I think it came from FB but so fitting for me in the garden.

 

I think I even have a hat like that. LOL

I have listed all my seeds... by color, with each color on a different notebook paper, since we want to make sure we are eating our colors of fruit and veggies... white is a struggle as Hubby's parents didn't eat potatoes and mine ate them 3 times a day EVERY day. I added more white and purple colored veggies. I also added more flowers as two of the Daughters decided they wanted some that no one grows around here or where they are. 

I ordered (on sale) which meant I had to hunt around several sites to get the best price. I paid NO shipping and the least savings was 10%. I increased the order amount as Hubby felt things were going to head like pandemic did with the grocery stores. Reimer seeds are from Mexico. Several Amish are worried about not getting medical treatment as they do not have photo ids.

I brought all the stuff... grow cart, potting soil, seed starting soil etc into the house. Check fertilizer, blossom rot spray, innoculate etc that I will also need. Should be set.

We promised to bring the garden beds we are giving to the one daughter with in 2 wks as she wants to figure out where to put them etc. 

Hubby needs to finish getting the purple martin house fixed so he can finish putting the rest of the metal beds together.He does that in the barn so he doesn't get so cold or rained on.

Kind of feel like I am spinning wheels during Feb. But I know if I start planting in the grow cart and it stays cold until April (been there and done that) it will hurt my plants to plant too soon or too late.

Menu Jan 25 -Jan 30th

 Jan 25th Leftover pizza from freezer and salad 

Jan 26th Turkey Enchilida soup (home canned),left over corn bread from freezer, tortilla chips and sour cream

Jan 27th Beef pot pie with homemade bread *from M*

Jan 28th, Leftover bean soup and leftover corn bread from freezer.

Jan 29th Chinese take out ... Chinese New Year

Jan 30th.and 31st. Leftover Chinese, odds and ends soup with grilled cheese.

Garden plans for January.

I pulled out my note book and checked to see what I planted where last spring. 

If you planted the area before make sure you rotate. Corn is followed by legumes, Legumes is followed by root veg. Root vegs are followed by fruit (cucumbers, eggplant, squash, tomatoes, peppers and melons). Fruit is followed by leaf plants.  This also goes for raised garden beds.  

Also check to make sure if you do companion planting (two different plants in same bed) that they are helpful to each other. I forgot and planted dill with my one bed of tomatoes... it wasn't a good thing. 

We have 4 wooden garden beds 3 ft by 16 ft. Two of them will be going to Daughter 2 . We have 4 metal beds *2ft by 8 ft* to replace them.

The other 2 wooden beds will be cleared out and replanted with flowers only. 

 Fourteen of the metal beds has garlic in them. The company I ordered garlic from made a mistake, corrected it but let me have the "wrong" order for free. Some will be ready in May so I can plant late summer crops in those beds.The rest should be done by mid June in time for me to plant fall crops. I will be checking to see what I can plant with the garlic and after it. I plant 3 seasons so this is doable for me.

 I have potato grow bags (never used this type before). 

I have the vegepod.

I have black grow bags we have used off and on through the years and Hubby said he thought we had 4 to 6 more metal beds in barn to put together. I have flower boxes and baskets.

I checked my supply of seed pots for the grow cart. 

I checked my supply of seed starting soil, potting soil and fertilizer. Hubby checked the raised garden bed soil and put it on the NEED list. Since we are filling new beds I had already budgeted for it plus topping off last years mixed with our compost.

I went through all my seeds and listed them giving each veggie a page and listing variety. 

I have a seed list from Root Cellaring (Mike and Nancy Bubel) and seed list from Victory Gardens (https://u.osu.edu/ohiovictorygardens/) plus what Amish suggested to plant as it grows good here. 

I checked what I do have in seeds against those lists. I added some I have grew for decades such as scarlet runner beans. I ordered purple broccoli seeds and Heshiko heirloom bunching onion you can plant in the fall to have a crop the following spring from Pinetree aka superseeds.com which is new to me.

