Independence Day Challenge Week 5

Raspberries blooming.

1) Plant something:

Okay, I had to re-plant the yellow & butternut squash and the loofa. The ones I started indoors didn't survive the transplant, even though they were hardened off. The ones coming up from seed look 1000% stronger anyway! I also had to re-plant 2 tomatoes that didn't survive. I'm still not done planting tomatoes or peppers because this new garden spot is just not cooperating. Also, another row of radishes (what's the secret to getting them to form a bulb?), lettuce, spinach and my 3rd and final attempt at peas. Plus, sunflowers, watermelon and cantaloupe.

Someday, I'll have a camera that takes amazing shots. Until then, please admire this blurry jar of jam :D

2) Harvest something:

Just a few handfuls of lettuce and all the rhubarb (about 1.5 pounds). OH! And, the meat birds!! 55 pounds of chicken. Jerry, his dad and the boys processed the 10 birds in about 2 hours. Boys said it was gross, nasty and smelly. Jerry said it wasn't too bad. His dad didn't say much, other than my MIL said he better NOT bring home a chicken. Ok, more for us! I refrained from showing you a before and after. I LOVE before & after photos, but I know that not everyone is fond of home grown meat. Seriously though, it looks just like supermarket chicken.

3) Preserve Something

I went to the Farmer's Market in search of strawberries, and I found the last of the harvest. $4 a quart. I really wanted to make jam this year, so I forked over $8, happily. They were so good!! I stopped by Dillon's on the way home and found the above strawberries on clearance for $.79 a pound. I bought 14 pounds. They ended up in a strawberry rhubarb crumble, strawberry rhubarb pie and JAM, glorious, ruby red jam. My children have already tackled the first jar and declare it's the best jam ever. I know it wasn't local (strawberries were grown in the U.S.) but I saw the bargain and had to have it.

4) Prep Something

Remember that giant, 5' x 5' compost bin I had? In the middle of the garden? Well, I was soooo tired of looking at it smack in the middle of the garden. It was too big and hard to reach in and turn the compost. Jerry was convinced that it could be cut down and repurposed. He spent an afternoon chopping thru the free pallets and re-making them into this wonderful, 2 holer!! WHOOT!! I'm so excited!! I've now got hinged doors!! That makes it so easy to pop open, and flip the compost from one bin to another. We still have the old, black composter, sans lid to hold the excess. It's now hidden behind the shed. In it's old place, I planted watermelon. Hope it's not too fertile there. We shall see. :D

5) Cook Something:

Making jam was new to me. First year to harvest and cook the rhubarb. Surprisingly, it was so simple. Why was I worried? The jam set up nicely too! And the crumble? It didn't last long. It was SO GOOD! We are having the pie tonight. It may be all we eat, but that's how we roll. :D

6) Manage Reserves:

Still washing jars in anticipation of more canning sessions. Added more toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant & razors to the stockpile. Stockpiling is so new to me... it feels weird to have excess stuff. But, I'm learning that combining coupons with sales really DOES save a lot of money.

Knee-high by the 4th of July? Yep, I think it will be!

7) Work on Local Food Systems:
Planted extra Row for the Hungry. Donated some tomato plants to community garden.

Chooks in the garden, eating bugs, earning their keep. In a few weeks, I hope to have the garden fenced in so that the free rangers will stop eating the good stuff that I'm trying to grow. Seriously, we've gotten ONE strawberry ~ they've devoured the rest. They'll have 1/2 acre to roam and I do have 2 raised beds full of greens for them that they haven't discovered yet.

IDC Update #2

1) Plant Something

I planted the broccoli and cabbage out in the new raised beds. There were 24 plants each that I had started from seed. 2 days after planting, we had a hard freeze. They were heavily mulched, but time will tell if they survived. I also planted 180 onion bulbs and hundreds of potatoes (we quit counting after 160). Peas are up and have survived 2 snow days plus a couple of freezes. Lettuce, carrots and spinach are planted but have yet to appear. I did start several new flats of seeds and I'm most excited about the tomato seeds Judy sent me. Thanks Judy!!

2) Harvest Something
We ate the last of the indoor grown lettuce. This was the 5th cutting on it and what's left got sent out to the chickens. We picked and ate the first onions and garlic from the garden. I've got to be patient and let it continue to grow - but boy, is that hard.

3) Preserve Something

I made grape jelly from frozen concentrate. It was so easy! I'm looking forward to having our own grape juice from the bartered vines this summer. Here's a link to the grape jelly recipe I used. I did go ahead and can the jelly. We got 6 jelly jars. Next time, I'll skip the cutie pie jars and just use the pint or even quart. The kids eat jelly and peanut butter like crazy. I also made up the last batch of peanut butter. Find that recipe here. Good neighbor gave us dozens of loaves of bread, some of it ended up as bread crumbs and others as dried bread for stuffing.

