Hello everyone! I hope you are having a good week. I've really enjoyed working outside, as the weather has been much cooler than the past few weeks, topping out around 80°F. We've had a few good rains since last time I wrote, which has been great for the garden.
1. Harvested cucumbers, Borlotto beans and green beans from the garden, along with a few wildcrafted herbs. I'm really happy with how everything is turning out. The cucumbers aren't bitter like they were last year, and my husband likes the Borlotto beans because they're not stringy when overgrown, like green beans can get. I am also trying to sniff out some elderberry bushes, because I'm 99% sure that there will be a shortage of elderberry syrup this year. 2. I worked on cleaning out the freezer this week. We had a lot of frozen fruit from last year and even the year before, so I made a couple of desserts and we enjoyed them that way. Before we moved into the new house, I was planning on getting a new freezer. But it just didn't happen. Now there is a freezer shortage, apparently, so a new freezer isn't going to happen any time soon. The door on ours is broken and it frosts up pretty quickly, but it's going to have to work until more freezers are for sale. 3. Evaluated my pantry and food storage plan for the coming months. In addition to a freezer shortage, I hear that there is also a canning lid shortage. Shortly after the virus hit, we visited an Amish bulk/discount store and bought a bunch of lids, so I'm thankful about that. However, the freezer situation might become dicey in the coming months, so I've been considering some other ways to store food. First, I'm looking into getting a food dehydrator. Currently I don't have one, because mine broke a few months ago. Second, I'm going to evaluate our basement for cold storage use. There are no heating elements down there, but it does get pretty humid and I want to make sure that is okay before I put my fermented veggies or root vegetables down there. Third, I will likely be canning some of the meat that is currently being stored in the freezer. Canned meat is something we don't mind eating on a regular basis, unlike canned fruit and vegetables, which neither of us care for (with a few exceptions, of course). Fourth, I'm just beginning to look into long-term storage of things like grains and beans. Honestly this is not something I'm ready to do yet, but I want it on my radar. 4. I began patching a pair of jeans for our daughter. 5. I accepted a free flock of laying hens from a friend of ours. In all I picked up 17 birds (I'm pretty sure at least two of them are roosters...) and we've gone from collecting 1-3 eggs per day to collecting a dozen on some days. We free range our chickens, so right now they are not going through a lot of feed. Still, I plan on "harvesting" the roosters at some point and also looking for alternative feeds. Also, something that is not necessarily "thrifty", but something I'd like to share anyway. I purchased this Fascinating Womanhood course and began going through it. It has really improved my outlook and quality of life. It gives me something to look forward to every day, especially in all of the stress of shortages, shut downs and the whole "mask issue". I tell you, it is not fun to go places anymore. But going through Cynthia's materials makes me feel better about the world, and makes me want to focus my efforts on creating a beautiful home life rather than worrying about world events that I can't change. Note: I also have the FW workbook that Mrs. Andelin's daughter Dixie has redone. I don't care for the fantasy esthetic of the reworked edition, plus it's loaded with gaudy clip art from the 1990s. It just makes the book not very fun to use. It used to be that the Fascinating Womanhood organization would train teachers for in-person classes, but I don't think they certify teachers anymore. Instead, Dixie has made a very expensive video course (it's $99.00 for 3.5 hours of video). Cynthia Berenger's course is just over $20.00 and seems like a more substantial amount of material; something you can chew on for a lot longer. If you do want to listen to Dixie, you can do it at her Youtube channel. She has over 150 videos on there; most around 20 minutes each. Anyway... That is all for this week. I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! ~Prudence~
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About PrudenceI am a Christian homemaker who lives in the Midwest. I enjoy sewing, gardening, reading and thrifting. Archives
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