I want more "color" in a meals to help us stay healthy without getting it from the store unless it's winter, preferrably from my pantry. I want something red besides beets or tomatoes of veggies (have plenty red in fruit).

This week I will go through the lists again, separate what I will plant this spring and where into a container with list AKA brown sack labeled SPRING. I will rearrange the laundry room for the grow cart and put those seeds in one of the trays. Grow cart gets planted in Feb. The weather people are forecasting a warmer, slightly wetter spring for us. SO I will start my part of my seeds early Feb.

Blessed be

Prayers for peace...

prayers for the govt workers having to return to offices. I know the one base here just had water damage and 1/4 of the workers have NO office due to that

Menu Jan 18th thru Jan 24th

 Jan 18th Taco Bell.

Jan 19th Chuck roast with potatoes,carrots and onions

Jan 20th French toast with Bacon (Bacon from E)

Jan 21st Leftover chuck roast, potatoes, and carrots (no onions)

Jan 22nd Pot pie, baked apples and bread.

Jan 23rd Spaghetti and meathballs , 

Jan 24th Breaded fish, potato skins, salad, asparagus, black raspberry pie

Raised metal bed gardening.... SAM

 You need ground cover aka weed barrier.You can use cardboard but the weeds will come through in a couple years. Hubby puts a double layer of ground cover down including between the beds so I don't walk in mud.

We used cattle panel and fence stakes for the trellis bought from Tractor Supply. Our beds are 8 ft long (same as cattle panel sometimes called cattle feed panel) and 2 ft wide and 2 ft deep. 

You should try to remove grass including roots etc before putting down the barrier. 

You want to buy raised garden bed soil,it has compost in it also. Home Depot is the cheapest here. Tomatoes can have deep roots and you will most likely have to add soil at the end of the year or beginning of the year.

We add our own compost at end of year and usually buy more soil at end of year and store it on property as they don't want "store" it usually put it on sale. 

You have to figure out what you want to raise and what can be raised together. 

Daughter 2 is starting her first garden this year. She wants herbs and flowers. But also potatoes (russet and Yukon gold), different peppers and regular tomatoes.  We are giving her a couple old wooden beds that we were just going to give to neighbor to burn. She will have to decide between determinate tomatoes ,bush like that comes on all at once or indeterminate which needs support,vines and produces all season. I have some old tomato cages if she goes indeterminate.  I am sharing some potato grow bags. I don't think she will continue to grow potatoes after this year so she can give me the bags back. 

You have to think about if you are going to water it if it does not rain enough (1 inch a week is good) and if you are, how are you going to water it. I've carted 5 gallon buckets, Hubby made a 50 gallon barrel to put on back of lawnmower. We drag a 150 ft garden hose here. I am looking at putting in a drip system. Got some of it so deciding where to install it this year. 

I am going to do some winter sowing.  I did this several years ago following this blogger at that time. It's a Feb project.

https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/your-2018-winter-sowing-project/

I will start my grow cart up in Feb. also. I have a few seeds I would like to order for some different plants. Pinetree has a purple broccoli I would like to try.

You have to make sure you give plants room to grow fully. I will plant quick crops, radishes, leaf lettuce, green onions etc. at edges with tomatoes etc. 

I am growing more flowers this year, the lady that I got most of my flowers from died in accident last year. Her helpers and the new wife are going to reopen the greenhouse but they aren't sure if they will do flowers or veggies or both.

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace

Menu 10th- 17th

 Jan 10th  Leftovers went into burritos

Jan 11th Leftover salad with lunch meat and boiled eggs on top

Jan 12th  Leftovers (odds and ends)

Jan 13th Stirfy from leftovers from night before with bell peppers (from freezer), onion and water chestnuts (store bought) over rice

Jan 14th Tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich

Jan 15th  What Hubby calls big egg, onion, bell pepper, potatoes mixed with eggs and fried, along with bacon.

