails.
Sadly, I don’t really have the room in the right places to start any of my veggies inside.
If I started them in the one room in the house that gets enough sun, the cats would decide they are “salad” and have at. I’m pretty sure that using grow lights is a little against the spirit of the thing, so the basement is out. But I can sure try my hardest to actually get lettuce/greens planted early this year, and am already planning on constructing at least one raised bed box — that way I can maybe keep BOTH the carrots and the morning glories. 
Looking forward to reading these again this year — while I don’t have the room/sun many of you do, I sure enjoy hearing about and being inspired by others’ adventures in independence!
I’m in again, continuing from last year, actually. In the past week I’ve already started about 45 different types of seeds in flats for this year’s veggie and herb gardens. Some of the seeds have even germinated! There is hope for spring yet!
Also made a pumpkin pie from one of last fall’s pumpkins, and used the excess pumpkin pie filling and egg whites in this morning’s muffins. Both the pie and muffins were excellent! I saved the pumpkin seeds for later eating. Plus last week I roasted (in our sun oven) saved squash seeds from last year’s squash harvest. I put a little salt on the seeds before roasting, nothing else. Delicious!
I’m in! I’ve got seeds sprouting, my canning jars are slowly emptying, and I’ll be in a new house in a new town in 3 weeks!
Baby Rowen is excited, hubby Dave is at least resigned.
-Jennie
I’m in again… last year I started late, so it’s going to be fun to be in from the beginning this year.
This year I’m going to be more consistent. I’m definitely in. What I’m writing here is a bit of a cheat because it includes seeds that I started two weeks ago. And a lot of this is actually my husbands work as I have broken my leg (well, kneecap, but it sounds way better to say leg) and I’m not allowed to walk yet. Puts a damper on some things. I’m now management
Plant something: leeks, onions (early eating batch, yellow, red, bunching), celery, celeriac; rose campion, early experiment of broccoli and cabbage because it is such a freakishly warm year; managed to prune roses and thin raspberries by sitting on my butt
Harvest something: Harvested baby bok choi overwintered in a cold frame but they wilted before supper so didn’t eat them
Preserved something: Nope
Waste not:Combining trips to physio with all other errands to minimize gas consumption; the usual composting, feeding some scraps to the chickens
Want not: Got some nice jeans and a sweater and gardening jacket at the thrift store – jeans are a great buy there
Build Community Food Systems: Not really, other than share my gardening excitement ad nauseum with my friends and family
Eat the food: veggie chili starring our homegrown black beans and kidney beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, oregano, basil, garlic, dried zucchini; tons of eggs cooked every way; baked squash, green beans; pesto pasta (pesto made last summer); pancakes and cookies made with home-ground ww flour from our CSA share (whoa delicious)
I’m in! This year’s focus is on getting the house ready to sell (a lot of work there!), looking for land, and learning how to start a small farm. Great excitement, and a fair amount of trepidation.
This winter I learned to make candied ginger, which was a lot of fun. Then I learned that, unless you’ve dried it, it does not keep at room temperature. : {
Also been candying organic orange and grapefruit peels; they’re lovely to use in baking. The ginger syrup leftover from the ginger candying process was good stuff, too. I used some of it to make a very hot, but delicious, ginger cinnamon liqueur.
Laurie, I don’t have enough light to start seeds indoors either. And do have the marauding cats. : } I don’t think grow lights violate the spirit of the thing at all — after all, you’re still starting your own.
I’m in, as always.
Goal this week is to get my trees tapped (why have I waited so long?) so the syrup-ing can begin.
I’m in! House Zu’ul will be participating in Independance Days and will hopefully make a difference over the year.
1. Plant something: Planted kale, bright lights chard, cippolini onions, beets, more beets, mixed asian greens and a few other things I can’t remember indoors.
4. Waste not: Am knitting a baby blanket with old baby yarn (originally priced at 60 cents a skein!) bought at a garage sale.
6. Build community: Offered to host a plant/seed exchange party for my garden group
7. Eat the food. The best! Took canned peaches to dinner with Mom and Dad. Made Spaghetti squash with garlic saved from the summer and canned tomatos and tomato sauce. Added dried mint and dried carrot tops (like parsley). All winter long I have enjoyed jam in my yogurt. Gave green tomato mincemeat as hostess gift at a party.
Make that spaghetti sauce, not squash.
I’m in
1. Plant – tom seeds are in a sunny window and are just starting to come up. Edible pod peas are in and broc seeds just planted today in house.
