49 days to election !!!!!
I am going back to gardens to finish taking them down and get the last of it processed.
Neither of us is watching more than the weather.
I have turned off my latest updates for my local news due to Lies from JD Vance and Trump... I am more upset with JD.
I will NOT put a felon who thinks it's fine to grab women privates even when they don't want that touch. I will not put a felon that thinks it's okay to not pay his fair share of taxes or hides how he pays off his affair with a porn star. I feel for his wife and young son.
I will NOT vote for JD Vance that is our state senator that is supposed to be HELPING our state NOT LYING .. THEY ARE HERE LEGALLY JD . My grandson couldn't go to school due to bomb threats while you brag about not verifying your facts and willing to lie to get attention.
Like Jim Jordan who has never passes a single law he did on his own though he as cosponsored some that did pass. He has repeatedly voted against the farming bill that would help OHIO farmers.
I will add that they should have been required to take drivers training before getting behind a wheel on their own, but really..we have folk doing drag racing through Columbus and the cops are trying to deal with that.
The Election wasn't stolen but Trump and his GANG are trying to steal it with lying NOW.
From NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/baseless-rumors-haitian-immigrants-threaten-unravel-springfield-ohio-rcna170513
From 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians who fled political turmoil and violence in their home country have landed in Springfield over the past five years, arriving in the U.S. under a federal humanitarian program for migrants, according to the city. Others are in the U.S. on tourist visas and green cards.
“Many of them were professionals, medical doctors, attorneys, teachers, engineers, you name it,” said Sophia Pierrelus, an immigration advocate who left the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince nearly two decades ago. “Culture shock happens for both Americans and Haitians.”
We have 9 red kuri squash, 3 possibly 4 dickinson pumpkins, and 6 baby butternut.
I want to pick up 2 spaghetti squashs and 2 acorn squashs. That should cover us of 1 squash each week from October to March.
My onions are the size of golf balls. I said something to M and she asked if I really needed a big onion... I got to thinking about that. Not really unless I am using it in something that I am canning. I usually cut a big onion in a thick slice for my casseroles etc. SO a golf ball size one or a couple of them would work just fine. I need to check which ones are cured and deal with putting them in storage.
Hubby checked garlic that has been curing. It's ready for storage also.
I have room for 8 qrts of pasta sauce, 10 pints of tomato sauce, 16 pints of ketchup/catsup and 16 half pints of pizza sauce.Then all the shelves are full.I need to organize the herbs and spices but that can wait until winter.
I am dehydrating the cherry tomatoes that are coming in.
I have room for 7 more meals of half bell peppers for stuffing and 1 gallon on diced bell peppers and 6 more meals of eggplant in the freezers. Then the freezers are full until we quit making ice for M to make ice cream. In the past week we have received chocolate and strawberry ice cream... she used the flavoring for kids' milk to make the ice cream. Was good. I added small frozen strawberries in ours.
Seeds I planted for fall garden in the garden beds did not sprout. I think the birds got them as we have noticed a lot more birds on the electric wire at the road. The ones I planted in the vegopod are doing well. I also have 3 cabbage plants started that I hope will grow for this winter. They are 90 to 120 days from seed.
I've already bought my seeds for next year except for flowers. I am still debating on growing my own or buying from Amish. The one that died I used to buy from, the young lady she trained is going to run the greenhouse with her sister for the widower. The other Amish I bought from told Hubby that she was going to 3 days a week as she has no one to help her since school started and the oldest girl got married and moved away.
Be safe
Prayers for peace
Blessed be
From a distance you can't tell we have a ramp on the front porch.
We have the roofing supplies for the wood shed (small red building to right of house) E is going to put it on. It doesn't leak so if he don't get to it this fall, it's okay. He is finishing up his wife's wash house, his mother's wash house and his sawmill building while harvesting hay, planting cover crop and waiting for the feed corn to finish ripening. LOL
6 years ago we looked at this house. A lot has changed and I should update this photo.
We bought it March of 2018, 3 years later I had paid off 20% so we refinianced to get rid of PMI and get a rate half of what we had.
Sept of 2021 was the start date for the new mortgage. We took 30 yr. loan as it had the best rate and payment. We have paid off 9 years in the 3 yrs we have had the loan.
