My To Do List

Things done over the weekend:
3 quarts whole tomatoes canned with water
Batch of Basil dried.
Onions were 'cleaned' and put away in the not-so-great place in the pantry.
Potatoes were cured outside for a couple of days and now are in on the kitchen cabinet. They need some of the dirt brushed off and they need to be put in the potato bin in the pantry.
First flush of Stupice tomatoes harvested, along with a pile of cherry tomatoes. Total: 12 Stupice and dozen or so cherries, 1 mortgage lifter. Stupice doesn't seem to be having the blossom end rot problem like the larger tomatoes are.


The rest of this post is me organizing my thoughts on projects I'd like to get done next. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't read it all

GOAL: Cool storage, away from sunlight, for my canning jars full of food
Short term solution: Clean off a ledge down in the basement and put filled canning jars there. Ledge is roughly 12-16" deep and fairly level. It will cost me nothing, and will extend the shelf life of that food. The downside is it has no guard rail and jars could possibly fall and break.
Supplies needed: Bucket and soapy water

Long term solution: Wood shelving with a low guard rail. 3' x 2' x 4'. Cheap and easy to build with a few 2x4's and a couple of plywood planks, some 1x2's for the low guard rail. Hopefully less chance of jars tipping and breaking. I'll need wood that can handle the cool damp of the cellar.
Supplies needed: 16'(legs) + 30'(shelf bracing) = 46' of 2x4's; 3 plywood sheets, at least 3/4" and 2'x3'; 9 feet of 1x2's. Big wood screws, which I might already have.

Extra Credit: Air flow vent for external cold air intake to cool room with shelving, maybe making use of dryer vent that's in place and unused.


GOAL: Cold storage of veggies, like onions/turnips/carrots/garlic/apples/potatoes
Solution: build some crates and put them on the ledges/floor in the basement room with the canning jars. I *have* to have some crates, I refuse to just pile the produce on the ledge, we'll lose too much to rot and bugs. Bags won't allow for proper air flow. Possibly acceptable would be something like a feed bag hanging from the rafters.
Supplies needed: 2x4's and 1x2's, small wood screws.

GOAL: cold frames made with the old windows from my parents
Solution, wood frames the size of the window and 12" or so high. A bar to prop open the windows would be good. I have hinges and handles from the ReStore already.
Supplies needed: 2x4's and 1x2's. Wood screws that I may already have.


***
All of the above projects will require me to cut wood. Not a lot, but more than I *really* want to do by hand with a handsaw. How exactly I'll get the wood to my house and cut I need to figure out before these projects can progress. Perhaps I can visit my Dad for a weekend and go with plans in hand and get all the wood cut at his place, then once cut I bet it would fit in my car alright. Perhaps one of my neighbors has some wood working tools.
**

GOAL: Rain barrel in place and downspout adjusted accordingly.
Short term solution: Rainbarrel sitting on the ground, with flexible gutter pointing into top.
Supplies needed: Something to cleanly cut downspout so it can be put back together when we move out. Maybe a hacksaw.

Long term solution: Rainbarrel perched up on a couple of cinder blocks, with something set up to capture the first flush (A gallon or two) of water (most polluted) before remaining rain goes to barrel
Supplies needed: 2 Cinder blocks, some pvc piping to rig up first flush diverter

Extra Credit: Goldfish! :-) Also, figuring out where capped top of the old cistern is might be potentially beneficial, I'd hate to put the rain barrel on top of it by accident.


GOAL: organize and pile neatly the fire wood I've collected.
Short Term solution: A hatchet to break it all down into manageable pieces, stacked along-side the shed, possibly with our tarp on top. (It's got a hole in anyway, we might as well put it to permanent use and buy a new one for hole-less tarp duties.)
Supplies needed: small hatchet. (tarp to replace old one with hole)
Long term solution, a way to handle larger wood pieces, aka trunks/large limbs and get some serious fire wood.
Supplies needed: axe.


Projects that would be useful to do, but I'm lacking materials and they're not vital.
-Rocket Stove: Need bricks, mortar and a grill rack from some old grill.
-Cold Room: Probably an adaptation of the small mudroom, I'll need shelving and vents to control outside air flow. Might happen closer to winter when it will actually see some use. Hubby has concerns about bugs and temp control and loosing food to rot; I want this to replace our fridge during the winter months.