Just one of those days...

Started the day with a headline of STOCK MARKET CRASHES... My parents grew up during that time, so my heart started knocking and then I find that it was a certain company that that had dropped badly... stock market is volatile, yes.. did it crash NO...

Hubby took inside chimney apart yesterday and cleaned that part. Wished he had cleaned up the floor behind the stove when he was done.Miss Charlotte walked there and tracked wood/coal dust all over the front room. Thankful I actually had a cover over her chair so it was wash her feet and change the cover AFTER sweeping up the dust behind the stove. Since I was cleaning it up, I just cleaned the stove after the laundry was on the line. 

Got the laundry out, was cleaning the stove when my phone rang, Hubby answered it and told me to call Son 2 back (disabled VA) when I was done with stove.

Got the stove done and restarted, of course it doesn't want to burn right so it's fiddle with it every 15 minutes.  

Call Son2 back... He has a couple back to back meetings with VA, his lawyer and rep from Army will be in on the meetings. Everyone is hoping to get most of the issues settled. Army said he is disabled, two tours of Iraq, both at burn pits ,got a civilian at air force base saying he's faking it and wants him charged with faking it. No the guy is NOT a medical doctor, just an idiot with enough pull in rank to cause issues.  Mommy is on call for after that meeting since Son2 couldn't get an appt with his doctor or preacher. His buddy said he was going to get me a tee shirt that said Who you going to call??  MOMMY... if he does I will put his phone number under Mommy... LOL

Then our mortgage lender sold our loan SIGH. Glad Hubby looked to see what the email in his mail was about or I would have sent the mortgage to the wrong place.

LORD GIVE ME GRACE.

MENU.

 First thing I do is check what is leftover in the frig... what can I make it into or add to it for enough for a meal. Might be a small meal for lunch or enough with something else added for supper.

Bfast: granola with dried mixed fruit, bagels, pancakes with berry pie filling, eggs, muffins with fruit, baked pumkin doughnuts, yogurt with fruit and grapenuts on top, leftover rolls with jam, scones, and sweet rolls.

Lunch: leftovers or plan overs (leftover pork chop got chopped finely into omelet). Lunch meat wraps with apple (Hubby's favorite when he worked) , cottage cheese, applesauce and beets (my go to).

Supper: 

Dom's (Dom Tiberi channel 10 Columbus OH recipe) meatballs with spag. and homemade sauce, broccoli and cauliflower, mixed fruit.

Meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes, peas and carrots, apricots.

Pork chops, hominy and spinach, applesauce and rolls

Chili, tropical fruit, corn bread

Sausage patty, mac and cheese, green beans, peaches

Casserole of leftover mac and cheese, drained can of tuna, can of cream of chicken soup(no water) topped with homemade bread crumbs. Cranberry sauce (in the can) 

Tacos and burritos (taco meat from freezer)

Cottage pie(or hamburger pie or what ever you call it) using leftover mashed potatoes, corn and sloppy joe from freezer.

Homemade baconater (like Wendy's) with potato chips and homemade chip dip.

Homemade pizza. Dough, sliced pepperoni and sausage crumbles from freezer, pizza sauce,  mushrooms, black olives and mild banana peppers from pantry, Cheese from frig.

Baked chicken breasts, wild rice, cranberry sauce, mixed veggies.

London Broil, rice, sliced veggies that was going to go bad to top rice.

M's veggie soup with rolls(has hamburger and elbow mac in it)

Chicken chili with white beans and corn bread

Breaded fish, breaded mushrooms and breaded cheese sticks with fruit cocktail

Shrimp with buttered thin spaghetti, garlic bread using leftover sub buns from freezer and California blend mix veggies with diced mango

Store bought Phlly steak subs (Freezer dept. Add bell peppers, mushrooms and black olives.) 

Leftover Philly steak filling mixed with rice, added Chinese sauce to it, airfry egg rolls

Airfry chicken nuggets, breaded ravioli, breaded cheese sticks and breaded mushrooms and serve with sliced apple

When you combine down grid with homesteading and finances LOL

 

These cover what I had trouble getting during the pandemic especially when the milk cow next door went dry. I got my oats and speltz flours from the Amish bulk store.

Hopefully the new place that is going to grind flour for the Amish will be open this year.

I restocked medical supplies.

I need to check paper products, dog items and restock the cresote logs when we stop using the wood stove. 