Hubby is okay with that rate, figuring we will have it paid off in 7 years.
I want to get it paid off in 5 yrs. I wrote out how to do it, what the budget would be and still cover repairs and a down payment for a new to us truck or SUV (I struggle to get out of a car).
I compared it to a slow pay bankruptcy, A chapter 13... but reality is we have no other loans BUT the mortgage. We have some odds and ends needing done for maintenance on the homestead. BUT they are things we can save up for.
I know the electric bill is going to be higher than normal for Aug due to AC running for a solid week (heat index over 100). Finally broke that heat wave, still NO RAIN . I already started pulling plants from the gardens.
I would like to have 12 more pints of plain tomato sauce, 12 more quarts of pasta sauce and 16 pints of catsup. I would like to vacuum bag 7 more halves of bell peppers so I can have stuffed bell pepper once a month. I would like 6 more meals of eggplant in freezer to have it twice a month. Except for winter squash ( I have red kuri and small butternut, want to add acorn and spaghetti squash) those would cover main groceries for the year until next year's gardens. We need to buy apples also.
I have Jan. king cabbages and Brussel sprouts in the gardens that will be ready after the first frost. The cabbages will hold until Jan/Feb with a row cover. The winter squash will be ready then also along with the Dickinson pumpkins.
We have the new garden beds to put together and the dirt needed to fill them. I have drip line to install... might need to add to it but we can work with that by saving for what we are short. I have seeds and seed starting soil already. I will need to pick up some flower seeds to grow for my hanging baskets since the Amish grower died I haven't found anyone that is as good as she was with baskets.
I will have to get sweet potato starters, seed potatoes and onion sets. I have that in the budget.
I wrote it out for Hubby as he does better seeing it and it will help me track what we are spending. We have maintenance on the tractor and both lawnmowers and his truck this fall.
I just need to update the finance spread sheet. Between canning and harvesting LOL.
Stay safe
Prayers for peace (counting down days until election and all that is over)
Blessed Be
I have froze eggplant, halved bell peppers for the sausage apple stuffing muffins I already have in the freezer, bell peppers diced (stir fries, 123 pasta, potatoes O'Brein, Philly steak subs and pizza), green beans the size of the width of my thumb to use in stirfries when I pulled the plants. I got some hamburger on sale and make patties, froze them then vacuum bagged them. Got hotdogs on sale, kept 2 packages whole, took the other 3 and broke down into 2 hotdogs vacuumed bagged as Hubby prefers brats (not me). So we can have what we prefer.
I got hotdog buns, hamburger buns and French bread on sale. Vacuum bagged them in amounts we would use and froze them.
We pulled the all the cucumber vines and the onions are now curing. Onions didn't get very big (too wet, then too dry then too wet again) Since we are back into a dry spell I pulled them. Figured when I only need a little bit I could use them for that. Will look to Amish to see if anyone is selling some or buy from store as needed.
We have 2 canteloupe and 1 watermelon and 1 red kur winter squash harvested.
I need to find apples since ours rotten on the tree. Hubby got them off so that mess is dealt with.
We decided on 2 hams, 2 turkeys and 1 prime rib (Christmas Eve) is the only meat we need to buy.
I pulled up the current USDA food plans...for our age Thrify is $495.90, Low is $540.90, Moderate is $672.90 and Liberal is $803.80.
We pay for our eating out from the grocery budget (including tips) We come in between Low and Moderate.
We would like to be between Thrift and Low.
We looked at what we order to go or eat out. Wendy's and Burger King so we now have frozen hamburgers and buns, I have raspberry lemonade mix and strawberry lemonade mix. We don't really care for regular French fries unless they are loaded. So I bought sweet potatoes to make them into French fries in the air fryer.
We will be looking at the rest, some of it is we are out on appts. Others is both are worn out. I have canned more soups to help with that side.
Stay safe
Prayers for peace
Blessed Be
I stepped up to the window and caught this
I am slowly (in my opinion) recovering. The work load crushed Hubby. I was pretty much sleeping on the bathroom floor for 3 days. I can't remember having the dry heaves so bad or the gas being like labor contractions. Hubby did take over to M what was coming in the garden and told her I was down. I only lost so peaches he forgot.... Really really not bad.