2. Harvest – Dandelion greens, overwintered chard for stir fry.
3. Preserve – due to door of upright freezer being left ajar, making mixed berry jam. Need the freezer space soon anyway, so was spurred into action
4. Waste not…since I had to defrost the freezer anyway, making soups and soup bases, berry pies etc.
5. Storage. Dated and rotated canned goods. Got sloppy about doing that as I bought or canned last year. Renewed my pledge to keep it up better. Bought 100 lbs of hard white wheat berries.
6. Community food systems. After badgering, cajoling, yelling and otherwise being obnoxious, we talked the city into a backyard chicken vote! The ballots went out with our current water bill. Now, plan on being out with my placard and handouts for “getting out the vote”.
7. Eat the food. I don’t know why, but I sometimes treat my stored items as if they were gold or priceless paintings. All the beautiful cans and jars and meat and fruits and vegs in the freezer…so, I have instituted a new rule..shop in my own “store” first. Keep track of what I use so I know how much to replace it with next season.
Sue
I’m in! And I’m commited to keeping better track this year!
[...] Independence Day Challenge. It has not been a full year for me, since I started in 2009, but since Sharon Astyk, the leader of this challenge, is starting her year a little early, I am too. I like to follow along, and her record keeping [...]
count me in. First time this year. (I’m in England despite my username)
planted: cape gooseberries and purple cauliflower
waste not: the usual composting and recycling
want not: promised spare luggage rack off otherwise decrepit bike in our yard to a friend who was about to buy one.
community: instigating our church working towards the eco-congregation award and on Friday will go to a meeting to start something called Grow Zones. I think they plan to work as a team converting team members gardens to vegetable plots.
[...] over at The Chatelaine’s Keys is kicking off year three of the Independence Days Challenge, and this year I’m joining in. [...]
Count me in too – I’ll be posting my updates over on my new blog (first one’s up, I’m so excited!), but I’m sure I’ll be linking to here quite a lot.
I’m in! I’ve been depending on a CSA for many years, but for many reasons will be a little more “independent” in my choices this year– thanks for the encouragement to count all the small successes!
I’m in again. I got started late in the first year and was in last year. I’ve been pretty bad about posting updates recently though. The winter has been so slow.
Thanks for continuing with this challenge. It makes me stop and look at what I’m doing and really think about it.
I’m in.
Lynn M. in Austin, Texas
Maine, Northern York County, Age 62
Plant: nothing yet. Starting tomatos 4/1. Sorting old and new seeds into understandable units in old cardboard boxes. Making lists of every type on sheets of note paper. Planning garden layout. Several changes this year to reflect our desperate love of perennial chicory and our inability to grow some things without high maintenance. We are, however, putting wood ash on the garden, so maybe that’s planting. We’ve converted from oil to wood for heat and get free minerals with it.
Harvest: Would you believe I cut the first grumolo chicories last Friday during our unseasonal flood? We are 5-7 weeks ahead of the season this year. I picked some more today and had a fresh salad for lunch. There will be more tomorrow, as the snow is melting very fast and the ground is getting soft. Also, I picked some Galanthus aka Snowdrops. I have 3 in a lovely little pink shot glass. They have short stems this year, because they are a month early, hence the short shot glass. I will have more tomorrow to display for my piano students. Life doesn’t get any better than salad for lunch and flowers in the studio in March.
Preserve: Cabbages are being chopped and mixed with coleslaw spices, vinegar, and salt and put into giant canning jars in the cold pantry. They will keep for years that way and can be mixed with mayo and fresh brassicas for coleslaw year round. I have an awful craving for raw veggies year round. I gave up temporarily on sauerkraut because my husband is frightened of it. The cold pantry is still full of roots that need to be dried or pickled soon. Also, we are overwhelmed this year with long pie pumpkins and spaghetti squash in the warm pantry that must be dealt with soon.
Waste not: We have a giant graniteware bone pot. All bones go into a freezer until they must be dealt with. Then they go into the pot with lots of cider vinegar and salt, and heated to a rolling boil. Usually the pot goes into the oven for days on warm to process. Then it keeps well in the cold pantry, and we have high mineral broth to add to soups and stews. After lots of reheating, the bones are removed and carefully composted and more bones and vinegar and salt are added. Free calcium, etc, and indescribably satisfying soups.
Want not: I haven’t bought anything for weeks. I don’t get out much this time of year. But I’ve collected seeds from apples and from our highbush cranberries, and I’m drying them to grow for plants. I guess this qualifies.
