It's Monday- time for IDC

It's time for my first Independence Days update of year 3. Where does the time go?

Tiny broccoli

1. Plant something- YES!!! Let's see, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and 6 varieties of hot peppers (peter- red, cayenne, alma paprika, anaheim, jalapeno and volcano- a hot hungarian wax) I've got broccoli, cauliflower and red cabbage up already. V and I didn't get the grow cabinet set up- he was trying to make it much more complicated than I needed and I needed it NOW! So I stopped in at Target where they were having a sale on wire shelving units and picked up a 5 shelf unit. It is now setting in the kitchen with lights hung and little plants under it already. I also potted up some rhubarb starts that I picked up this weekend that had already broken dormancy. They are currently in a big bucket in K10's room by the big pepper plant. I'll set it outside in a permanent location when it warms up.

2. Harvest something- not yet, although the chives on the windowsill are looking awfully tasty!

3. Preserve something- not a thing.

4. Waste not- Hmm, nothing too unusual here. We were really bad last week on wasting food, though. There were left overs that got shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten that became compost. I need to do better at this. I've got a whole drawer of fresh produce- the after effect of having to provide a relish tray for a church function- that we need to eat before it goes bad. Salads anyone???

5. Want not- This is supposed to be the category for non-food prep stuff. The only thing I can think of right now is the financial boost we had with paying off two huge debts that we had. I'm also planning to order a grain mill soon. I had been using an old coffee grinder to grind my corn but it has passed on to a greener coffee house so now I have no way to grind my corn. Anybody have any recommendations? I've been doing my research and have my opinion but I'm wondering what anyone else thinks.

6. Build community food systems- purchased some local milk and eggs. Talked to the orchard guy again about my apple trees.

7. Eat the food- Yum! Tonight it was a fabulous lasagna with home canned tomato sauce. Friday night for our celebration meal it was local grass fed steaks and our home grown potatoes. I've still got some roasted eggplant in the freezer that I need to use... I'll have to think on it. Oh, and for K10's birthday, he got to take treats into school. They are emphasizing healthy treats so I made some quite tasty oatmeal/blueberry mini-muffins (oatmeal from storage, blueberries from the freezer, local eggs). He said the children were all clamoring for more. That makes me feel good.

All in all, not a bad week. It's been crazy-busy around here and with V still on the mend it's been tough to keep up. The house is a disaster area and the laundry is still a work in progress- sounds normal!