Challenge #11

Last week was spent getting ready for the Teenage monster to go to band camp. I thought I had everything but there was a ton of stuff that needed to be purchased. I know better for next year. Got all the potatoes pulled and put up. I'm just hoping that the tomatoes all turn red soon. That way I can move on to other things.

1. Garden work: All of the potatoes had to be pulled because of blight.

1A. Harvest something: Potatoes 22 pounds & Tomatoes

2. Preserve something. 4 quarts of tomatoes, 32 pints of potatoes and 3 pounds of potatoes dehydrated

3. Food storage. Nothing this week

4. Other preparedness tasks: Cleaning and storing canning jars.

5. Try a new recipe: No just cooking the same old stand bys

6. Financial preparedness: Now we are snowballing that money on to the next bill. Still waiting to see if I get a call from either of the places I applied at.

7. Work on local food systems. Not this week.

8: Learn something. I don't think I learned anything this week. I'm sure I did I just don't remember... LOL!

9: Serve someone. No not this week. I hate to write that just because it makes me sound selfish.... But this past week has been super busy getting ready for band camp.

Gotta Run
Yart

Challenge #10

This week I found an long lost friend, with the help of the computer. Well, I went to get her on Sunday. She came here for a couple hours. I wish the visit would have been longer but she forgot her meds. In the time that we have been apart she has been diagnosed with Rapid Progressing MS. This actually explains a lot of issues she was having the last time that I was in touch with her. She is no longer the self assured person she once was, she now is quite and reserved. The medication she is on has affected her memory and her reasoning. Even with all that I am so happy that I found her. And that she is once again part of my life.

1. Garden work: Watering & I pulled the last of the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. Planted carrots, lettuce and radishes on Saturday.

1A. Harvest something: Tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, peppers.

2. Preserve something. 8 quarts of tomatoes, dehydrated tomato skins ( for later grinding), made sauerkraut (fermenting as I type) That will go into jars in 6 weeks.

3. Food storage. Nothing this week

4. Other preparedness tasks: Canning and cleaning. Plus getting the stuff for back to school. ( I put some of the stuff away so that if need be we have it for a boredom buster).

5. Try a new recipe: No its been to hot to cook. So we are just eating salads and quick fix foods like tacos and hot dogs. But not at the same meal. LOL!

6. Financial preparedness: Now we are snowballing that money on to the next bill. Still waiting to see if I get a call from either of the places I applied at.

7. Work on local food systems. Not this week.

8: Learn something. I learned how difficult it is to get around with 2 broken toes.

9: Serve someone. Sent some of the garden products to my MIL. She froze the cauliflower so now she has it for the whole winter.

Gotta Run
Yart

Challenge #8

I know that I was suppose to post this on Monday. But we were downtown at the Children's Hospital getting stitches out. Then yesterday we started with pre-band camp. And I had to work Bingo last night. So a couple days later and here I am.

1. Garden work: Had to get out there and tie up all the tomatoes. Weeded some of the squares. Pulled out the bolted spinach.

1A. Harvest something: Cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeno's, sweet yellow peppers and beets.

2. Preserve something. Nothing was preserved this week.

3. Food storage. I am getting 2 litter bottles filled up with emergency water.

4. Other preparedness tasks: We fixed the backdoor, put a new piston on, and got a new tip on the one window pane so that it would stop falling out. Used silicone on the broken window so that it's ready for winter.

5. Try a new recipe: No new recipes this week.

6. Financial preparedness: Got one big bill paid off. So now we are snowballing that money on to the next bill.

7. Work on local food systems. Shopped local again this week. I am looking into going to the big city to see what they offer. I know that they are doing a big community movement. But I'm trying to find out what.

8: Learn something. I am learning how to knit dish towels.

9: Serve someone. I'm working on a baby shower for my brother.

Gotta Run
Yart

Challenge #7

I can't believe that I have been doing this for 7 weeks now. This is very kewl

1. Garden work: Weeding and watering, we were able to get the grapes in the ground.

1A. Harvest something: The tomatoes are just starting to change from green to red. Cucumbers are so good.

2. Preserve something. Nothing was preserved this week.

3. Food storage. I got 5lbs of clear jel and also went grocery shopping again. 36 rolls of TP, and a bunch of canned goods.

4. Other preparedness tasks: We got a couple of trees that were cut down. DH got a chainsaw as an early Christmas gift. So we have been cutting and stacking wood. This is such a great skill to have.

