Not Much Today

With the rain we had yesterday it was too wet to really do much outside. I did get a few of the weeds pulled. Some laundry hung. But I feel as though I did more yesterday. I was able to get all of my winter clothes finally put away. My summer stuff is now out. I still have laundry to fold and put away. I did get rid of a garbage bag full of clothes that no longer fit. I have to be more careful where I put my stuff as is must have gotten really hot. All the stuff I got rid of shrunk..... :D

Teenage Monster has a year end party tonight at school. The whole family is invited. I am bringing mostacholli for the potluck. They are suppose to show a video of the kids from the year. Its only an hour long so it won't be too bad. Speaking of the monsters they only have 3 - 1/2 days left. I can't wait. I already have a plan of what needs to get done around here.

The first thing that is going to happen is the bedrooms are going to get cleaned. Then everything will come out of the rooms so that I can wash walls and clean the carpets. We might even paint. Then some of the stuff will go back and the rest will find new homes somewhere else. A little organization will go a long way. And since we are outside so much in the summer once it is cleaned it will stay that way with minimal up keep.

Did you know that pineapple doesn't come from Hawaii anymore? It comes from Indonesia and the Philippines. Dole and Del Monte don't have Hawaii pineapples anymore. So now that is another citrus that we won't be eating. We also no longer eat Mandarin Oranges because the come from China. I am hopeful that I will find a Hawaiian company that will ship to the mainland for us to buy. Keeping fingers crossed for that.

I went into the expensive yarn store in town last night. It was just my second time in there. My first visit wasn't nice. So the store has been open for like a year now. I decided that it was time to see if things had changed and boy o boy have they. I am so happy I went in. They are much nicer now and they even offer classes. So I will be taking the beginner class July 12, 19, 26. It is a 3 part class. She said that we will learn how to make a scarf but each section of the scarf will be a different stitch. Knit & purl, weave, wrap around and a couple other I don't remember. I am so excited to learn how to finally learn what to do properly.

Gotta Run,
Yart

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.

Monday's Musings

It is raining like crazy out there. No thunder and lightning but a steady rain. We need it. I didn't water the garden yesterday on purpose. Because I wasn't sure how much rain we would get and I didn't want to flood the area... LOL! Everything out there is flourishing except the watermelons. They don't seem to want to grow. Maybe I will put them in a different location next year. The pumpkin plants are getting really big already. This is the first time I have grown pumpkins so it is all new to me.

The sprouts that I have going are weird. I kept them in the water overnight like the directions said. Then I drained the water and left alone. I started rinsing the next day and they had already sprouted. Now the seed shells are coming off and I have all of these little while blobs with tails. If I didn't know any better I would be waiting for them to start swimming. ;o) But they still have a couple more days in the dark before I can take them out to green.

Since it is raining I should be doing chores in the house. But I don't feel like it today. It feels like a lazy day. I had thought to get started on a scarf. But I think that will have to wait. I did manage to get the living room straightened and the cats both combed out. I have laundry going as I type. I am going to make Rustic Cottage Pie I got the recipe from Mom's Cafe Home Cooking. Does it ever look good. And it will be a nice addition to this wet, dreary day.

I decided that I can't get anymore canning jars till I start using up the ones I have empty. I have a ton of jars in boxes cluttering up my living and dining rooms. And the first couple of tomatoes will be eaten not canned. LOL! But seriously it will be a couple more months till I can start preserving more stuff. I think we did pickles in August. I got them from the farmers market. Need more shelves too. DH has been waiting for me to come up with a design for the shelves that I like. He already has the wood. So I am the hold up. :o( Soon hopefully, I will make up my mind.

I was able to get 2 more totes empties that were in the basement. I am actually reclaiming the space. Then once we get the money to put the pull down ladder into the attic I will have a lot more room in the basement. I would like to make a study area for the kids. Instead of them doing homework on the dining room table. Will have to see what can be done about that.

Well, my lazy day abounds.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Sunday Mutterings

Well, I didn't get be in the yard for long today. DH got home from work and out the door we went. We headed to eat, then to target. At Target we got a couple of movies that were on sale for $5 (Twister & Dodge Ball), also got the monsters a couple of yard games. Then we went to Walmart. Here I picked up some food stuffs and looked at the yarn. I am looking forward to the new afghans that I will be making the winter. Beautiful colors. One is pinks and the other is blues and greens. But that will wait till the snow flies. Still have a few more things to pick up but the eggs and the freezer bags can wait.