4) Prep Something
More work on the canning shelves and the jars themselves. Since I'd bought so many off Craigslist last summer, I didn't get around to washing them all up. I'd rather do a batch a day now then when canning is in high gear. I think I've got about 400 more jars to go. Also, we re-worked the shed so one side is for potting. I re-potted 200+ tomato plants as well as basil.

5) Cook Something

I've been cooking dinner every night. Jerry and I can't remember the last time we ate out! I did find a recipe for Papa Murphy's Garlic Chicken Pizza that we'll try this week. I love cooking and eating at home but every now and then, I miss certain dishes.

6) Manage Your Reserves

Our canned reserves are nearly gone. Last count we had 4 quarts of pears left and 6 pints of apple butter. I have put together a list of what I'd like to can this year including meats and it's pretty extensive. I better get the core workouts in now for those long days of standing on my feet. LOL If anyone knows where to buy canning lids in bulk, I'd love to have that as a resource. The first batch of meat birds have been ordered and will be here in May. Jerry found out that a neighbor's uncle has a plucker that we can barter for. Yes! Plucking seems to be the hardest part of butchering.

7) Work on Local Food Systems

I attended the Delano Neighborhood meeting last week where they discussed their plans for the community garden behind the Senior Center in conjunction with IGO. I was there to get more info about being a vendor for their Farm & Art Market. It seems they have a lot of good structure in place and I hope they go ahead with the Market. We are now yard sharing nearly 4 acres of garden spaces across the city. Susan with IGO said they have a few spots we could adopt too which I'm very grateful for. I drive around town and see all the spaces and think "Boy could I grow a lot there!". I had contacted The Lord's Diner to see if they had a community garden where I could volunteer, but was told that they were unable to have one or even accept locally grown produce as their status didn't allow for that. I've sent an email to a few places that have food pantries (churches) to see if they'd like a community garden started or if they have one, we could volunteer once a week. No word back yet.

8) Barter

I have discovered how much I enjoy bartering! There are many things I'd like to have, but I just don't want to spend money on them when I've got stuff I could swap. For example, we swap eggs for milk, sourdough bread and cookies. I swapped Irises for some garden pots. I've got a gal who'll buy me canning lids in exchange for the abundance of rings I have. I participated in the seed swaps and I'll be swapping tomato plants for some pepper plants.

9) Misc

When we got the current month's electric bill, I looked at the usage comparison for last year to this year. We are down nearly 100 kwh!!!! This is HUGE! It's amazing that we did that as I now work from home (with a computer on all day long plus printer) which I thought would use more electricity plus we've been running a heat lamp for the chickens most of the winter. We did switch out most of the light bulbs and we quit using the dishwasher in January. We also sealed up the exterior door in kitchen to stop the air loss and installed the new dryer vent. I have hung laundry out several times this winter, but often it was too cold or humid so we opted to use the dryer. I guess all the little changes added up. I wish I could say the same for the gas bill. It was down (thanks in part to the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge) but not as much as the electricity.

However, I'm still annoyed that the water company charges us a minimum use instead of actual use. We could save $ there for sure. Every little bit counts when you've declared war on debt!

Independence Day Challenge

Honey & Molasses are growing! And, *ahem* bad doggies ~ get off the couch!

I read blogs that participate in the Independence Day Challenge and I find it inspiring. I went searching for the origination and found this blog: Casaubon's Book.

I think that I'll throw my hat into the ring and join in. Care to join me? Here's the scoop:

1. Plant Something


2. Harvest Something


3. Preserve Something


4. Prep Something


5. Cook Something


6. Manage Your Reserves


7. Work on Local Food Systems

How often to do it? Some do it weekly, others do some parts daily and other monthly.

I know myself well enough to know that I won't be able to stick to a schedule - life around here happens and some days it's full tilt. I just like the idea of adding structure so that I can see results of my efforts.

Here's an idea of what I've been doing so far this week:

1. Planted: started hundreds of seeds as our frost date is April 15th. I plan on gardening in several locations this year plus having extra plants to sell.

2. Harvest: I've had tubs of lettuce and spinach growing all winter long in my living room and I do harvest from them weekly.

3. Preserve: I found organic veggies marked on clearance that I chopped up and either popped in the freezer or dehydrated.

4. Prep: Jerry has been bringing home various pots for our market plants so I've been busy prepping them (removing labels and cleaning them.)

5. Cook: See my last few posts - I've definitely been in cook mode. I'm so excited to have found a great recipe for homemade noodles ~ now I know how to make lasagne, ravioli, angel hair etc.

6. Manage: Cleaning the freezer and pantry this week to take inventory.

7. Food Systems: I registered myself at Urban Chickens and already had a fellow Wichitan contact me for info on establishing a flock. She and I both are trying to figure out all the ins and outs of the new restrictions our city council has recently imposed on animals including the fees to register your flock and where to place your coop.

Of course, this isn't all I'm doing. I still am decluttering like mad and we put our debt reduction plan into high gear. I'm doing research into alternative utilities like tankless water heaters and outdoor wood furnaces because I do not want another gas bill like the one I just got!!

What are you doing to be more Independent? I'd love to know.