Friday, February 17, 2012

Independence Days - 2/17

Well, like a lot of places, we are bizarrely warm here in NW Iowa.
I've got my seeds in from Seed Savers, but there are still seeds I haven't cleaned from last fall. Namely basil because I couldn't stand to be around it, and some lettuce because I just haven't got to it yet.

Plant something: I haven't actually planted anything yet.  The plan this weekend is to get my little cold frame squared up, weeded and seeded with something cold hardy. Perhaps spinach or chard.

Harvest something: Freakishly warm, it may be. Harvest season it is not. Nothing to harvest. I am still curious if I could get edible syrup from what I think is a Crimson Maple in our yard.  Now would definitely be the time to do that.

Preserve something: Again, not much preserving going on. Although, I have some apples on their last legs that may get sauced this weekend.

Waste not: I rescued the worm bin from death. I added in some fresh organic waste and a new layer of shredded paper. We used the compost pile a lot longer this year, where normally we would have switched to the worm bin sooner, and I almost let them die of starvation.
I made some cute valentine bookmarks out of trash cardboard and scrap fabrics.

Want Not: I bought a bulk package of pork and froze about 3/4's of it. Not local or organic, but the price was right.
We bought a bag from an Army surplus store to make into a BOB for Rowen. He's about to transition out of a diaper bag and into something more suited to his status as child instead of toddler. It's small, but will be able to hold a change of clothes, a couple small toys, and some food and water.

Eat the Food: We tried a couple of new recipes this week.  Dave made some tasty biscuits and brownies from scratch, as well as some Potato and leek soup. We've been eating the pears and green beans and corn that are in storage.  We're running a race against time trying to eat the potatoes that are sprouting. I'm down to my last 2 heads of garlic. (Lots of dried left though.)

Build community food systems: See, this is why I like this challenge. I've been slacking off, and weekly reminders are good.  I haven't even started organizing a seed swap for this year, and if it's going to happen, I have to get a move on.

Skill up: Round two of lounge pants for Dave (or am I on round three now) is going much better.  They fit nicer and look nicer than the previous attempt.  I think he'll like them.  The quilt I'm working on is going much faster too.  Yay for practice! 

A slow start to the season, but it's nice to be thinking about growing and preserving.  What have you done this week?

2 comments:

Mothermore. said...
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Mothermore. said...

I stumbled across your blog from the comments on a post in the SHTF Blog. I was happy to see you are from Iowa! I am too, north central to be more precise. Anyway, just thought I drop a comment to let you know that it's always nice to find someone else in the blog world from this state.