Okay, so it’s been more like a month and a half, not a week, but there is a strange phenomenon at work here…summer is ending, fall is beginning and we have only so many warm sunny days left to finish our preparations. And this weekend we have been blessed with beautiful weather.
We took advantage of that by spending a wonderful day with family yesterday. We have an annual gathering of the Bright side of the clan and we had a great afternoon of stories, food, and time together. What a delight.
So…here is where we are on the preparedness challenge. Let’s see if any progress has been made:
1. Plant Something. Again and again. I have been losing the battle with baby slugs this fall. They’ve eaten all of the bunching onion and salad sprouts and most of the fall beans. Grrr. So I kill them! I planted sets of multiplier onions (plant one, grow 12) that I’m hoping will do better, and of course I’m reseeding other things hoping to get ahead of those slimy critters.
2. Harvest Something. We’re still harvesting daily from the garden, although several things have played out and been removed. Soil and weather conditions were such that we’ve been eating as we grow and I won’t have too much of a surplus for preserving. I’m already making plans for more abundant crops (you should see my monster compost piles!)
3. Preserve Something. Just this afternoon, I read two books on food preservation by drying and I cleaned up a food dryer that has been gathering grime in the shop for several years. I’m looking into local sources for apples and keeping a close eye on the blackberries to make jams and fruit leather as soon as they’re at peak ripeness. Also, several herbs are ready to harvest and dry.
4. Prepare Something. We’re preparing the house for winter. We some damage last winter from major storms, plus 60+ year old wood siding that is rotting away. Last week, we peeled the house back to the studs on a windward wall, insulated and resided. Next week, we’ll finish painting that wall, patch the roof and sweep the chimney.
5. Cook Something. Yesterday it was six racks of spare ribs and three chickens smoked on the fire pit (yum!). I haven’t had to cook much lately as I’ve been on the road and we have several meals stocked up. Tonight and tomorrow, we’re guests of other cooks. I like these breaks.
6. Manage Your Financial Reserves. Wow! If ever there was a time to get one’s financial house in order. We are saving up for quarterly payroll and property tax bills coming up in October and November, keeping an eye on investments and have moved funds to less volatile investments to limit the free-fall of some accounts. We’ve also been blessed with a plan to provide our youngest daughter with a year’s worth of college education without spending any money! Our brilliant high school junior is starting college tomorrow, taking two online courses, is getting dual credit, and the school district is paying for books and tuition. By the time she graduates in 2010, she should have her first year of college completed at no cost to us. That will extend her college fund a bit.
7. Work on Local Food Systems. I attended a meeting last week with urban renewal agency staff and consultants to plan another community garden in my home town. Once completed (in spring 2009), Lincoln City should have near 60 garden plots for local residents to grow fresh produce for themselves and the local food pantry.
8. Learn Something New. Well, besides the two food drying books I read today, I have learned that: I do all right on a two-story scaffold, but I still don’t like heights; My strangely behaving hen is actually a rooster with an inferiority complex and a frustrated sex drive; Cutting and curing firewood in April is much more effective than trying to do it in August; I can drive 250 miles to not see a single friend, or I can look around the corner and be loved all I need; When God closes doors to us, it’s because He’s preparing to provide beyond all our expectations.
9. Serve Someone. These last few weeks my “serve someone” well has been pretty dry. But God provided servants to lift me up and encourage me when I most needed it. Yesterday, I was able to serve my family by providing a place and opportunity to be together and relax for a few hours. This week, I’m trying to get my head around Song of Solomon in order to teach it to our growing ladies Bible study.