Jan 16th Pizza rolls (last of them)

Jan 17th, Meatloaf sandwiches with chips and raw veggies.

Bills paid for month, Going forward

 All bills were either at budget or below....ones below... "extra" $ got moved to saving for when they are above. So Dec bills good. 

We spent $2.98 on a gallon of milk.

We spent $77.81 on extra large pizza, 2 chef salads, boneless chicken wings with garlic butter dipping sauce, and 2 large chef salads, it made 8 meals...four of those are in the freezer. Figured it would count as the Christmas to each other instead of the steak house as it's a freaking mess with the bitter cold and snow.

I skipped going to the grocery store due to weather. Figured I can go in 2 weeks. So I have only gotten the milk this month.  I will go the 28th so I can use my Kroger coupons, maybe. 

GOING FORWARD

Our income has been cut in half unless we withdraw more from IRA.  I really really don't want to do that unless we really need to to pay the mortgage.  If I had the mortgage paid off and not pay my arm and leg for medical (which is actually half of the cost when we were working) We could live on Social Security

Hubby needs new hearing aids, $4500 was estimate given.

Hubby's work truck needs replaced with a smaller, less expense to repair and maintain truck. We can sell his truck or trade it in.

My truck needs replace as it's on it's last legs. Can not drive it farther than into town without worries of breaking down. Bed is starting to rust to the point of "falling" on the tires. I am looking at SUV or another small truck. We thought about not replacing it.

We put a hold on the final projects we need to buy stuff for to update some areas OUTSIDE.

We are saving (got about half of $) to extend gardens to increase what we grow. We have the raised metal garden beds and about half the raised garden bed soil. I have the seeds, including to start my own plants. I had to order potato tubers and sweet potato starts. , that's paid for. Sharing costs with another so it's not real bad. Got heirloom so I shouldn't have to buy more. 

We plan to cut the amount of propane we order also. I have to June to decide on that amount.

Blessed Be 

Prayers for peace.

Geeze it's only the 6th and the freaking hackers

 are going strong.Thankful that it was stopped but lost a couple posts etc. They didn't get into any emails or financial stuff. I imagine that they tried as Son2 had some of his info leaked but that was stopped also before they withdrew any money.

So... out of 15 of family and friends who had health and other issues, everyone is home and doing better. Couple of them still have follow ups. Son 2 did get update on his ex's child. He is living with his grandparents and has a lot of physical therapy but doing okay.

!!!!! I will add that of you do not drink water... please start...dehydration can mimic mental illness. Urine should be clear or pale yellow... not like motor oil like Son2 who now has his parents and best friend breathing fire daily to remind him to drink WATER. 

Several are working from home due to weather not as bad as TN and KY but we haven't had snow like this for years. Another frigid spell is coming in this weekend so we loaded the wood  and brought in coal that we haven't used in 2 yrs.

Took us 3 hrs but at least we won't be trying to haul wood from the barn or be out in the woods dragging timber to the barns to cut because we didn't deal with it and now need it done like a few Amish did.

I put my back out of place. Only sore now but has slowed me down. Nothing like twinges when you turn and feeling like you are getting a hard pinch on the spine. Already scheduled the chiro appts.

We have one utility still to come in to pay this month and the chiro co pays. Since it's the electric bill I am expecting it to be higher than average. Should be online by tomorrow. Figures crossed we will be coming in under budget.

How has your new year started?

Blessed Be

Prayers for peace

Menu Jan 3rd to 9th

 Jan 3rd  Leftover chicken into a stir fry with bell peppers, onions, garlic,carrots, celery and mushrooms with turmeric rice.

Jan 4th Leftover pork loin, kraut with apples, spinach and hominy 

Jan 5th Taco soup with tortilla chips, cheese dip and pineapple rings

Jan 6th Lasagna, salad with mandrain orange and spelts garlic bread.

