Making Do
I originally started this post as a 'we've been making do and here are some of the ways that we've been doing that' post, but now it's been so long since I posted I want to combine that with a weekly roundup. But let's start here first. Did it feel like a really long week to you? So far I feel like I've been holding steady in the face of the pandemic, but this past week...not so much. It was a hard week. I lost sight of things. I think maybe I overdid it with everything and was just tired. But nonetheless, it was hard. It's been hard establishing a small business but I felt like, less than a year after starting that business, that I had a good foothold. Then the pandemic shut things down. And that was okay. I mean, I lost income from classes, sure, but the important part was staying healthy. And then I decided to offer some online classes, for free. And that got some good responses. But I think I just kind of lost my direction after that. Like, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? And I looked around and saw people supporting other small businesses in my community, but it was almost like no one knew I had a business. So I lost sight for a hot minute. After a couple of days of feeling sorry for myself, I stepped up and decided that it was okay. It's okay to offer free classes and facebook live videos. It's also okay to promote your business. It's okay to not make money right now. We're fine. We'll be fine. So here I am. I mostly try to keep the negative away from here but sometimes you have to let people know that it's okay to struggle. We'll make it. We'll see the other side of this.
So let's talk about some good things, shall we? This past week, while kinda yucky, also had some really good things happening as well. First, I made a LOT of things! I started back knitting again. It's been a while since I've done that. I made a hat and sent it off as a surprise to a dear friend. I started working on a cowl for myself that I put down months ago. I had to rip it out though because I didn't use a stitch marker. And the more experienced knitter might have been able to look at it and figure it out, but for some reason I just couldn't figure out where the beginning of the round was. And I had just started a row of lace and it just wasn't working out. Now, it totally stinks to rip anything out, especially when ripping all the way out, but honestly it was only something like 7 rows of ribbing and one row of lace. No big deal. I've started it again and I'm happy to report that I'm on the second row of lace. In other knitting news, I've worked out what all I need to do to finish all works-in-progress. That was nice.
The seed experiment is going well. Most things sprouted with the exception of the squash, a couple of zinnias, and the amaranth. Not bad for seeds that are 2 years old and weren't stored properly. One of the things I've been doing in order to 'make do' is finding some free online classes (which we talked about here). Well. I was lucky enough to find a free online seed starting class through one of the cooperative extensions. I've gardened off and on for a few years but never really started seeds before. I haven't saved seeds either and that's on the list this year! Anyway, I started some seeds this year and have been texting back and forth with a friend who is a garden guru. He's been very helpful! So when I saw this class I jumped on it. So did everyone else! There were over 200 people registered for the class! That just goes to show you people are being affected by the pandemic. And what I learned from the class was that I am doing most things wrong, but it's been working so we're going to keep doing it. And then next time we'll do it the more appropriate way.
Speaking of free classes, I have a beeswax food covers class coming up on Friday. I'm offering it for free as I mentioned above. But one of the things I decided to start doing in order to promote the business a little is facebook live videos! I did my first one this morning. It was a HOOT! I walked through how to make lip balms. I had fun so I think I'll make it a weekly feature over on facebook. I can do short 30 minute instructional videos. Did I ever mention I love teaching others how to do all these fun and crazy things!?!?
I'm also trying to support other small businesses. Because I can't belly ache about what a hard time I'm having if I'm not supporting other small businesses. That would be very selfish of me. I don't have a lot of extra funding so as much as I'd like to purchase something from those business, I just can't. But what I can do is share their products. Talk about them to friends and neighbors. Be more thoughtful with my dollars when i do have a little extra. So you'll see that happening over on social media. I'm also thinking about opening my web shop up to other local makers who don't have an online avenue to sell their products. Stay tuned.
The biggest reason I wanted to do this post was to talk about how we are doing overall with being frugal. One of the biggest things that this pandemic has changed for us, and for a lot of people I'm sure, is our spending habits. Gone are the days where we jump in the car and run to the closest city (about 45 minutes away) and go buy a car load of stuff. Now we are eating from our food reserves. We're more thoughtful about making things from scratch and at home. Although I will say, the Mister still tries to sneak in some processed, store bought, out of season stuff. Take that pizza for example. I was doing a run through for one of my classes (cheesemaking) and I had some sourdough starter discard left over. So I thought "Hmm...let's make a from scratch pizza". I made the mozzarella, the ricotta, we have basil growing, and I'll make a sourdough pizza crust. I love it! But the Mister just couldn't handle it. So we had to buy a tomato. And then every time we talk about a meal or something he'll bring up getting something store bought to help out. Shaking my head.
It's also taught us to really mind our dollars and cents. And I'm totally grateful for that. It also helps that the gas stations in town have lowered their prices significantly! I paid $2.20 per gallon last week. That is totally unheard of in New York State. I buy my milk from the local raw dairy. You've probably heard me mention it before but we have a drop off point near me since the dairy is 45 minutes away (everything is 45 minutes away it seems). I also found a local farm that will let you purchase produce weekly. They're the farm that I always buy from at the farm market. Now I can avoid the farm market and pick up on the farm..which is..you guessed it...45 minutes away! All those pictures of roads are from this past week driving to pick up my supplies. We've been trying to stay home unless it's to run out to pick up our supplies. All of our supply runs involve picking up products without seeing anyone. Unless we are at the local convenient store/deli/gas station. But we make that trip quick.
The chickens are doing good. I thought I had one who might have hurt herself on the bathroom floor (I let them out a couple hours each day to run around the bathroom. Then I clean everything up and tuck them into bed). Anyway, the bathroom floor is slippery for those little girls. But she seems fine. I think maybe she's just a loner. It happens. So the girls are hanging in there. They're almost two weeks old now!
Oh! Speaking of homemade stuff. That one picture above is of homemade bread slathered with homemade butter and homemade jam! It was so good. I guess my goal of being healthy and maybe losing some weight isn't going to happen.
We also did a impromptu trash pick up last week. I think we had something like 9 bags of garbage! That selfie up there was from that day. It rained most of the day but we had fun. We had 4 other people help us and we all maintained a safe distance from each other.
I organized all my garden seeds! That was a job well done. I guess I should update you all on the to-do list. I started a new one for April. I marked a LOT of stuff off in March and now I'm excited to start fresh with a fresh month.
Okay. It's time to sign off. I need to go knit! But I'll leave you with the April to-do list:
1. Process grape juice
2. Grind deer meat
3. Business plan
4. Set up chicken coop and run
5. Build raised garden beds
6. Finish chalkboard wall
7. Paint upstairs
8. Do some mending
9. Do some sewing (have specific needs for #8 & 9)
10. Organize photos
11. Make soap (have a list of soap to make)
12. Write an article for a magazine
13. Finish one knitted item already in progress
14. Inventory class supplies
How are you all doing? Let me know. And my apologies for such a long, rambling post!
'til next time
-k
xoxo