I have canning, dehyrating and freezing to do. Forget housework at this point. I will clean the sinks and toilets. I did wash all my bedding as I ran a fever of 102(normal for me is 97.9) for 2 days. Took me all day as I dried it on the line then tossed in dryer to "heat" it for germs.
Hubby was going to finish cutting up the last of the wood E had brought up last year he gave us, when E stopped him and told him his brother needed someone to go get supplies for E's mom. Hubby went over and talked him, phone calls made so orders would be ready to be picked up... sounds easy right? HELL NO.
What should have been a 2 hr. run became a 5 hr run. One company forgot to pull part of the order and they go had make the trip to go get it from other company. Then Hubby was listening to the Brother explain what he was trying to do in the new wash room when Hubby caught that how he was going to run the water wasn't going to work and they sat down with the store guy and worked that out (added an hour). Then as they were getting ready to come home found a message on Hubby's phone that the other brother had a piece of equipment they needed so not too much out of way to swing by and get it RIGHT? It is when he was in the middle of a project himself USING IT.Being good brother and friend, they helped him finish it before hauling the equipment off. Hubby took 4 messages for E over pallets his is building. E charged the company $5 for each message they had Hubby take when he had Just TALKED TO THEM from our home phone.
SO last night after things quieted down he looked around and admitted he could not handle the house if he was by himself. I told him to not worry about it, he could have E fix the front bay when the orginial owner lived while he built the house for him and rent the rest for one of the Amish. Electric to barn is separate from house so the house could go off grid and the barn be on grid. I did tell him that he wouldn't need to garden. A few of the Amish have started doing some canning for elderly Englishers and I was sure M and the girls would do that for him.
I know what I should be doing today... I don't know what I will be doing today.
The basement is dry and pretreated to keep any mold from happening.
BUT it's a wreck. We lost just under $1,000. of food and items. Didn't put claim on insurance.
Will need to replace main drain tile (the one that connects to barn,pump house and house) and drains to pond as it couldn't handle that amount of rain (6.5 inches an hour, we got almost 4). Hubby talked to the plumber that lives 2 houses down. He has single ground level home, had water in the house and garage. E's had water in basement but his brother had it going through his barn like a creek and his dad had it in his work shop...they live up on a hill that doesn't even get flooded when the Scioto floods at the bottom of the hill.
Hubby ordered canning jar boxes from Uline as that was a big hit. He cleaned an area that he is moving all the extra jars to the barn as it didn't get any water what so ever. Pump house did and we had to replace the monitor there.
I have canned 36 quarts of pasta sauce... Stil need 16 qrts and 26 pints, plus plain sauce, tom juice and maybe some tomatoes... fire roasted if I have enough.
BUT I am down with food posioning...SIGH stale fritos, yeah I know they tasted stale but I was hungry and didn't want to stop what I was doing to fix something so now I am down anyways. Hubby said it reminded him of one of my really bad Crohn's attackes.... I said no where close as I am almost recovered if I REST for at least today and then only do little starting tomorrow. He suggested I put canning jar boxes together LOL.
I did pay the bills, paid extra on mortgage. Not as much as I wanted but considering what I had to replace in the flood it was still a good month. Was not fun to run back and forth from computer to bathroom.
Prayers for peace
Blessed Be
I screamed at Hubby we have water coming in the basement... I was in the bathroom and could hear the sound of rushing water . The thunderstorm had just started. Within 15 minutes we had the ENTIRE basement flood with water up to my ankles. Sump pump was working over time. We have 2 drains, one for the Amish put in for their washer and the other in bottom of basement ramp. Hubby opened the door to the ramp thinking the drain in the house was plugged and found water COMING UP the drain. The entire house and barn is on that drain line, it couldn't handle the rain coming down. He went to the pond to check the line and it was GUSHING. He grabbed the pond pump and started pumping water out of the basement, I used the broom, we finished it with the dry/wet vac and fans. Took an hour , water was out . ...He pulled up the app he has on his phone with our home weather station. It was raining at the hardest point 6 1/2 inches per hour. We got almost 4 inches in 30 minutes. Window seal gave and he thinks the pipe he just put in blew. Took us an hour to get most of the water out.Our alarm to the pump house kept going off... water was back up there also. He is going to check the propane tank as it looked to be leaning some.
