We’re having our first Autumn-like storms this week. A rather spectacular electrical storm blew through a few nights ago – we don’t get those often so it was pretty interesting. Our neighbor was up on his roof. Yeah, smart. I know.
The forecast is for rain and 50 mph gusts. I was watching the news last night and they were talking about Tropical Storm Fay hitting Florida and how the gusts would be 50 mph. And this is what went through my mind…BIG STINKIN’ DEAL! That’s a mild winter day here! Don’t talk to me until it’s at least 90!!
The good news is, we’re snug as bugs and enjoying the preview of coming attractions. We have exciting storms on the Oregon Coast. Better still, we’ll be heading into Second Summer soon. Our best months of the year, weather wise, are September and October. Warm, dry, no fog, fewer tourists. Can’t wait.
Okay, here’s our progress…
1. Plant Something. Put the avocado start in soil – had a nice three inch taproot on it. Most everything I planted for the winter garden is already up and looking good.
2. Harvest Something. Spent a few hours harvesting wild red huckleberries, also known locally as grouse berries. They’re small, tart, and have a slight citrus taste.
3. Preserve Something. Purchased meat in bulk and repackaged and froze about three months worth of beef and chicken.
4. Prepare Something. I’m back to working on my quilt. The top is done and I’m getting the backing ready. Should have it all together and ready to quilt later this week! Yippee!!
5. Cook Something. Always. We had guests last weekend and so I cooked a lot, and things I don’t normally cook, like bacon.
6. Manage Your Financial Reserves. Pulled our credit reports and FICO scores (Wow, we have really good credit! I had no idea we were so responsible!). Found out we qualify for much lower interest on one loan and we’re looking into refinancing our mortgage into a lower fixed rate product. We’re also making plans to do some remodeling and upgrading of our home. Exciting.
7. Work on Local Food Systems. Learned that my community garden is now city property as a land donation has been finalized. I’m working with the city now to improve our current garden and start a new one next year!
8. Learn Something New. I’m studying Jezebel in preparation for teaching ladies Bible study. I learned from my daughter-in-law about making soy and almond milk. And I’ve learned that my moulting chicken, Maggie, is really stressin’ out over the loss of her feathers. Poor girl.
9. Serve Someone. We brought my sister-in-law’s family up for several days. It was wonderful to see them and give them a little time for relaxation before school starts.
I’ll try to be a little more intentional for next week.
I have officially concluded that I am having a mild nervous breakdown. Don’t ask me why – too complicated. Let’s just say I’m in serious need of a vacation … and medication! It’s always better, I’ve found, when I reach the point of “embracing my limitations,” which I am now doing whole-heartedly. I’m flaky, forgetful, disorganized, and lacking in the ability to track complex thoughts. And, I no longer care. Once the hysterical giggling kicks in, you know we’re having fun.
That said, here is our progress in the preparedness challenge…
1. Plant Something I finished getting the rest of the winter garden in and new salad greens and onions are already sprouting. I’ve successfully rooted a second avocado pit – the first one is doing beautifully and I have about a foot tall avocado tree!
2. Harvest Something We had the first of the purple and yellow beens with dinner tonight. Delish! They are my favorite fresh from the garden food. Did you know that purple beans turn green when you cook them? Bummer.
3. Preserve Something Nothing this week, but I did get in contact with OSU Extension in Linn County about taking the Master Food Preservers class. I’d really like to do that.
4. Prepare Something I’m preparing to host my sister-in-law, nephew, niece, and grand-nephew. That will be fun. Ordered 50# of organic whole wheat flour – for winter bread making. And we’ve pressure washed all the motorized equipment and everything is in top form.
5. Cook Something BBQ Chicken and fresh beans. That was dinner tonight.
6. Manage your Financial Reserves The beauty in being insurance brokers is this…the money we lost in our IRA investments was essentially regained by the commission we received when we moved our money to an annuity. Very nice.
