Weekly Roundup 10/13/19
Good Morning from the homestead! It has been another busy week and the difference between this busy week and the weeks prior? I felt it this time. Mostly because that little goofy kitty woke me up several days between 3:30-4:30AM. The first couple of times I just rolled with it but the third time I was wiped out. After a long week of doing, a day of working, waking up really early, I was just wiped out. So on Friday I pretty much did nothing. I took a really long nap to make up for being woken up so early so many times. But it was good. I'm behind on some things, including posting and responding to social media and the blog, but I'll spend some time today making up for that! But let's start at the beginning. And my apologies, this is going to be another long post and I'll explain why in a few.
On Monday I had a doctor's appointment and needed to run errands. I started with ordering logo bags for my upcoming beeswax food cover kits. I'm teaching a class in a couple of weeks (actually I'm teaching two upcoming beeswax food cover classes. Check the classes page for more info) and I want to give the participants a kit so they can go home and make their own food covers (we'll be making them in class as well). I find the food cover ingredients are hard to source and rather on the pricey side. You have to by jojoba oil and pine resin. Normally in my classes I tell the students that the ingredients you need for one thing--like salves--can be used for different things like lip balms and candles, just in different ratios. So investing in a carrier oil, beeswax, and some essential oils will get you at least three different products. Not so with food covers. It requires specialty ingredients that you might not be able to use in other projects. Hence the kits. I'll also be selling the kits in my webshop and at markets that I participate in. But that will come later. I also made a first round of food covers this past week. And I found those cute little 2 ounce bottles in the first picture below. I am in love with them! I've also included the cover page to my next three classes. I'm so proud of the work I've put into these classes. They seem to be the thing that is catching on quicker than anything else I do. I would love to be able to teach classes on a regular basis. I'm thinking of classes to add. What would you like to learn about? Give me some ideas and I'll see if I can make it happen...even if it's online!
So I stopped and ordered bags and then I went to the thrift store. I know I talked about it a little in this post, but I didn't go into detail. Every so often I will go to Salvation Army and spend maybe $40 on some new-to-me clothes. I get bored with my wardrobe and it's a good way to not invest a ton of money in new clothes. And it's frugal and environmentally friendly. I'm going to do a follow up post to our cash spending plan because I didn't actually cover some of the details on how we live frugally and/or save money. The post was already long enough and I've had some questions since that post. So I'm working on a follow up post as well. Anyway, I found some new dishes (I'd actually been looking for some) and I bought 3 pairs of pants, a sweater, and a dress. You can see the sweater and dress in the picture below. So I'm all set for the next few months in terms of clothes.
I know I keep sharing pictures of the kitchen window, but I just can't get enough of that fall light! And I have an added orchid. I'm up to 7 orchids of my own and 1 foster orchid. My newest one is in the middle picture below. And I picked a ton of pears last week! I need to go check for windfalls. We picked all the pears that could be reached using ladders and apple pickers. But there were still a ton in the top of the tree. I'm just waiting for them to ripen and then I'll put pear pie filling in the freezer. I do have enough to make a pie this week and since I've been asked for the recipe I'll do a whole blog post on just pear pie! YUM!
I spent some time in the kitchen this week. I told you about making tomato sauce with all my leftover garden tomatoes and I wanted to make homemade pasta. I finally got around to that on Monday (I think. It all runs together!). I asked for a pasta attachment for the Kitchen Aid for my birthday this past summer and my family went in together and got it for me! This was the first time I used it and it made life so much easier. One day I hope to have some extra time so I can make a bunch of pasta and dry it. I would also like to make seasonal pasta--you know--where you use veg that is in season and add it to the pasta? Like beet pasta? Basil pasta? Add it to the list! Anyway, the homemade dinner that night was yummy (I used a homemade loaf of bread and turned it into garlic bread. It was a complete homemade meal (I just forgot to take a picture of it!).
I also made another loaf of bread for this week. I've missed having eggs and toast for breakfast. I've been trying to eat much, much healthier lately (and it's working) so I cut out carbs and sugar because those are my weaknesses. So I've been doing good and I wanted to add back in some carbs in the form of homemade bread for breakfast. I like an over easy egg over toast with spinach/lettuce, tomatoes, balsamic glaze, maybe some goat cheese if I have it. It's yummy and filling! So I'm adding that back in.
We also ran out of the homemade mustard that I make and that we love. I had a bunch of leftover white wine and decided to use it all for making the grainy white wine mustard that I make. I didn't get it all finished but I started with the first step--add the mustard seeds and white wine, bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover, let soak. I had enough wine to make 5 batches. It's in the fridge now and I will finish it up today or tomorrow and can it. Then we'll be back in mustard business!