Poor Charlotte, she was in her "den" a bed tucked in between some of the shelving units against a door which water was coming through. I did put the laundry rubber mat and a blanket there after Hubby got the water sucked up and we "dried" that area for her as it was suppose to storm off and on all night.
I was just finishing cleaning the pantry and only had the bucket room left to do...SIGH
Now I have to take everything out, treat to stop any mold from growing, make sure what is saved is good. My canning jars that were in boxes are going have to be pitched...boxes pitched not the jars. I will have to figure another way to store them or buy new boxes. Rugs and Charlotte's bed will need to be cleaned and dried.
E and M were not home, I am willing to bet since they had water the last storm when we had water in our basement (nothing like this and it was due to drain going bad), they came home to water in their basement. We were suppose to have went to a gathering and decided against it. It would have been a lot worse if we hadn't been home.
SO this week is clean the basement and go through every single thing and moving 3 freezers and 2 frigs and several shelving units to clean under them while starting to can tomatoes.
SIGH
I thought this past week would never end. Storms at night rolled through (but not enough rain of course) and Charlotte paces, thundershirt helped but she still paced but didn't pant like she used to. As long as I sat in my rocking chair in the dining room she was fine, she go back to the basement to her "den" but if I got up even to go to the bathroom she was back up the stairs pacing. Hubby started laughing as he heard me tell her I was going to the potty and I would be right back as she was coming up the stairs. Like being up with a baby that has it's days and nights flipped.
Wood that still needs cut for this winter
The only thing left to do on the wood shed is the roof, E made it clear he would be helping with that. Hubby is going to thunk him this week since oats have been shocked and hay just finished.
Hubby hauled hay for HB, his father in law gave Hubby a pane of glass for helping his family (HB paid Hubby) as he found out we have a broken pane. E said he would put it in as he is replacing one of his own and has the caulking anyways.
I canned Roma green beans and 9 half pints of cherry syrup. We bought milk.
I am cleaning the pantry and trying to fill in the holes in the food storage.
Hubby decided he was keeping the treated lumber beds instead of burning them, he wants to stack them so they are deeper, me put liner in them and then fill them. Since I already bought metal beds to replace them I asked what he was going to grow in them. He told me to figure something out.
I finished the seed order for next year (actually 2 yrs at least). I focused my usual spring planting, what I will grow (using grow cart) for summer and then fall planting. Adding what I can put in cold storage (aka root cellar) which will be more under stairs , attic, bottom of basement ramp etc. I ordered more winter squash as I know we can take the extra over to the produce auction.
Covid is going around so we are trying to stay home (kids run around and don't care if they get it but will warn us they have been exposed). We have a few medical appts so know to mask up and use hand sanitizer. Lysol the house on a regular bases.
Hope all is well and good.
Prayers
Blessed Be
My 4 inch cucumbers are starting to come in. I canned 5 pints of bread and butter pickles.
Tomatoes have bottom rot due to too much rain at one time. Dealing with that. Glad I have enough put up to make it through the coming year if we don't get enough.
I need pizza sauce though. Might have to buy the tomatoes from the Amish to get that done.
I ordered next year's seeds that I need to start my plants in Jan.... I ordered this year's fall garlic. They will come in Sept. The cherries I ordered should be in this week... the Mennonite store owner was hoping to get enough for everyone that ordered.
Hubby has decided (enough to price raised bed garden soil for 12 new beds) to do some late fall/ winter crops like I have done in the past. I am waiting for him to come back with the costs before jumping back on that band wagon. As he has bounced back and forth on it.
Have a great day
Be safe
Prayer for all of us
Blessed Be
Hubby asked for what was coming in and going out on the budget in writing. Spread sheet was confusing him since he is always feeling exhausted... he is on blood thinners but the doctor is having him wean off so by Labor day he should be off that and start feeling less exhausted. Son2 asked for it also since he takes over if I go down. Both complained I stressed them out LOL.
