Work and life.... Scheduling ...very important. In Between learning lines this week, I made two batches of soap, replanted part of the garden for a late fall harvest, did all the laundry, painted a drop-leaf table, partially removed the fencing between the old chickens and the new ones AND made the masters tournament on tiger woods golf.
My soap: One batch saponified nicely and is cut and curing. I made it with the fat rendered from the pig my brother-in-law slaughtered and cinnamon. I cant wait to use this one. The other one, I made with vegetable oil and it is taking its sweet time hardening. I may have to hot process it. That one is sandalwood facial scrub and orange oil.
The garden has served us well this season. We railed through over half the beans really fast so I put in a few new ones. They should come in just about the time the weather turns. I put in a new winter bed with spinach, collards and some new lettuce. I am also ready to plant a new batch of potatoes. I will never again plant 'fingerlings' the yield was so low it wasn't worth the bed space. With all this hot weather you would think that the tomatoes would be coming in by now but they are still green and tiny. We got enough cucumbers for some salads but I didn't even bother to try and plant pickling cucumbers this year. To get enough cucumbers to pickle you pretty much need a dedicated space. We aren't there yet. I miss my old garden with the perfect soil and the perfect amount of sunlight.
I'm disappointed in the new girls. At least one was supposed to be a rooster. I'm not so sure. I haven't heard any crowing and they are all 4 1/2 months old. Jimmy says he heard attempts at crowing but I haven't heard anything but peeping and clucking.
A friend from Portland is coming to pick up four of them on Wednesday. Maybe a change in the pecking order will bring out the rooster in Gannicus.
I still have raspberries in the freezer that need to be made into Jam. Baby sister....The blackberries are coming in....its time. I also managed to get a few of the yellow plums off the tree before the squirrels annihilated it. Steps will be taken to insure next years crop is safe. I will be making plum jelly out of the ones I saved. The squirrels don't seem to have much interest in the purple plums so I may get enough to make some wine this year. I'm also going to try to make rose hip jelly. I've already made enough to jelly to keep Jimmy in PB&J for a year but not enough for gifting. I'm sure that will be remedied soon.
I made a list of 30 things to do in 30 days...because its been crazy around here and I wasn't getting crucial projects done. The list is helping. I planned on doing the items in the order that they were listed but that hasn't happened. I tend to work organically. If one project calls for time in the kitchen , I just do everything in there in one day whether or not they are all on the priority list. Guess I just learned something about myself and how I process. The list has made it easier and I seem to be getting a lot more done. So it looks like today I will be doing items 3, 14 and 22! Unless it gets too hot , then I'm going to do #6 and read my book in the shade.
My soap: One batch saponified nicely and is cut and curing. I made it with the fat rendered from the pig my brother-in-law slaughtered and cinnamon. I cant wait to use this one. The other one, I made with vegetable oil and it is taking its sweet time hardening. I may have to hot process it. That one is sandalwood facial scrub and orange oil.
The garden has served us well this season. We railed through over half the beans really fast so I put in a few new ones. They should come in just about the time the weather turns. I put in a new winter bed with spinach, collards and some new lettuce. I am also ready to plant a new batch of potatoes. I will never again plant 'fingerlings' the yield was so low it wasn't worth the bed space. With all this hot weather you would think that the tomatoes would be coming in by now but they are still green and tiny. We got enough cucumbers for some salads but I didn't even bother to try and plant pickling cucumbers this year. To get enough cucumbers to pickle you pretty much need a dedicated space. We aren't there yet. I miss my old garden with the perfect soil and the perfect amount of sunlight.
I'm disappointed in the new girls. At least one was supposed to be a rooster. I'm not so sure. I haven't heard any crowing and they are all 4 1/2 months old. Jimmy says he heard attempts at crowing but I haven't heard anything but peeping and clucking.
A friend from Portland is coming to pick up four of them on Wednesday. Maybe a change in the pecking order will bring out the rooster in Gannicus.
I still have raspberries in the freezer that need to be made into Jam. Baby sister....The blackberries are coming in....its time. I also managed to get a few of the yellow plums off the tree before the squirrels annihilated it. Steps will be taken to insure next years crop is safe. I will be making plum jelly out of the ones I saved. The squirrels don't seem to have much interest in the purple plums so I may get enough to make some wine this year. I'm also going to try to make rose hip jelly. I've already made enough to jelly to keep Jimmy in PB&J for a year but not enough for gifting. I'm sure that will be remedied soon.
I made a list of 30 things to do in 30 days...because its been crazy around here and I wasn't getting crucial projects done. The list is helping. I planned on doing the items in the order that they were listed but that hasn't happened. I tend to work organically. If one project calls for time in the kitchen , I just do everything in there in one day whether or not they are all on the priority list. Guess I just learned something about myself and how I process. The list has made it easier and I seem to be getting a lot more done. So it looks like today I will be doing items 3, 14 and 22! Unless it gets too hot , then I'm going to do #6 and read my book in the shade.