5. Try a new recipe: Nothing new this week. Just the stand by's hotdogs, hamburger helper and the like.

6. Financial preparedness: Still working on getting caught up. This really doesn't change week to week.

7. Work on local food systems. I shopped local this week. Went to the farmers market. I am starting to talk to some of the regulars. This might net me some information.

8: Learn something. Don't take everything so seriously. With the bike issues and almost losing DH, kind of puts a new perspective on a lot of things.

9: Serve someone. Not this week. But we have been on the receiving end of some really good people's actions.

Gotta Run
Yart

Challenge #5

Due to a fluke in scheduling...... DH is off again this week. So I will try to get back to the regular scheduled programing by next week. I am going through withdrawls. I was able to get all the pictures off my camera right before the memory card died so I do have some pictures to share.

1. Garden work: I am fighting aphids still. I am using warm water and dawn dish soap. I am also fighting off bacterial spot with copper spray.

1A. Harvest something: I have been bringing in lots of lettuces, spinach and swiss chard and 1 jalapeno pepper and a head of cauliflower.

2. Preserve something. Nothing was preserved this week.

3. Food storage. Nothing again but it is a pay week.

4. Other preparedness tasks: Working on the compost again.

5. Try a new recipe: Lasagna Spinach Roll Ups

6. Financial preparedness: Still working on getting caught up. This really doesn't change week to week.

7. Work on local food systems. I shopped local this week. I got some really delicious tomatoes. They were super expensive but I so wanted homegrown ones.

8: Learn something. I learned some of the laws concerning dogs this week. Long story maybe more on this later.

9: Serve someone. I am working on putting together a benefit dinner for my friend that had the heart attack.

Gotta Run
Yart

Challenge #4

This week has been really screwed up. DH is on vacation so we are doing a ton of things we would normally not be doing. That is the main reason I haven't been here. So I am going to take a break for the rest of the week. I will have some pics of this weeks adventures for next week.

1. Garden work: I have been watering and weeding

1A. Harvest something: Radishes are all gone from the first planting and I have been bringing in lots of lettuces, spinach and swiss chard

2. Preserve something. I made 14 pints strawberry syrup, 7 pints strawberry sauce, 7 pints of peach ambrosia jam and still waiting to do the strawberry jelly.

3. Food storage. Nothing again this week other then the above.

4. Other preparedness tasks: Working on the compost again.

5. Try a new recipe: Adding spinach to everything I can

6. Financial preparedness: Still working on getting caught up. This really doesn't change week to week.

7. Work on local food systems. Really didn't do anything in this category this week.

8: Learn something. Found some new recipes from the library books .

9: Serve someone. Worked down at the Legion serving breakfast for all the Dad's that came in.

Gotta Run
Yart

Challenge #3

1. Garden work: I have been working on weeding the garden & I sprayed the tomato plants with water, dish soap, and oil to kill off the aphids. I will have to reapply but it is working.

1A. Harvest something: 3 Radishes out of the garden

2. Preserve something. I made strawberry cordial.

3. Food storage. 3lb beef roast in the freezer

4. Other preparedness tasks: Switched over my winter to summer clothes. Much cooler now. LOL! Have been burning paperwork instead of shredding.

5. Try a new recipe: Made BBQ Pork Chops.

6. Financial preparedness: Still working on getting caught up. This really doesn't change week to week.

7. Work on local food systems. Really didn't do anything in this category this week.

8: Learn something. This week I learned about Beets and how to kill aphids.

9: Serve someone. I have prayed for the recovery of a dear friend this week. And it seems to be working. ;o)

Challenge #2

1. Garden work: I have been working on weeding the garden & growing sprouts

2. Preserve something. I helped in the making of 2 types of beer. It is put up so it counts. LOL!

3. Food storage. I went shopping: chili, canned milk, tuna, juices, refried beans, more canned corn, 5lb flour, 5lb sugar, cans of soup, cans of tomatoes (diced, sauce and paste), 3 cases of roman. I know there is more I just don't remember all of it.

4. Other preparedness tasks: cleaned out several plastic totes, straightened out store bought canned goods, found a couple more blogs with tons of information.

5. Try a new recipe: Made chocolate chip cookies.... Everything came out of storage except for the egg and water.

6. Financial preparedness: Still working on getting caught up. Soon some of the debt will be gone.

7. Work on local food systems. I don't know if this counts in this section or not. But I am going to put it here. I got talking one of the ladies at the butcher's. Somehow we got talking about pressure canning meat. She had never heard of such a thing. I explained quickly and told her that if she wanted to do it I would be more then willing to offer assistance.