I broke it down to this is for the house, this is for the maintenace of house building and barn and pump house is separate, this is for maintenace of trucks, this is gardens including things to make it easier to take care of it,this is yard (freaking moles), this is medical, this is groceries including canning supplies and eating out, this is birthday $, this is Christmas $, this is automatic savings $, this is money Hubby spent at TSC that wasn't on the buy list.... yes I wrote it exactly like that.Hubby laughed. I not only wrote this is what is coming in, and going out but what I was doing to make sure it was covered.
BUT what caught them both was I had what we needed to have invested when we hit age of 75 to cover expenses that our social securty will not cover if we get the 30% cut they talk about. I had it broke down by amount for each month to set aside. Son2 is 42, he is retired Army with 20 yrs, has Social Security also and is working towards his next pension as he puts it.BUT even with having VA health ins. Made him think about his own.
They asked me why... I pointed out that if we don't deal with it now, we will be in crisis in 10 yrs. I really don't want that at that age.
Son 2 called Daughter 2 and 4.... they calmly said "she is her father's child, Grandpa got hit with is at 75." laughed and hung up and texted me about it. YEP... the girls got it. Daddy nearly went broke in 2008. Lost over half his investments when he dragged his feet about moving money when his finance guy called repeatedly and asked him to come in so they could protect his money by moving it. Had to go to living on social security only. He did recover financially but worried about out living his money for the rest of his life. Thankful his house and car was paid for but he ended up only having $40 a week for groceries and I gave him plants and seeds for his garden and brought him meals for his freezer to help him. Brother took him out twice a week or brought take out.
Brother is now 75, we talked about what he hadn't planned for... a disabled wife that is 50 (they have known for 25 yrs she was going to be disabled so I just wanted to sigh over that denial), dental work when his bridge broke,eyeglasses and medical out of pocket for his wife. Cost of groceries and rising utilities. Replacing the cars.
I have that covered except for the car.
We have the wood stove dropped propane cost of $3500.00. Hubby said he still has the timbers from E to cut and a few of the blocks of the load we got from ER sawmill. I told him we was going to be using the coal also so he thinks we have enough to go 2 years. Day wood and blocks are in barn, night wood is in the wood shed. Said he might pick up another load of blocks. That's $60.
We use oil lamps about half the time and have LED lights through entire house,pump house and barn. AC costs us $5/day running about 12 hrs as I will turn it up to 85 or off when its actually on during the day when we are outside. It's set on 80 at night and only on when the heat index is over 85. Last month it ran 5 days. So far this month it's ran 2. Hubby gets issues with heat since his heart attack due to meds.Our security light is $12/month. Our deep freezers and refrigerators costs us about $50 a month with 5 freezers and 3 refrigerators. The one refrigerator is dairy only, butter in the freezer (enough for the year) cheese, extra milk, half and half, and heavy cream and enough room for the large pot. The other is produce and then the one that is in the kitchen.
My trash pick up is the lowest for this area even though I am limited on the amount of bags and size of bag it works. English neighbor pays more for her one bag pick up from another provider.
Hubby gets a little bit of money from the plant he retired from for medical bills. I don't count on it so I have been putting the money in savings when we get reembursed.Figure we will need it for dentures or bridges. We always had to pay for our eyeglasses so that has always been in budget. He goes one year and I go the next, we both try to reuse our frames to keep it within budget.We changed dentist (I hate doing that) but actually ended up with better care and about half to cost.
SO... Hubby asked for cost of switching to root cellars and going majority of seeds being open pollinated or heirloom. First buy will be about the same of what I spend anyways, then the price will go away as I will collect the seeds from what I am growing. We used to do that with tomatoes and squashes. I have baskets, crates and cardboard boxes we can use to store the produce in. We have several sawmills willing to sell or give us sawdust we will need for the carrots, parsnips etc.I already use my grow cart yearly so that is the same also. Getting seed potatoes, sweet potato starts and onion sets if I don't do that myself will raise the garden cost but will even out and save us money next fall.
I would save more than half of the grocery budget.Means more work in the kitchen making from scratch but that's fine. I also brought up I wanted to only buy dairy and a few fresh produce from Oct to March. He brought up starting that now as he saw that the green beans are almost ready, N and the Mennonite produce stand have what ever fresh veggies we could need if ours isn't in, keep the money local with local produce.
