I suppose I have spent most of it gardening, dancing and sewing. Darian and I are new performers with the Habeas Corpus Early Dance Troup. Consequently we both have to have costumes ready for our performance at a local Renaissance Faire and the Arts Fest. As if this time of year wasn’t already busy enough around here. We have had dance class and rehearsals 2-3 times a week and costumes to work on during my “free” time. It is quite difficult to convince my rational brain that I must take time away from other projects to make an Elizabethean feather fan! It has been such a fun educational experience though that I can’t say I regret it.
I thought the best way to update would be to start up with the Independence day challenge updates again. It seems the best way to keep up with what we have going on around here.
1. Plant something - My tomatoes are not in the ground still but I have been hardening off for a few days now and I am looking forward to getting them in later this week. Other than that it has been a flurry of planting around here. I looked at my list posted earlier this spring. To that list I can add nanking cherries, Hansen bush cherries, acorn squash, butternut squash, echinacea, habenaro peppers, cayenne peppers, and serrano peppers. I transplanted the zuchinni, yellow summer squash starts into the Earthboxes.
2. Harvest something - Comfrey, kale, lettuce, dandelion greens, radishes, chives, cilantro, parsley.
3. Preserve something - I put up six pints of applesauce to use up the rest of a bunch of apples that I bought that were less than impressive eating apples but worked well for cooking and saucing. The sauce will be good for use in oatmeal bread.
4. Reduce waste - I have been using up old scraps of fabric and things I have around the house for our costumes but I have had to make some new purchases. The compost pile is growing although I am definitely not turning it as much as I should.
5. Preparation - built a second portable fence for our peas to trellis up. It fits perfectly across the front beds so I think we will be making more of these.
Storage - Stored away this months buying club order. 25 lbs of fair-trade organic sugar, 25 pounds of organic unbleached flour, 11 pounds of whole wheat spaghetti, and 5 pounds of organic fair-trade coffee.
I bought several patterns because JoAnns was having a sale. It is hard to pass up $1.99 for something that is usually $15-$17 dollars. I bought a couple of patterns that will be handy when I am looking for a quick gift as well as some clothing and costuming patterns.
6. Build Community Food Systems - I worked my hortline shift for the month. The Master Gardeners are having a plant sale on the 24th which I am looking forward to. I also started my volunteer work for Local Foods Connection on Sunday morning. We transplanted some chives and now I am working on a pamphlet to be distributed with the pots. I have been e-mailing back-and-forth with the volunteer coordinator at the food bank to get the kids and I back on the schedule for the summer months.
I have bought a few plants at the Farmer’s Market but I haven’t been buying much along the lines of produce because I have most of what is available growing in my yard. I found a fantastic source of local roving and yarn. I am in love with her colors.
7. Eat the Food!
From garden: I just brought in a big beautiful batch of lettuce for salads this evening. We haven’t had a lot of anything ready until this week
From storage: We are still using up the tomato sauce from last year and I cleaned out the freezer and put a lot of soups in the fridge to be eaten up for lunches this week. I have to make room for the kale and strawberries (my patch is out-of-control) which will soon be ready for preserving. Things I am slacking on:
I still haven’t managed to get spigot on the rain barrel which really makes me cranky given all the rain we have had lately but it can’t be helped. We had to clean the gutters this weekend instead as they were flowing over and wreaking havoc on my front greens bed. I have that damage repaired.
Our garage has to be cleaned and organized to make room for all the empty canning jars that are accumulating in our kitchen.
I haven’t used my solar oven as much as I would like. This is in part due to poor planning and partly due to a bit of a rainy spell. I will definitely need to keep a better eye on the future forecasts.
Weeding, weeding and more weeding…