Gardening, bees and other stuff by Gracie

I went outside to check on my garden today. I have potatoes, radishes and swiss chard above the ground. Now if the weather cooperates, I will get the rest of it planted this week. This is the first sucessful (knocking on wood and crossing every finger) garden I have ever planted on my own. Sure, I have a few flowers here and there but nothing that I can eat and feed my family with. I am pretty stoked.

My bees arrive in a few weeks and I am almost ready for them. I have the deep super and the base and top all assembled. I just need to paint it all, get it leveled out in the garden, install a water source and re-read my instructions a few more times. I am beyond excited for my new hobby.

The food storage is coming along nicely. I am wanting to jump aboard this couponing train and learn to do my shopping for a lot less than I do now. Maybe I can use my savings to put fuel in my car. That is a gripe for another day I guess. In the meantime I will just stay home as much as possible and only go to town when I have to.

My New Years Resolutions

Personal:
1. Spend more time with the Boy having fun, and less time yelling.
2. Get back in some sort of decent shape.

3. Quit smoking (again).

Personal Stuff:
4. I would really like to get a hand grinder, but considering the price of the ones I like, this is more of a hope then a resolution.

5. Also, I want to co-op with a friend's family this year for a garden. The Boy is old enough to help out, they have the land, and then have school-age kids who are willing to help out. I love fresh fruits and veggies, we just don't have the space. Also start a small herb garden at the house.

Financial:
6. Start an emergency home-stash of cash.
7. Rebuild saving to 3 months of expenses.
8. Continue using Mint.com to better track/save expenses.
9. Continue to not make stupid choices.

Skills:
10. Go shooting at least once a month.
11. Take knitting or quilting class.

12. Enroll the Boy in Swimming classes.

Preparedness Stuff :
13. Add a stock of various Batteries.
14. Purchase some lighting setups. I.e.: various lanterns and flashlights.
15. Stock up on firewood this winter, perhaps get DNR permit.

Gun Stuff:
16. Save some money each month for a handgun. I know this sounds small, but seeing as my gun knowledge is extremely limited, I'm working with what I've got now.

Food Rotation:
17. This year, be much more realistic about what I'm canning and what amounts. Having lots of fruits and jams is nice, but realistically I should have canned much more veggies. I'm much more likely to use 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce then I am to use 10 quarts of pickles.

18. Purchase a small dehydrator to use for drying own herbs and veggies.

Eating Pantry Staples

My goal this last month of so, has been to eat as much as I can out of my pantry and food storage. I've been stockpiling things on a regular basis, but I've also been forgetting to rotate anything out. One solution for this (although not the best solution granted) is to stop buying groceries for awhile.

Obviously, I have to buy some things, like fresh veggies and dairy here and there, and meat at least once a week. But so far I've been able to pull some decent meals together without having to seriously put myself out on a limb.

Since I'm only feeding 1.5 people, a little can stretch a long way. A pan of cornmeal can be a side at one meal, and be used for a Tex-Mex style casserole the next. We can eat a pound of spaghetti for 3 days straight. And instead of worrying about having to buy expensive fresh red meat every few days, I can supplement it easily with frozen Jimmy Dean Sausage and my leftover Venison from last hunting season.

I'll try to keep you as updated, although I've been pretty bad about keeping up with the blog! Sorry about that!