Build community food systems: Nothing, I’m afraid. Not much going on around here food wise. I just don’t get out much this time of year.
Eat food: Everything we eat now is either home grown or locally grown. Stuff from away is like salt or duck food. It’s been a long, long road. Even my husband doesn’t want to eat restaurant or grocery store food. He says it doesn’t feel like food. This week is ham with apples, shortribs with onion, rutabagas, potatos, coleslaw, and soups or chicory salads for lunch and some kind of duck eggs for breakfast.
I’ve read the Independence Days posts for the last 2 years, but didn’t join. This year I’m in. Like Sharon, I always feel like I need big blocks of time and then when I don’t get them, I’m late doing everything. I really need to be motivated to spend that 1/2 hour here and there, so I’ll give it a shot.
Laura in So Cal
I did this, last year, informally. I’ll try to get my achievements posted, this year. We are well on our way as we had a light winter and there are quite a few items growing in the garden, and we’ve been bottlefeeding a lamb for the last month. My current goal is to get better at finding and using what is naturally in the area…this week: crab, chantrelle mushrooms and stinging nettle! (Looking forward to: elderberry, acorn, more local fish, and quail, if I can bring myself to kill the ones roaming my yard!).
I’m in this year too.
1. Plant something- In flats kale, lettuce, and broccoli. In the greenhouse carrots. In the new aquaponics sun room (woohoo!) strawberries and lettuce. Outside I seeded bare spots in the pasture and planted some soapwort seed.
2. Harvest something- Lettuce, turnip greens, green onions, quail eggs, milk.
3. Preserve- nope
4. Waste not- Trying to work through the taters cause they are starting to sprout.
5. Want not- Bought a couple of well buckets in case the power goes out or our pump dies. Ordered and installed a trailer hitch on our little car so that we can haul more without having to get a truck. Finished converting (using mainly scavenged supplies) the south end of the back porch into a passive solar/ aquaponics room. Which will offer more heat in the winter as well as (hopefully) veggies and fish.
6. Build community food system- I’m starting/dividing some plants for a neighbor.
7. Eat the food- Tater casserole, baked taters, mashed taters…….. Like I said the potatoes need to be used:). Egg fried rice with turnip greens. Fried quail eggs on homegrown wheat bread topped with hollandaise sauce.
We just planted 3 rhubarb crowns and have marked out the new vegetable beds. We finished building last December so there quite a bit of building rubble to be picked out. We have a source for pre-rotted horse/cow manure, it’s about 2 years old, we just need to coordinate with the owner to pick it up. Our apple trees are ready to dig in this weekend as long as it doesn’t rain again.
We have been making our own bread for the last 2 1/2 months both white and wholegrain, that one doesn’t fit into any category but I’m really proud of it
I’ve been trying to source mason jars here in Ireland and finally found a retailer in England that sells them, now I’m waiting to hear whether they will ship them over and how much its going to cost.
Things are moving slowly as everything needs to be fitted around full time jobs and 2 1/2 hour commutes every day, thank goodness for my Mother who is amazing as a resource and someone who works incredibly hard we are very lucky to have 3 generations living in our house, I don’t know what we would do without her.
I’m in. I’ve got onion seeds started in my little indoor greenhouse. Today I’ll be working on the rest of my seed starting schedule. Still snow on the ground here in zone 4b.
I’m in. It’s interesting to see how the incremental approach adds up over time.
I’m in! I’ll post updates on my blog.
I’m in, actually I never stopped. I’m thrilled to see these posted again on your site, as I glean tons of info and inspiration from reading from others’ reports. I’m going to stick with the reduce waste/prep and storage categories, as it is easier for me to keep the categories straight. You can access the links at my blog post here: http://couponingincriticaltimes.blogspot.com/2010/03/independence-days-update.html
Plant—I was very busy this week and didn’t plant anything. I hope to get a few onions in the ground this week.
Harvest—We picked some of the spring onions (red onions).
Preserve—Nothing preserved this week.
Reduce Waste—We had plastic, aluminum, paper, and cardboard recycling at The Knoxville Coupon Fair this weekend. I’m forever grateful to our sweet Mr. John who took all of the recycling to the center for us in his truck. Hubby and I aren’t sure how to handle house guests and keeping the thermostat turned down. Our family is now so accustomed to having the thermostat set on low that we get hot when it is a little higher at night. I bagged up some clothes to donate to the church rummage sale.
