Independence Days- week 12

Another week gone by.  I'm 12 weeks into my participation in the Independence Days challenge.  Things are beginning to pick up with spring approaching.  I'm hopeful for the future but we'll see what the next week brings.

This week:

1. Plant something- YES!!  Yesterday I planted broccoli and 3 varieties of hot peppers under the lights downstairs. As an experiment I used toilet tissue tubes (cut in half) for pots for starting my seeds.  The cardboard tubes should disintegrate when the seedlings are planted either into larger pots or into the ground.  We'll see how it works.  So far so good.  They are actually about the same size as a little peat pot and were essentially free.  

2. Harvest something- Had lettuce from under the lights for salads last night.  I'm going to have to find somewhere else for it to live in a few weeks as I need my space under the lights for tomatoes.  Maybe by that time it will warm up enough that I can out it outside, at least during the days.

3.  Preserve something- No

4. Store something- picked up unbleached flour on sale for an extra. Purchased 20 lbs of chicken hindquarters at 49 cents a pound.  Froze most of it and made stock from some to be used this week.  Also got a pack of red hots (heart shaped ones) on discount after Valentine's day.

5. Manage reserves- Ate almost entirely from stores this week.  Only had to pick up a few things from the store for next week's menu plan.

6. Cook something new- um, no. Nothing new- we've been pretty boring lately.

7. Prep something- other than house hunting- Nope.

8. Reduce waste- recycled, composted and used cloth bags as usual.  Used empty toilet tissue roles as 'peat' pots for seed starting- we'll see how it goes.

9. Learn a new skill- Hmmm- worked a little on knitting but not much else.

10. Work on community food security- helped cook and serve at a pancake breakfast this morning that was a benefit for our local crisis center.  We raised $500 directly and I think there will be about an additional $150 in matching funds available.  Not bad for a morning of serving pancakes.

11.  Regenerate what is lost- It's been a slow week.  Since I was sick for half the week with respiratory crud I wasn't feeling as ambitious as usual.

12.  Behavior change- I'm working on not procrastinating.  I need to sit down with V tonight before bed and work out a timeline for meeting with the bank. We need to make sure we have all the documentation we need before we go.

House hunting update-  We went out yesterday and peered in the windows and poked around the outbuildings a bit.  Of course, everything is locked up, but we took mental notes of issues that we can either ask to have fixed or ask for a price reduction.  Also today I was curious so I looked up information on the county website about that parcel of land.  It turns out that the county has it recorded as only 5.74 acres rather than the 7 that it is advertised.  Something to investigate and challenge the price on if it's accurate.  I've been making a list of the minor repairs and things that will need to be done to this place to get it ready to sell.  

J14 has also been bitten by the acreage bug now, and has become almost as obsessed as I have been with plotting and planning, even though there are NO definite plans.  I got (very late last week) the Gurney's seed catalog and have been looking wistfully at new varieties of raspberries, blueberries and such that I don't have room for here- dreaming of lots more space- envisioning that lovely meadow sloping down to the creek brimming with berries and wildflowers- maybe even a bee hive.  

Need to get those financial documents in place.  V has a manuscript to hand in tomorrow morning and has a conference call Tuesday about his new freelance job.  Things are moving but I'm impatient.