Jan 7th Roasted ham, leftover spinach, leftover hominy and buttered potatoes. (rest of ham going in freezer, broth going in bean soup)

Jan 8th Leftover lasagna (froze rest) salad, pineapple rings

Jan 9th, Going to have great northern bean soup with White Lily cornbread. 

menu for past week

Dec 27th Left over prime rib, left over baked potato, left over mixed green salad with goat cheese crumbles and raisins. 

Dec 28th sausage gravy and biscuits, mixed tropical fruit, carrots and asparagus.

Dec 29th  sausage and potato soup.... added leftover baked potato and milk to sausage gravy until it was soup. Served with rolls

Dec 30th Roasted chicken,leftover baked potatoes (peeled and reheated in butter) summer squash from freezer. Squash pie (had pumpkin pie spices)

Dec 31st BBQ (Mom's recipe of sauce) ribs, tossed salad with cranberries and apples. Dinner roll.

Jan 1st pork loin (from E and M for Christmas), homemade kraut with diced apple, mashed potatoes and Apple feta tossed salad.

Jan 2 left over ribs, mashed potatoes, spinach, yellow hominy and mandrain orange

2025... plans

 Still need to buy raised garden bed soil for the last of the garden beds. Hubby said we might need more ground cover for under them. I ordered flower seeds, potato tubers, sweet potato slips  and lunch box mini peppers (the only one not heirloom or open pollinated) to share with Daughter 2 and possible Daughter 4. I will start them myself so they can plant in baskets, flower beds or garden beds as both have dogs. I need to set up an area to put the grow cart and start seeds.

We have to build bookcases for 2 bedrooms upstairs. We have salvaged lumber stored in barn. Should have enough screws, nails or what ever to put them together for FREE. Right now the books are stacked on the floor causing issues when I clean. I will call the library to see if they are going to take donations this year for their book sale... they didn't last year. 

Hubby is working on a new purple martin house as he has all the wood he needs to build it. We might need paint. 

I have 4 Christmas decorations that need repaired by Nov also, most of what I need is here. 

We got a 10% discount for being willing to wait until late Jan/ Feb for the lawnmowers to have maintenance service. Even if they get to them before then we still get the 10% discount. Tractor is due for maintenance so Hubby is going to schedule that next week.

We changed our softener salt delivery. Doubled the amount to be delivered so only paying for 3 deliveries instead of 6.

Property taxes, property insurance , school taxes went up which means the extra payment on principal will go down to keep from withdrawing from Retirement funds. I don't want to pay more income taxes on top of that for sure.

We will need to replace the Silverado and Hubby's hearing aids. 

We are not in need of anything needing restocked. I will see how much I can cut there, split what is saved to restock and savings. 

We will hold off on finishing the last 2 wheelchair paths until we have finished the gardens and saved up for the paths. Expanding the gardens. 

Any plans for 2025?

Blessed Be 

Prayers for peace and health. 

 

2024 update for year.

 Final year Update..

15 (one had a baby girl but we about lost her Momma,doing okay now) people in and out of hospital, over half was borderline losing them due to heart issues. Right now everyone is home. We have 2 still in treatment (both veterans).

Year came in 5% under budget even with ordering flower seeds and tubers of potatoes and sweet potatoes, still need more raised garden bed soil. Daughter 2 is taking the old 2 wooden garden beds that are 3 ft by 16 ft. so it's just toss them on the trailer and take them down late Feb early March. We will share seeds and tubers since her money is going for ground cover under the beds and raised garden bed soil. I have potting soil and empty hanging baskets for me to grow our own flowers and seed starting soil to start my seeds.

Hubby changed his part D,Doc took me off 2 meds that had costs. We dropped 2 subscriptions between us. We still need to get the tractor in for maintenance, lawnmowers are in but won't be doing until Feb, which is fine as they go over all of it not just oil change, blades sharpened. Got a 10% discount for waiting until Feb for it to be done.