Oh. Grapes. I happened to get a big rubbermaid tote full of grapes. I think they're Concords. So I processed them into juice and then froze it until I have time to make it into jam or jelly. I'm thinking grape-ginger jelly and then just plain grape. I'll also search my small batch preserving books to see if there is anything else that strikes my fancy. I also have currants and figs in the freezer that need to be processed into jams. And I have some chicken carcasses that need to be processed into stock. Oh. And I have lobster parts in the freezer for fish stock. But come January when it's cold and snowy and I don't want to go outside, that will be the perfect time to process!
I also told you guys that I was attending a beekeeping class this past weekend. I was so excited. It was so. much. better than anticipated. There were 4 of us in the class and it was great! I'll do a whole post on that later. But I ended up booking 2 classes at the beekeeping place when I was purchasing 5 pounds of wax. Here's the link to the first class. You can also find that date listed on my classes page. I hit it off with the beekeeping people immediately. I am so getting bees! Maybe not next year (what with the garden and chicken project) but they will be in my future. It was a really good experience. More soon.
So if you read this post then you'll know we moved in recent history. We stored most of our stuff and only brought what we needed or what would give me some comfort! But the longer we're here the more I want some of my stuff. And instead of going out and buying stuff, I just went shopping from the things we have in storage. Our stuff is at my mother-in-laws (thanks for storing our stuff!) and I had time yesterday morning (before beekeeping) to grab a bunch of things. I took the picture below because I asked her if I could have the plastic turkey decoy. She told me yes and that it's name is Gertrude. I told her that one of my chickens was named Gertrude (Gertie McGhee). But I thought it was hilarious that Gertrude was riding in the very back looking out the window the whole way home. I have a plan for Gertrude. Stay tuned.
Also in the back of that car is: apples (for sauce), hay (for decorations), a compost bin, cast iron pans, pots and pans, a blender, a cuisinart, canned tomatoes, wreaths, linens, curtains, honey, and beeswax. The only thing I paid for out of all that? The honey and beeswax! I should come up with a price for everything and then I could say "I saved X amount of money by shopping my stuff"! That's how you live frugally!
So now for some housekeeping items. I'm finding that I'm joining in more and more on preset things (like Wordless Wednesday and Friday Favorites, plus my own preset day of Sunday being the weekly roundup) and I'm not posting about homesteading stuff as much. And I miss that. So here's what I'm thinking: I'll combine Friday Favorites and the weekly roundup. They're both essentially the same except that Friday Favorites is more of what I've been digging for the week and the roundup is what I've been doing. So I'll post the roundup on Fridays so my week will run Friday-Thursday. I'll update you on what I've been doing during that time and at the bottom I'll add in my Friday Favorites. That leaves me time to make a couple of other posts during the week about homesteading things--like beekeeping, pear pie, frugal living. I also hope it will help cut down on such long posts, but I always have so much that I want to share with you guys!! I'll keep Wednesday dedicated for Wordless Wednesday. I like it. It's a good way to share something quick especially during those busy weeks when maybe I can't post a lot. So that's my new blogging plan. I will try not to post more than 4 times per week (3 times per week is more realistic, but I might end up blogging more over the next few weeks just so we can get caught up on all the promised posts). I know you all are waiting with bated breath for my posts! HA!
What else? So let's make a list of upcoming blog posts:
1. pear pie
2. frugal living, or cash spending part 2
3. beekeeping
4. blueberry lavender pie
5. Marketing class parts 1 and 2 (part 2 is coming up on Friday)
6. Writing a business plan
I think that's it. Anything else you want to know about? Learn about? That I haven't told you and you're just dying to know?!?
I also want to start an online book group. I thought I would start it in a couple of weeks and our first book will be about....beekeeping! We'll be reading this book so if you want to get a copy and join me I would love to have you. Send me an email with your contact info (basically your name, email, and website or social media handle and we'll go from there).
And because I know you want to know more about what's coming up this week, here's what's on the list: finishing mustard, finishing the business plan, making pies, dinner with friends, making apple sauce, finishing the beeswax food cover class (including kits), and it's time for the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival (although technically that will be in the follow week's post since I'm doing Friday-Thursday! But still, I know you want to know what's coming up!).
Okay. That'll do. So I hope you answer some of the questions in this post. I really would like to hear from you. Tell me what you want to see from my blogging. More teaching? Less words? More posts? Less posts? Do tell!! I hope you have a great week friends!