Prep/Storage—Hubby cleaned off the back porch. I finally put the house back in order, and it did wonders for my clarity of thought. Having the place neat(er) and clean does wonders for my mood and productivity. Other than that, we didn’t do too much in this area.
Building Community Food Systems—We collected a few things for the food pantry at the coupon fair. The baby formula went to another coupon blogger’s church, and the rest stayed for our church’s outreach programs. Frugally Farming Family had great info on food preservation, homesteading, and farming. We had another booth offering information about the Angel Food Ministry program. Mr. Clyde, a church member, was inviting people to join us in our tamale making days and inviting members of the community to the free tamale dinner (March 20th if you happen to be in Knoxville! All are welcome!) Three Rivers Market, our local food co-op, did a fantastic job of highlighting just what a food co-op actually is and how they can help the community save money—love those gals! We had many more booths giving out information on budgeting, stockpiling, and saving money. We gave out at least 3 boxes of food to people at the fair from our food pantry.
Eat the Food—We finished off one of the quart bags of local blueberries we picked this summer. I think we have one more left. Can’t wait for fresh out of our yard! Yesterday’s breakfast was nice because we were thrilled to have local sausage and local eggs. Our farmer friend has been out of sausage until recently, and we were glad to stock up. Our friend who has chickens passed on a dozen eggs to us, and I can’t wait until they are laying more as the weather warms.
[...] You can read the full rationale here, but this is the core of the challenge (quoted from Sharon’s ye olde blog): [...]
Yay, count me in!
Plant something: not this week
Harvest something: lettuce, parsley, oregano, lemon thyme, basil, chillis
Preserved something: Nectarine chutney
Waste not: Composting & recycling.
Want not: Purchased a homeopathic home first aid kit.
Build Community Food Systems: Shared some vegetarian & vegan recipes with a friend who wants to eat less meat, but doesn’t feel confident about vegetarian cooking.
Eat the food: Pancakes with home-made cherry jam, veggie sausages with home pickled beetroot & homemade onion jam, lots of salads with garden lettuce & herbs.
I’m in for this year, YEAH!!! And I am going to try not to focus on the limitations of suburban apartment living, but to work gratefully with my circumstances today! hopefully I will learn from other creative readers who find unconventional solutions.
I’m in again too. Haven’t gotten much going yet other than stocking up, composting and eating from last year’s stores. But I’m making plans, chatting with friends about the coming growing season and getting ready to start some seeds. Here’s hoping for a flood-free summer!
I am in…posted over at scienceblogs, but will post here (weekly? what is the usual time frame?)
This week:
1. Planted two varieties of onion seed, hot peppers (6 var), tomatoes (30 var!) leeks, 6 different flowers and artichoke. Down in basement under lights.
2. cut some rosemary to use in home baked bread, got some kale out of the squashed covered row (heavy snow crushed the hoops…need something much stronger).
3. nothing preserved
4. salvaged some vegetables that were getting “iffy” into a delicious soup
5. ordered a grain mill and 25 lbs of wheat berries, also the makings for a 50 foot pulley clothesline system.
6. joined this challenge! Also signed up for third year CSA subscription; we don’t get produce since we grow all we can eat and save, but we get eggs and pastured meat.
7. eating the curry-lentil bread (from “Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day”) and finishing the last of the soup
I am looking forward to reading all the posts here…inspiration!
1. Plant something: Sweet basil, indoors. I need to remember to start sprouting those commercial potatoes, or find some organic ones; I can’t plant enough to order seed potatoes so I plan on using slips.
2. Harvest something: nothing
3. Preserved something: nothing, but making plans and gathering recipes. We just re-arranged one room, so that’s occupied my time.
4. Waste not: Eating of leftovers. Old dining set went to thrift and we bought a new one that’s far more useful for us. Old computers were scavenged for parts and now await a trip to the recycling. Also I created printable inventory sheets, to help with grocery shopping but also with what we preserve and when we eat it, since I plan on dating & keeping them.
6. Build community: nothing
7. Eat the food: chocolate cake with strawberry and raspberry preserves from last fall. Beef stew, home canned. Apple pie and applesauce. Dried fruit snacks.
And, yes, I’m in
in SE Virginia, zone 7b, looking at 2″ of snow.
I’ll give it a whirl this year. Wish me luck.
Yay! I’m in too.