You might have noticed that I put an ad up in the sidebar. By having this ad when someone makes a purchase of Heirloom Seeds from the Heirloom Organics Seed Company, I receive 10%. And if anyone signs up using the link here, I get 2% of any sales made through there link. I figure it is worth a shot to try them out. As this urbanstead is still trying to be more self sustaining ( no outside job for me at least ).

One last week of school for the monsters. I am so looking forward to them being done. There are a few things that we will be doing. The summer reading program is at the top of the list every year. The older kids get to do an activity and then a lock in. That is the best for the kids. The little ones get a chance to win prizes. All thanks to the local library. Then also from the library are passes to go to different museums. Lots of fun. We also have a vacation / getaway that I need to start planning. We will be gone for 2 - 3 days near the end of the month.

My one heirloom tomato has some type of bug living on it. They are pink and look like a blob with legs and antenna's. Also there are little white fly looking things, tiny. I don't think my camera will get that nice of a close up. So hopefully, they don't do to much damage.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Saturday Musings

Today was an interesting day. I went to get groceries. Tons of groceries. LOL! But since I went to Aldi's I didn't spend a ton of cash. It was decided to buy 2 weeks of groceries this time. As it might work out better then the hit and miss that I have been doing. I still have some other things to pick up but that will have to wait till one day next week.

I played a part in the installation of officers for another Legion post tonight. I was so nervous. But I can actually say the lady that asked to help her was thanked quite a bit. It was a kewl experience. They were even nice enough to get us corsages and gifts for doing this. I got a blue wind spinner for the yard. I will get a picture at some point. ;o) They also had a potluck dinner. I was very impressed as we don't go for such formality at our post. Maybe we should?!?

It has been brought to my attention that we need to hold a few more fundraisers for the unit. We have a couple of ideas but something major has to happen. Last year I took as my learning year as I had never done this thing before. Now I have to make things work. This year is going to be so busy. But someone has to do it right?

I was able to get the weeding done and the plants watered. But nothing else. maybe tomorrow I will get some time out in the yard relaxing...... Ahhhh the dream of it. I doubt it will happen. My mom is on a major freak out right now. She is laid off. Like a ton of people but she hasn't taken time off of work other then the forced vacations.... (workaholic) And she doesn't have enough to do at her place so she is found here most days. Most days I don't mind. But some days I do.

Stumbled on a couple new recipes. Maybe they will get made this week. They are both goodies. And once they are made I will share the recipes and pics.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Growing Sprouts

I went to this health food store that is in the neighborhood today. I have been in there before and didn't think to highly of it. But I went in today in search of Kefir Grains. Unfortunately, they didn't have any. But they did have several types of seeds for sprouting. I had previously looked into doing this but didn't know where to get a small amount to see if we liked it. Sure enough they had the jars, seeds and directions. So I got mung seeds and the directions.

The directions say to have the correct temp (70-85), the free circulation of air (1/3 of the container must be empty), and minimal light. I should be able to do this.

The Six Rules of Sprouting

1. Rinse often
2. Keep them moist, not wet
3. Keep them at room temperature
4. Give them plenty of room to breath
5. Don't put too many in any one container
6. keep them covered - no light.

I should see sprouts in 6 - 10 days. Should be fun if nothing else. Oh, I only paid .88 cents for 2 ounces of the mung seeds. From my understanding the mung are like the ones from the Chinese restaurant.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Growing Wheat

I know I have been really all over the map with my topics as of late. That is how my mind works sometimes. I stumbled across a site on growing wheat in your back yard. Bread Info.com

So I thought that I would find out what I could about growing wheat in the yard. I have a great spot right behind the garage. It is about 4x20 feet. It should work out nicely for planting winter wheat.

Gallimaufree: Suburban Survival Has a great Blog on raising wheat in your yard. Now this blog states that I would need 400 square yards of space to get enough wheat for a family of 4. I don't have quite that much room. Well, maybe I do but I am not ready to rip out my front lawn for wheat just yet. But the way I see it that's ok. As long as I am getting something. It is better then nothing, and I am using an unusable space to grow food stuffs. No the less lots of great info on this blog.

Glave.com Offers more great info. If I am correct with my calculations I could grow 5 pounds of wheat in the space that I have. Not that it seems like a lot. It really isn't.

We are hoping to get the alley closed down. If we do then we will gain 9 more feet plus the width of the yard. With that added space it would be an additional 15 pounds of wheat. So I could fisably grow 20 to 25 pounds of wheat. But then again if my calculations are wrong I could end up with a whole lot more. And that is what I am hoping for. So this winter I think I will plant wheat. Even if it turns out to be a flop, I can still compost it.

Here is a video on Growing Wheat



Gotta Run
Yart