7. Work on Local Food Systems Purchased produce (fruit that we don’t grow here) from the local organic food co-op and I’ll be putting in 4-5 hours at the community garden tomorrow, not to mention the hours I spend growing our own.
8. Learn Something New I learned about starting a peach tree from a pit. And I’ve learned about a few new herbs that I haven’t tried.
9. Serve Someone Our ladies’ Bible study took a month off and we reconvened today. It was lovely teaching and leading a very indepth discussion of the book of Esther. Also, yesterday I traveled to Albany to spend some time with a friend. We were both in need of encouragement and we both came away blessed.
We live in Tsunami – Earthquake – Flood – Cyclone – Rain country. Natural disasters are sort of normal. We don’t have 25 or 50 year storms (what does that mean anyway?). Every winter, the power goes out for days. Every winter we have hefty windstorms and damage of one size or another. And, in the event of a tsumani, we are the high ground. So being prepared for an emergency, either natural, economic, or otherwise man-made, is up pretty high on my priority list.
Melonie at The Prepared Family has been participating in a weekly challenge and I really like the idea. So, here is the challenge and what we are doing to be prepared this week…
1. Plant Something: This week I’m planning and planting the winter garden. My garden is in a greenhouse and I’m able to grow, some things, year round. I’m planting salad greens, cauliflower, winter squash, legumes, and onions.
2. Harvest Something: The second crop of cauliflower is coming up as are brocolli, beans, salad, and squash. Harvesting daily for a dinner near you – or maybe not near you…
3. Preserve Something: Honey peaches – see previous entry.
4. Prepare Something: Now I’m not sure about this one. We cleaned half the shop and the upper room/loft and got it ready for visitors. And I’m preparing invitations for a family gathering in September. Hmmm. I’ll have to think about this one some more. Oh, I know. Today is food day. Later today, I will plan out our menu for the month of August. All dinners, grocery lists, etc and later this week I’ll do our monthly shopping trip. That’s definitely a big preparation task.
5. Cook Something: I actually haven’t had to cook for several days. Rare. But today I will be making loaf bread and hamburger buns and we’ll have wonderful hamburgers for dinner.
6. Manage your Financial Reserves: This last week we moved a large chunk of our SIMPLE IRA reserves to annuities as our retirement fund was sinking fast. I’ll add more to the IRA this week, but more on the system of buy low/sell high, not the other way around.
7. Work on Local Food Systems: Yesterday, Sabrina and I worked at the Lincoln City Community Garden. I’m the project leader and this year we have 26 beds and over 40 gardeners each growing their own produce and extra for the local food pantry.
8. Learn Something New: A recent book purchase is “Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning.” It’s all about traditional preservation techniques using salt, vinegar, drying, and lactic fermentation. I’m looking forward learning about fermentation and to building a root cellar.
9. Serve Someone: This weekend we served several someones. We had a home bible study group from a church in Keizer, OR come for a camping retreat. It was wonderful to provide a peaceful and beautiful place for them to gather, to share testimonies and meals, and to see God’s confirmation of His dream for Covenant Creek. Funny how we are served when we serve. Thanks, God.
A pretty good beginning, I think. So each week we’ll revisit this list and see how we do. Care to take the challenge?
Living the homestead life is simple in it’s objective, and busy in it’s practical application. It means NO to buying pre-packaged microwave meals, and YES to making meals from scratch, preferably from meat and produce you’ve grown yourself. It means NO to preservative saturated factory bread, and YES to the delicious aroma of homemade sour dough fresh from the oven. It means making for yourself at a fraction of the cost the same products advertisers are working hard to make you pay too much for.
Homesteading means living off the land as much as possible, being self-sufficient, frugal and wise stewards of all that God has given.
So this (rather long) entry is a (partial) day in my life.
Start with all your ingredients…Do not mix soap and peaches! On the agenda today? Make gentle liquid face soap and laundry detergent, and can delicious peaches.