I will be starting seeds next week in the grow cart.  SO I will need to cut other places to pay the rise in the electric bill. I already got it down almost $35 a month the last 3 months. 

I might be able to cut the amount of propane I usually order also. Will know by May.

We got news that there could be a drought late summer going into fall so I will plant with that in mind. As we already are in a drought, our pond is so low the Amish didn't cut ice from it. Neighbor bought square buckets like we use to freeze ice for them in summer for ice cream making, and filled them with his well water and let them freeze during the sub zero weather. Said he had his ice house filled and extra in one week and didn't have to be out in the cold at all.

We still have 16 yrs on mortgage, already cut 14 yrs off the 30 yr loan. We have been paying this loan 4 years. So I need to reset that and stay focused on getting it paid off. Right now our interest rate is half of what current farm interest rate is.

If I save $5 on something, penny found on the road,etc.I put that in the saving and note it on the calendar. At the end of the month I add those savings up and transfer to the mortgage. Refunds go there also. Our withholding on taxes changed, I put the differnce in savings. When our Social Security comes in and I pay the bills, I more that savings to the mortgage. I actually save more doing that instead of letting it sit for months in the savings. 

The only things I need to put in stock for food is corn, asaparagus (Cross fingers it doesn't get frozen before harvest like last year), peas, cauliflower, broccoli and brussels sprouts. We are almost out in freezers of those in freezers.

SIGH

 Sorry...really sorry... 

I disappeared in canning pork and lard then beef. Froze some of both also. All freezers are full

Then went into freezing and dehydrating 24 winter squash

Then went to roasting and freezing 28 lbs of sweet potatoes. Also dehydrated some. Then moved the garden wagon that had the sweet potatoes back out to the barn and brought the grow cart in. 

I need to deal with the last of the onions. 

Then got the result of skin cancer (very small amount, like a pin head) around my nose that was removed... then today got the notice they want deposit of $100 and deductible AND permission to do an automatic withdrawl for what ever amount they decide on and Did NOT bother to give me a estimation of payment for the bill to check to make sure they got it all to begin with. Guess AG is getting a message from me as I really don't think that is how it should be done especially the day before the surgery. I already got the number for a local doctor which I probably should have done when we moved here that several of Hubby's family has used.

As disabled son pointed out we need to see doctors we can get rides to when we no longer can drive ourselves. Something he is having issues with where he lives.

Placed my order for next year's meat. Steer will be grass and chemical free corn that was raised in the field behind us LOL. 

I kept track we buy about 500 lbs of beef and 500 lbs of pork, 6 of 20 lbs turkeys, 52 lbs of white meat chicken and 52 lbs of dark meat chicken and seafood every 3 months. We stock for 18 months, will have extra for when we have company and share with the kids when they need help with groceries.

I need peas, corn, asparagus,broccoli, caulflower, brussels sprouts,cabbage and white potatoes for next fall.

We started pruning the asparagus. Usually have the Amish neighbor do that in the fall but his "mower" broke and the one he went to borrow was broke also. I don't mind not pruning the berries but the asparagus and the flowers need pruned.

Hubby pruned the apple trees and took the twig pile (that's what he called it) over to neighbor as he already had a "to be burned" pile started. 

Amish have started tapping maple trees !!!!

It warmed up yesterday so we let the wood stove go out. I will clean it today. It's supposed to be in the high 40s to mid 60s the next 4 days so good weather even if it rains a bit to work in the gardens. We have a cold spell in forecast for mid March for about 2 wks so going to move wood around for that before we get hit with it.

We got our taxes done. Didn't even have anything owed on school taxes. So that was good news. 

Blessed be 

Stay safe and well

Garden 2026

 Hubby walked out to get the mail , actually I think he was skating in boots to get the mail. 

Next month I will be pruning berry bushes and asparagus. Hubby will top off the garden beds with raised garden bed soil and I will add fertilizer. I will also start seeds from the cabbage family in the grow cart first part of Feb.

I went through my seeds, didn't realize how low I was in cool weather crops.I think I didn't acknowledge I plant those twice some times three times during the season.

I know I did 3 rounds of January King cabbage, maybe 4 as I think the second round got ate in the gardens. Couple years ago we still had it in the gardens in late Feb.

Still a bit sticker shock with searching for the best price and amount.  When it comes in I will put the date on it  and where I ordered it from. I did order more bok choy and lettuces that I haven't grown that some of the Amish are now growing. 

