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