Currently

We are gearing up for the snow storm to hit so I thought I would update you on the current goings-on around the homestead.

I'm currently: reading
1. Mastering Pasta by Marc Vetri because you know January's goal is to learn to make pasta! Did I tell you that my pasta maker broke after just 2 uses? I can't complain. I bought it at a yard sale for $4. That pasta maker was well loved before I bought it. The gears were worn down from so much use! I'm being frugal and making it all by hand until I can save enough money to buy this pasta maker. So we'll have rustic spaghetti and lasagna until then.
2. The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila because I totally forgot I had this book! I was making whole grain pancake mix for the pantry but the Mister won't eat whole grain. He likes bisquick and I know I've made a knock off bisquick mix before. And lo and behold I found it in the Homemade Pantry. So then I started going through it and making notes. I found some good information on yogurt and on using whey. It's sure to be on my reading list for a long time!
3. stitch'n bitch superstar knitting by Debbie Stoller because I started going through my goodreads list and realized that I've had some books on my list for years! So I decided to start reading exclusively from my goodreads 'want to read' list and my wish list on my overdrive accounts. I did do some cleaning out of all my reading lists. I took off any fiction that wasn't a classic or a 'must read' fiction book. And I left on any non-fiction books. I'll try to find most of the non-fiction books at my local libraries.
4. Pure Soapmaking by Anne-Marie Faiola because it's a library book and I need to return it soon. You probably remember this book from here. January is soap making month too. But January's is quickly turning into February without a single bar of soap being made! But we're reading about it. That counts right?
5. The Spender's Guide to Debt Free Living by Anna Newell Jones. This is a really good book on how to do a no-spend month, or beyond. You might recall that we did a no-spend August and had very good results. I totally didn't blog about it although I promised I would. Is it too late to do that? Anyway, I thought I would put this book back on the reading rotation list to gear us up for saving money. We've been very good lately I'll admit! We just consolidated freezers and organized the pantry so our grocery spending should be pretty much nothing for the next few months. I have a blog post about that coming very soon.
6. Dimestore by Lee Smith because I didn't know she had this book out. Lee Smith is one of my fav author's and I couldn't resist. I stumbled across it while searching the library for books that are on my goodreads list.
7. I'm also re-reading one of my favorite blogs, Milkweed and Teasel (M&T). I love this blog. I always learn so much about homesteading when reading it, even though I've read it a million times. I wish she would start blogging again but I'm afraid that dream might not be a reality. Sadly. I've also been reading Starving Off the Land, but again, it's a now defunct blog. I found it from reading the comments on Jennifer's blog, M&T. I can still learn from both of this blogs even though they are not currently in production so there's that. They've both motivated me to get outside and start looking for things to forage and start taking a different look at the land.

Which brings us to our next currently topic: doing
1. I've been walking through the woods with Anna Lee. It gets us both out of the house and gets her some training. We've been exploring the trails around the property and looking at different tracks trying to figure out what we are looking at. So far I think we've seen rabbit, turkey, and either coyote or a dog (if the neighbor's german shepherd in the yard this morning was any indication). We will try snow shoeing tomorrow once the snow storm is over. I have big plans but think it won't happen quite like I'm expecting since I am so. out. of shape.
2. Cleaning freezers. I have whole blog post about this. I'll include info about our meat situation and our spring meat order.
3. Classes and workshops. I think I mentioned this in my 2019 goals post, but I signed up for a pallet painting workshop, a beekeeping class, and a essential oils class. These classes and workshops are all within the next two weeks. And I'm attending them by myself. I have social anxiety about doing things by myself so I'm really pushing myself to do things that take me out of my comfort zone. Plus I really want to do these things and if I wait to find someone to do them with (you know, the whole coordinating schedules thing) then the opportunities would pass me by. So it's a win-win, right?

What I'm currently: making
1. Knitting: I just knitted the Mister a hat. He usually doesn't wear anything I knit him but I think I guilted him into wearing a hat. He picked the colors and I made the hat. I hope he actually likes it and will wear it! I'll post a pic soon. I'm also working on some new products for the shop.
2. Pie. When am I not making pie?
3. Extracts. I made orange and lemon. They are both in progress at the moment.
4. Gin. I just started another round of gin today.

What else? I start back to work in the next week. I have a coffee date with a friend that I haven't seen in ages. Oh the snow just started! It's time to sign off and go play in the snow! What have you been up to lately???

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