Gentle Face Soap
Finely grate 1/3 bar of Coconut Castile Soap and dissolve it in 2 cups hot water (low heat on the stove). Stir it slowly so as not to make bubbles. When completely dissolved, pour into bowl with 2 cups cold water. Add a few drops of lavendar essential oil or fragrance as desired. Allow to cool 12-16 hours stirring periodically. Mixture will thicken as it cools and stirring it with a wire whisk will keep it from “gooping.” Pour into a pump dispenser and store excess. (Cost = $.40; Cost of store bought equivalent = $2.55)
Laundry Detergent
Timothy makes a glycerine soap as a by-product of making biodiesel fuel. This stuff will cut the grease off an oil rig! I use his soap straight on our work clothes because nothing gets greasy, pitchy, yucky, stinky work clothes clean like his glycerine soap. But for some of our more gentle items, or just normal dirty clothes, I make this laundry detergent and it works very well. Plus it’s low sudsing and rinses easily, which saves me from having to do the extra rinse cycle
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Ingredients:
1/2-1/3 bar Fels Naptha laundry bar soap, finely grated
1 cup each Washing Soda (not baking soda) and Borax
1/2 – 1 cup glycerine soap (optional)
1/4 cup lemon juice
fragrance as desired
Dissolve washing soda and Borax in 3 gallons hot tap water. Stirring slowly and constantly, dissolve finely grated Fels Naptha in a sauce pan with 2-3 cups hot water (low heat on stove). Don’t boil or stir too quickly or you’ll make bubbles! When completely dissolved, pour Fels Naptha into bucket with soda/Borax mixture. Stir and add cold water to fill the bucket. Add lemon juice, fragrance, and super duper glycerine soap as desired. Mixture will thicken at the top as it cools. Let set at least 24 hours stirring periodically with a wire whisk to break up gel. (Note: this stuff removes the paint from the handle of my whisk, so don’t leave the whisk in the soap between stirs). Mix thoroughly before pouring it into jugs or use it directly from the bucket. I use 1/4 – 1/2 cup per load depending on soil. (Cost = $.01 per load; Cost of store bought equivalent = $.35 per load)
Best news of all – clean up is a breeze because everything’s already soapy. Just rinse!
Honey Peaches
Oregon Produce is the best in the world and I’m not biased – any Oregonian you ask will tell you the same thing! And it’s peach season. My, oh my! I got two cases of peaches at the perfect ripeness and, of course, we want to save some of that delicious goodness for the deep dark winter months. So, we can! Can is a verb in this sense.
A quart jar will hold five good sized peaches so for the first round, we start with 20 peaches and 4 quart jars. Blanch the peaches by putting them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, then dropping them into cold water. The skins slide right off. Halve or slice them and put the pieces into the jars. Pour a light syrup over them. Now, not being interested in adding sugar, I make a very light honey syrup of 1/3-1/2 cup honey in about 5 1/2 cups water. 
Boil the syrup mixture and keep it hot. The liquid has to be hot when poured over the peaches. Work a rubber spatula around the inside of the jar to remove air bubbles. Fill to about 1/2 inch from the top. Wipe the rim with a clean, dry rag and place hot lids (I keep a small pan simmering with an inch of water and keep the lids there until I need them) and screw them tight. Place the jars in a canning pot so they’re completely submerged and boil for 30 minutes (25 minutes for pint jars). Place upside-down on a towel to cool (make sure the lids are on really tightly). In 24 hours, place them in the pantry until needed.
I also made several peach pies – honey peach pies – and froze them.
In this midst of all this goodness, I of course was doing laundry too. There’s nothing like pulling clean clothes off the line and smelling the wonderful fresh outdoor air on them. I love living in the country! And I was planning the Winter Garden. It’s peak harvest time, but harvest only lasts a month or two. I’m extending the garden into next winter and spring. More on that later.
If you’re interested in more homemade cleaners, I put together a list for our ladies group. You can download it here (cleaners-homemade). I also have cost comparisons for each if anyone’s interested.
Happy Homesteading.