He reminded me he was pricing soil for the new garden beds.E noticed the metal bed boxes sitting on the front porch and he smiled. Asked what I was going to be adding to the gardens... potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions. Maybe more herbs. He laughed.
I already have got the grocery budget below what the USDA thrifty food plan says we should be spending ($493.10/month for the two of us at our age). Average cost of our groceries is $300/month including meat. I can cut the budget to $90 a month using the local Amish and Mennonite produce stands and only buying dairy at the store. M is making vanilla ice cream weekly and we get a bit of it since we make the ice for her to do that. So that drops my dairy costs since I am not making ice cream as often.
I did specify I wanted to be full stock before starting the cut... he took a pic of the to be stocked list and went to a meeting he had for HAM radio in town. Two hours later he came home with the stuff that was on the list. Did a pit stop at Walmart for E and checked prices of what was on the list. Got flour and sugar and then went to bulk store and got oats for less than $1/ lb where it runs twice if not three times of that in the store. He also found 93/7 ground sirlon on sale in 3lbs tubes. He knew I wanted to can some ground beef as I already got the sausage I want to can.
We are stocked except for potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions... that will be in the fall. Apples... maybe pears... I have cherries on order from Mennonite store that should be in within a week.
We decided to put the saved grocery money in savings until we have 3 months of expenses which is our goal. Right now we have 1 1/2 months there.
We will continue to pay extra on mortgage with focus of getting it paid off within next 10 yrs.Preferrable sooner.
Have a great day.
Prayers
Blessed be
Charlotte had me up most of Monday night with the wind and thunder, we didn't get a drop of rain so if it doesn't rain today I will be watering the garden tonight.
I fell asleep at 7 pm and am now wide awake at 1:30 am.
We took deposits for 2 Amish to the bank as it's not really out of our road but it's over 30 minutes by CAR. Amish don't have social security numbers so are limited to what banks they can bank with.
Then we went to chiro and got put back in place, I threw my hip out before I even got off the table and had to have it put back in a second time.
Then we went to Menards and got distilled water for Hubby's bipap and they had bottle water on sale with 11% rebate so we picked some up. Should cover us for the summer.
Then we went to Aldi's as M is looking for blueberries. Hubby got her 15 LBs since they were $1.89/LB. I got 12 LBS for us, not that we want them right now as we are burnt out from eating berries but I know come mid winter we will be wanting them again and at that price... I hope my blueberry bushes produce more next year. I also got 4 lbs of thick cut bacon on sale and 7 LBS of mild sausage to can.
Then we went to Kroger's. I picked up some box Mexican meals , enchilida and crunch wrap... what we usually order at Taco Bell's (I get Mexican pizza also) along with tortilla wraps. I got 5 jars of chocolate peanut butter and 5 jars of regular. we only eat Jif now days as it can trigger my chron's when I eat other brands.I got 5 jars of Miracle Whip, 25 lbs of sugar (only bag they had and they had no large bags of flour), I got 7 lbs of hot sausage to can but they did not have any 90/10 ground sirlon for me to can so that's still on the list. I got honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and bananas. Carrots, celery, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, container of red and green lettuce and roman lettuce. Half and half, heavy cream and buttermilk, cottage cheese and vanilla bean Greek yogurt. Five 6 packs of coke and a large bottle of Jack Daniels Tenn. Honey whiskey. Hubby laughed because I usually don't buy it until closer to winter. I like Hot toddy's....it was on sale so I got it now. I was actually looking for Son2's bourbon but they were out. I saved $53. I spent $200.
I still need AP flour, whole wheat flour, oats, sugar ,90/10 ground sirlon ...I know there is something else on that list but it's in my purse and if I get my purse I will wake Hubby up as his recliner he sleeps in is right there also.
On the way home we stopped at bulk store to check when they are open (not on Tuesday and closed for lunch) and then went to CVS to pick up Hubby's meds and I used my rewards to get a 4 pack of TP and 3 bottles of body soap as it was on sale.
We checked some garden centers to see what was left... I need to get the fall gardens planted.
Unloaded and put everything away...We both called it DONE.
