Planting Flowers and More

Chad took off work on Saturday to pick up an order of bees which only took about an hour, so we had most of the day together. We took advantage of that by working in the yard. Noel even joined us after she got home from work. 

Since Chad is starting his bee journey, he wanted to plant a pollinator garden. He cleared the back corner of the front yard that we tried to make a salsa garden last year and failed. It has been cleared nicely, now. He planted a few varieties of flowers, some bulbs, and some wildflower seeds. They are all known to attract bees and should help with his goal of being able to harvest honey next year. 

Noel has been wanting to make a small flower garden under her bedroom window for a while, and this was her chance to do it. She even used her own money to buy the flowers and a decorative fence. She spent quite a bit of time clearing the weeds and grass from the area she wanted to plant as well as around it to try to keep the weeds out for as long as possible. The result was so impressive that I may consider doing something similar under all of the bedroom windows in the future. Of course, we would have to look for low or partial sun flowers for the windows on the north side of the house. 

I worked on the same flower and garden beds that I have been working on for many years including the one I created last year. I cleared weeds and planted flowers and blueberries. I will plant vegetables this weekend. My plan is to use the flower bed in front of the porch as a small three sisters garden with corn, beans, and cucumbers (hoping that is close enough to squash). One of my garden beds will be another attempt at a salsa garden with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro. The other one will have Swiss chard, carrots, and one more plant that has yet to be decided. We will also be clearing room by the cherry tree for pumpkins. 

We still have a long way to go to reach my dream of a drought resistant yard without grass. My grass is all dead, and we are trying to mitigate the weeds as best we can until we can fill the front yard in with plants and steppingstones. In the meantime, we will be cleaning up the backyard that has yet to be worked on and decide on an agreed vision for that. I am hoping to have a yard that is sustainable and enjoyable for everyone. 

Cranberry Sauce

 

I made cranberry jelly today for my Thanksgiving prep. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It was a lot like making applesauce with a lot of sugar. I doubled my recipe because I wanted to use the entire bag of cranberries, and it made a little over 4 pint size jars. 

If you want to try the same recipe, it is in this book:

Making Butter

 

Chad made pumpkin pancakes with a carmel sauce for dinner which used some whipping cream, but about half of the bottle was left over with no plans for it. I decided it was the perfect excuse to make butter. 

I cleaned out a jar and washed a lid. Then, I poured the cream in in the jar and shook it until it became a solid. Now, I have butter and saved money by not throwing out the unused cream. 

Canning Applesauce

I have vague memories of my mom canning jelly, applesauce, and apple pie filling. The main memory is the smell that filled the house. I have craved that smell for many years not knowing exactly where to find it. Earlier this week, I remembered and made a plan to make and can applesauce this weekend. Today, the plan was executed with Chad as my helper. 

We started with pealing, quartering, and coring nine pounds of apples. Then, we cooked them in a large pot until they were soft. 

Next, Chad puréed them in the food processor and heated the purée to boiling while I washed some of jars. Then, we filled the jars to 1/2 inch below the top of the jars, smoothed out the air bubbles, wiped the tops, and put lids on the jars to prepare them for the water bath. 

At this point, we filled the pot higher than the tops of the jars and boiled them for 20 minutes. The jars are now on a towel on the counter cooling. 

I am so excited to have made this. I am getting back to my plan from earlier this year, and it fills me with joy!

Sprouts

 

A few weeks ago, I planted seeds in egg cartons we had saved for the past few months. I now have a bunch of sprouts. The first sprouts were dill and corn. Since then, oregano, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, onions and zucchini have sprouted. I have high hopes for pickling cucumbers and green beans will show up soon. 

I will be clearing space in the yard this weekend, and I will start hardening the plants next week. The basic rule of thumb for planting in Colorado is to wait until after Mother’s Day. I should be able to plant everything the week after that. I get off work early enough to be able to plant for an hour or two before making dinner each day until everything is planted in the ground. Hopefully, it will only take one or two days. 

Unpaper Towels

As I endeavor on a new lifestyle, I have been looking for more ways to be self-sufficient and kinder to the environment. My latest project is unpaper towels. I saw the idea in TikTok about a month ago and have mulled over the idea since. A few days ago, I found a good tutorial on Pinterest and ran with it using fabric I have had in the house since Noel was a baby, I believe. Basically, I cut 24 rectangles roughly the same size. Then, I put them wrong sides together, making 12 cloths, and sewed up the edges using a stitch I thought looked fun on my machine.Next, I sewed an X across the middle so they will continue to lay flat. Finally, I trimmed the edges and threads. The edges will fray a bit each time they are washed , but I’m ok with that. 

These will be used in place of paper towels in most instances. We can use them to clean, wipe the sides of bowels or pans, wipe hands, etc. They won’t be used for things needing grease such as seasoning cast iron or draining bacon. I really think this will make a big difference in our paper towel consumption which will save us money and lower the amount of trash we create. 

Lifestyle Change

As we have searched for a better way of life that may help us save money now and in the long run, Chad and I have decided to ease into homesteading. We have bought books, watched videos, and joined Facebook groups to learn more about the lifestyle. It has been an interesting learning experience. The more I learn, the more I want to jump into it, but I know I can’t do it all. 

We are making all of our bread right now. We rotate making the main bread for the family. I make it one week; Chad makes it the next. I have also been making English muffins and sourdough bread once a week. This is the perfect start to a more natural lifestyle for us. 

The next step we are working on is gardening. I have started my composting again and will have enough to mix in the garden beds next month. I am also planning out what I will be growing and where. My backyard is will not be ready, so I will be doing it in the front yard again. In the two beds by the driveway, I’ll have pickling cucumbers, corn, and squash. In from of my porch, I will grow green beans and let them grow up the trellis. On top of the trellis, I am hoping to make boxes to grow strawberries. Then, in the back corner of the yard, I will put a few tomato plants. Other than that, we will be replacing what is left of the grass with xeriscaping and mulch (something we have wanted to do for years). As we harvest, we will start canning. 

The next thing we will be working on is getting ready for bees. Chad has been wanting to get bees and harvest his own honey for a little over a year. He has been reading a book about it and would be ready to start next February at the optimal time in this area. Apparently, he will have to work on it for over a year before he could harvest any of it. 

From there, we will figure out what is next. There will be apple and cherry trees in our future, and I definitely want to make most of our food which will happen as we go. We need to be less dependent on grocery stores and restaurants. This will help up financially and with our health. I don’t see us ever caring for livestock )even though we could have chickens if we chose) because I don’t think I could handle meeting my food face to face. Other than that, we would have to move. 

I am nervous to make all of these changes, but I think this is right for us. We can’t keep doing the same things we have always done. A drastic change in lifestyle is probably what we need.