I don't see me running electric to a grow cart through the winter to grow greens in like our doctor does but maybe a covered area during cool weather???

I won't be growing any winter squash EXCEPT maybe butternut if we need it for ravoili .... might just go buy a couple LOL. I did get a recipe to try for winter squash bread. Makes 2-3 loaves but I will try it. We can always eat it as French toast or bread pudding if we don't like it for regular bread. 

Blessed Be 

it was soot

 Hubby would have had me in the ER if it was a bruise.

I got 11qrts and 16 pints of chili canned.Brought the sloppy joe, taco meat and beef crumbles each up to 52 meals in the deep freezer. I have the butternut puree in the freezer. 

 Ready for the cow to be butchered which is scheduled for Thursday early morning. 

I spent $33.77 on groceries. I will have to get another gallon of milk towards the end of the month.

We went to sawmill to pick up our dump wagon that was loaded with sawmill blocks and got 4 tubs of scrap wood for free.

E came over and asked Hubby to pull out a couple trees they had cut down last year to cure. He decided he didn't want them , over ran with scrap wood from his sawmill so gave it to us. Hubby went back and cut the limbs off so he can move the trees with his tractor this week. He will cut it up probably this spring. We have enough coal,blocks *we hope* and night wood to make it to spring. More than one Amish have said they didn't have enough fire wood brought in as we face another week of bitter cold and winds driving the feels like temp below ZERO.

All the bills are paid so I can make the extra payment on the mortgage and another deposit to the savings accts.

I'll be wiping the chili jars down and moving what has been canned this week down to the basement. 

Stay safe everyone

Blessed Be

On the to do list

 1/2 side of beef when it comes in.

MEAN TIME I am taking last year's beef to make a year's worth of  the following:

Sloppy joe bagged in 1 cup amts and froze.

Taco meat bagged in 1 cup amts and froze.

Beef crumbles, canned in pints

Chili canned in pints.

I need to make noodles to dry.

I need to roast the butternut so I can puree it and freeze it to make ravioli for son2

I need to dehydrate 10 other winter squashes.

I need to dehydrate sweet potatoes.

I want to have the entire house deep cleaned by Lent.

1.12.2026

 

I cleaned the wood/coal stove. Hubby took one look and went out the back door. LOL. 

But it's cleaned and started back up. Winds are gusting at 20 plus. windmill is moaning , temp is 35 F.So feels colder. 

We ran the furnace 3 days. Dropped the propane from 60% to 56%. 

I dealt with the lard. 62 pounds of it. We won't need lard for a couple years. I have 2 kids that would like some. 

Since the beef isn't coming in on the 20th (E was here to let us know)E and Hubby decided to cut some trees down later this week for us. Hubby still has 2 trees in the maple woods over at E's that need pulled over here as they are laying in the pathway E runs when collecting sap. E said that would give us 4 good trees for next year's  Day wood. We are almost out so I talked to Hubby into burning more coal to make the wood last longer.We have 5 tons that would last 250 days WITHOUT any wood with it. 

We took the dump wagon to the sawmill to get blocks that will cost $60. Should be able to pick them up by next week.While we were there we asked if they could throw scrap wood in our barrels/tubs what ever. They filled 4 right then and reloaded them in the truck. Pit stopped Saturday and dropped off a couple more empty tubs. I can go through a tub a day during the winter. Spring and fall maybe 2 to 3 days. All they do is drag the scrap to one of their fields and burn it. We did ask how much they wanted for the scraps... Owner is thinking and he added he might start using it in the wash room if his wife is okay with that. 

All the Christmas decorations were down by end of Dec. AND put back in barn

I started Jan 5th deep cleaning doing a section each day(not Sundays). I got 8 areas done and started on 2 others since I was moving stuff around. 

Electric bill was $150 in Oct. Freaked me out thinking about what it would be at Christmas. In Nov it was $140... Just got Dec bill... $127....HUM. So called my electric company. A full freezer and full refrigerator uses LESS electric. 

SO I got all the bills paid, all were below budget except mortgage LOL. I moved what wasn't used to separate acct as I KNOW sometime they will come in ABOVE the budget. Money will be earning interest and I won't stress trying to come up with the difference.

We stocked up on over the counter meds etc. that was on sale.

Be safe Blessed Be