Monday, September 21, 2009

Independence Days

It's Monday again. Time to see how I've been doing this week on the IDC. As busy as we've been, it seems a bit like this week has been relentless. But here goes....
1. Plant something- Nope. We have tulip and daffodil bulbs that need planted but that didn't happen last weekend.
2. Harvest something- Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, a lonely cucumber, apples and a few green beans. I've also been into seed saving mode with 5 types of tomatoes, a delicata squash, and several peppers so far. Even though I love them, I'm debating my Mortgage Lifters for next year. They were by far the first and hardest hit by the blight. I don't know if that was an artifact of where they were planted or that they are particularly susceptible. I've been really pleased with the Polish Linguisa since they seem to have some tolerance to blight. They took a hit but the vines didn't die completely and the tomatoes are still ripening and many look good.
3. Preserve something- I need to make salsa but I don't know when. I'm going to try to seed and dice my peppers tonight before I collapse then I think I'll put them in a ziploc in the fridge and make salsa tomorrow evening. I had hoped to get to it tonight but there was a miscommunication over when J15 finished orchestra. So we didn't get home until 7:15 and didn't eat dinner until nearly 8. So much for timing. We still need to get the kinks worked out of the fall schedule now that all the activities are back in full swing.
4. Waste not- well, we produced lots of waste with the demolition over the weekend. But actually, most of what got hauled to the garbage was bits of drywall and mouse infested insulation from the exterior wall. We're repurposing everything we can. Even the splintered paneling from the wall was mostly salvaged and will be used for kindling for our fire pit in the back of the house.
5. Want Not- stored 10 lbs unbleached flour and 4 lb sugar. Picked up a big 2 liter bottle of olive oil for a decent price. In fact, I may pick up another the next time I'm at the store to have an extra in storage.
I'm also counting all the house repairs/remodeling in the prep category. Having a secure, warm house will be much more to our advantage this winter. The window will help reduce our need to have the lights on in the basement stairs as it was pretty dark there before.
6. Community food systems- hmm, I've been pretty focused on home stuff this week. I did stop into the food co-op and pick up a few things but that's about it. I tried planting the seeds of bringing her lunch from home with a co-worker (see my Homemaker's post of today). I'm getting frustrated listening to her complain about how bad their finances are when she is spending at minimum $25 a week on lunches at the hospital. I could probably make that much money feed me for lunch for the entire month.
7. Eat the food- No problem here. We even had bacon and eggs (both local) for breakfast on Saturday before we tackled the wall. I made homemade pizza and breadsticks Sunday and we finished the breadsticks with dinner tonight.
Well, I've got to get to work on peppers- or maybe not. The weekend has caught up with us and both V and I are exhausted. I guess my peppers will last until tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. You sound like you're burning the candle at both ends. It's great that you're getting things done though. Just think fall is here and things will slow down soon, hopefully. I hope you guys can get some rest. Have a great one.

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  2. Figuring out this seed saving thing sounds very daunting to me. So much to consider, and I'd be paddling in the dark, upstream no less! Well done on repurposing so much from the home construction - many would just let it go without a second thought. And I have to say, I agree completely on the lunch point... those things add up to a lot of money, and taking from home can often be less stressful and more tasty too.

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