Plant: I have been planning my kitchen gardens over the winter, and all of my seeds arrived last week. I picked up the new seed-starting potting soil I need. I’ve been saving yogurt and cottage cheese containers all winter. So, I’m getting started planting this Friday evening. I’m going to clear off some shelves in the basement to grow the seedlings. I have a lot of old lamps, so I am going to put in grow lights with those. Can’t wait. And since we have hit the 50s a couple of times in the last week or so, I think it will be ok to go out and plant lettuce, fava beans, peas, carrots, radishes, etc. They are covered gardens (for now).
Harvest: Not yet.
Preserve: Last Saturday I put up 18 pints of apple sauce (with vanilla) using apples that we had on hand and were getting older.
Prep/Want Not: not this week
Build Community: Checked out when the farmer’s markets are going to open. Man, I have to wait until the begining of April
Eat: Some of that tasty apple sauce. Also ate “regionally” grown buffalo.
Willamette Valley, Oregon.
Currently we have in flats in the house:
Amaish paste tomatoes, diamond eggplants, Aunt Ruby Green tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, celery, California Wonder bell peppers, Stupice tomatoes, Rutgers tomatoes, Pingtung Long eggplants, Bulgarian Carrot peppers, Beefsteak tomatoes.
In flats in the potting shed:
red cabbage, white cabbage, collards, cauliflower, spinach, Red Russian kale, 2 kinds of lettuce, chard, beets, Joi Choi bok choi, parsnips and leeks.
In grow tunnel: onions, walking onions, dandelion, yellow peas, elephant garlic, favas.
In garden: favas coming up, rhubarb, elephant garlic, garlic, walking onions, Jerusalem artichoke. 8 new blueberries, 2 early and 2 late, and three kinds of grapes. Corn, beans, pumpkins, squash and peas are waiting in their packets, and potatoes in their sacks.
In orchard/poultry zone: one pie cherry, one van cherry, 2 bing cherries, 2 Black Tartarian cherries. Apples: one each Gravenstein, Granny Smith, Jonathan, McIntosh, Winesap, Transparent. Pears: 2 Bosc, 2 Anjou, 3 Bartlett. Plums: Santa Rosa, damson, Satsuma, Superior, two prunes. 4 nectarines of 2 kinds and 2 Elberta peaches. 4 pineapple quince. 2 figs (which may have died this winter). one filbert. Coming: 2 persimmons, 6 Cascadian hop vines. Under the trees, on grass: 7 Rhode Island Red hens with rooster, 8 Americauna chicks, 5 Ancona ducks, 6 Khaki Campbells, and a pair of White China geese.
Current project, rehabbing the “barley field” across the creek. Can’t grow anything there right now as it is a highway for deer… also I’m spending a lot of time re-learning how to cook well with iron, especially on the wood stove.
I first read about this on another blog that I read, MamaStories. I was intrigued, because we rejected consumerism as a lifestyle a long time ago. It wasn’t until we bought our place, though, that we could do much about it. I would like to join in, though I won’t expect myself to do it weekly nor regularly. Still, I think it’s an excellent idea and an excellent exercise.
I’m in! I’ve already started many spring veggies and a few tomatoes, eggplant & peppers. I need to get the onions, leeks, shallots and cutting greens up to the farm in WV so my lights are free for more seedlings.
Asheville, NC.
I’m in. First update (late, as usual, I’m afraid) is here:
http://kirbanita.typepad.com/take_joy/2010/03/independence-days-2010.html
This will provide extra motivation for me to consider all the aspects at the same time. It is too early to plant here in France at 1000 meters altitude, but I spent the last three days freezing and canning the pumpkins and butternut squashes that we hadn’t already eaten. The problem is getting the kids to eat the squash soup several times a week.
I’m in, though I’m sure I won’t be able to update weekly. Will just do what I can
Lori
Wendy,
Have been staring at my butternut squashes that need to be used up too, have you got a good recipe for butternut soup?
Sue
Here’s my week 1 – http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/2010/03/independence-day-challenge-week-1.html
We’re in. We live on a boat, so it’ll be pretty modified, but it’ll *be*, and that’s what matters. We’ll post updates on our blog, here: http://theexcellentadventure.com/elementalmom/
I am signing up for this challenge, awesome idea and love the concept which are goals I have been aiming for. Put the challenge up on my blog and will report weekly there!
[...] it’s with some glee that I announce that we’re going to be participating in her Independence Days challenge. Head on over to her blog to see how it works. I’ve added the widget to my blog, to [...]