8: Learn something. This week I learned about growing grains in the yard. I also learned how to sprout seeds.

9: Serve someone. I helped out with the installation ceremony. I helped my MIL, one of the sliding doors came off the track and I got it back on for her. Teenage monster helped out both grandmothers this weekend. Mouthy monster helped the neighbor carry in her groceries.

Challenge

1. Garden work: I have been working on weeding the garden.

2. Preserve something. I tossed an extra steak in the freezer (hopefully, more soon)

3. Food storage. The steak... LOL!

4. Other preparedness tasks: I got some more canning jars, am working on a change purse (knitting) for teenage monster, cleaned out several plastic totes.

5. Try a new recipe: Made spaghetti sauce. Used some items from the freezer and some dehydrated mushrooms.

6. Financial preparedness: Made more payments to get caught back up on the bills.

7. Work on local food systems. Nothing this week

8: Learn something. Still working on the knitting thing. Doing good so far.

9: Serve someone. Helped out at the Legion this past week.

Challenge Rules

I finally have the information for the Challenge's that I see on other blogs. I got this information from one of the Yahoo groups I belong to.

1. Garden work: Planting, thinning, weeding, watering, harvesting,
hauling manure , working on the compost pile, planning next year's
garden, going through catalogs - it's all garden work.

2. Preserve something. Sometimes this will be a big project, but it
doesn't have to be. When you are in major food preservation mode, get
some friends and make a day - or a week, or a month - of it. But, it
doesn't take long to slice a couple of tomatoes and set them in the
dehydrator - or even a bag of frozen veggies from the store. Make
extra when you make soup and pressure can the left-overs. Buy ham on
sale at Easter time and pop it in the freezer - you get the idea. This
is one area where many small contributions can really add up - and
faster than you think.

3. Food storage. What have you added to food storage? Cereal for
$1/box? 100, 200 or 1000 pounds of wheat? Did inventory? Bought a cow
or a half a cow? What did you do this week for food storage?

4. Other preparedness tasks: Add to your overall preparedness - hit a
yard sale and pick up an extra blanket. Purchase some extra legumes
and oatmeal. Sort out and inventory your pantry or your freezer. Make
a list of tools you need. Find a way to give what you don't need to
someone who does. Fix your bike. Fill that old soda bottle with water
and a couple of drops of bleach. Plan for next year's edible
landscaping. Work on 72-hour kits. Have a fire drill. Replace
batteries in your smoke detectors. Check the squash on your pantry
shelves and feed the squishy ones to the chickens. Camp out in the
backyard and see what you need to repair/replace/acquire. You get the
idea!

5. Try a new recipe: Yup, once a week, try something new. Bonus points
if you use food storage!!

6. Financial preparedness: Balance your checkbook. Pay off a little
more debt - maybe just $5 more on the credit card you are trying to
pay off first, or an extra payment to the mortgage company or anything
in between. Buy on sale and in bulk to stretch your dollar. Sew a
quick skirt for a couple of bucks instead of heading off to the
department store. Do a fun, creative and inexpensive birthday party
for your little darlin' instead of renting a clown and ball pit. There
are lots of ways to stretch a dollar, a skill that is needed more and
more.

7. Work on local food systems. This could be as simple as buying
something you don't grow or make from a local grower, or finding a new
local source. It could be as complex as starting a co-op or a farmer's
market. You might give seeds or plants or divisions to a neighbor, or
solicit donations for your food pantry. Maybe you'll be like a friend
of mine and start a community garden or help a homeschool co-op
incubate some chicks or buy a side of beef from someone up the road.
Try eating as "locally" as you can and see how that works for you!

8: Learn something. Learn a little more about gardening, canning,
sewing, birthin' babies, homesteading, car mechanics, cutting hair -
you name it. It can be a little thing, or practicing on a skill that's
still new to you. For a longer challenge, how about this one: Learn
one new skill each year. That can be a great new year's resolution and
look how much you'd know by the time you are 40, 50, 60 . . . it's
never too late to start!

9: Serve someone. There are a jillion ways to serve - bake cookies,
weed a garden, teach a class, do home repairs for someone else, reach
out to the neighbor you've never had a chance to get to know. Include
your family on this one and let them start learning the rewards of
serving others.