Hubby has a meeting today with HAM radio group. I will be working in the kitchen. Freezing the blueberries. I will can the sausage tomorrow since it's humid today and will not be tomorrow.
Prayers
Blessed Be
Hubby grew up with a pantry of combination of home canned and store bought canned goods and freezer full of meat in the basement.They raised cows and pigs.
I grew up with a small pantry of home canned food and a root cellar.
Mother grew up with small pantry, Daddy grew up a cabinet of what ever Grandpa could buy from the company store or the girls and Daddy's grandma put up. His Mom had polio and could not walk or even peel a potato.
I've talked about making small root cellar's and Hubby has listened but really just wasn't ready to make that choice. E pointed out to him the other day he was kind of surprised we didn't have something set up as a root cellar since Hubby talks of being prepared to be off grid if needed when Hubby told him we had trouble keeping potatoes.
Sunday Hubby asked where my book on root cellaring was (Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel). I went and got it thinking he wanted to look at it. Should have known better as he hates to read much of anything, He asked about areas in the home that we could store veggies and fruit. So I showed him the lists in the book, varieties that are good keepers, temperature and humidity, how to store them etc. They even had lists of what they ate from fresh(had a solar greenhouse), from freezer, from canned foods and the root cellar. I pointed out if I had a root cellar I would be canning less veggies and fruit and could can more meat and have room for it on the shelves.
He is willing to try it. More he is willing for me to do it and is agreeable to carrying food into where ever I think we can store it.
I have a some temperature, humidity thermometers that I can place a wireless sensor to monitor that also. We have one in south loft, east loft, barn, front room, pump house and two in the basement (pantry and bottom of basement ramp to outside as I make kraut there). Good thing we decided to move them around and found out that 5 out of the seven was not working correctly. Changed batteries in sensors, unplugged the monitors, reconnected them and still had 4 not working. I ordered new ones that were on sale. We figured we could adjust where we have them and I would be able to monitor areas we store food in.
He wanted to check temps and humidity now, I had to explain that we needed to wait to do that in late Sept. as the temps and humidity would be a lot differnet then. Then he was like, Oh yeah that's right. (cognitive dysfunction strikes again, some more, what ever, we call it glitching, he is okay with that term).
He asked HOW MUCH we should store... got to love this book as they told what they stored for a family of 4. Hubby took those figures, cut them in half and converted bushels to pounds so I could do some of the buying at the one store that brings in fresh produce from local farmers. Yes I checked his figures.
He asked if we could afford to buy artichoke heart jarred... I am thinking okay, I have some, not a lot.... he knows he should eat spinach (does fresh, but gets nausated with smelling cooked spinach or any greens) but thought if I made spinach artichoke dip while he was outside and air the house out it would be a way for him to eat spinach.He eats kale in Home Chef Autumn stew.
Then he asked how much money it was going to cost to do root cellaring... NOT including food... the cost of the humidity/temperature gauges. I have crates, baskets, we can get saw dust from E or other sawmills for free. I can save a few boxes and use that for carrots, parsnips, etc. I have bee's wax to coat rutabaga like you see in the stores. I have 8 areas to check to see if they will be able to be used for storing food.
He mentioned I would have to plant more than just what I usually do for the fall garden... I pointed out some things can be left in the garden and just covered a row cover (I use Agribon 19 or 30 and just double it )I did that a couple years ago to keep cabbage and brussels sprouts through Dec in the garden. Cleaned snow off and gave E 3 heads of cabbage and watched his jaw drop. Jan. King Cabbage does well for me.
We have several errands today along with starting to stock up grains. M told us to check blueberry prices, she heard they were less than $2.50 lb at Aldi's and the orchard down the road has them for $2.50 So if they are less than $2.50 get her 15 lbs and if not she's have one of the kids go to the orchard to get them.
Does not help we had a storm go through at 2:30 so Charlotte has me up.
Stay safe
Prayers
Blessed Be
We celebrated last night... we met the goal of getting our mortgage down below $200,000. We have paid off 9 yrs in 3 yrs. His first words was"if we keep it up we can be paid off in 3 years, maybe 4 if we have to replace the silverado.
When we bought this house in 2018,two years after bankruptcy, we took a mortgage of $345,000 to buy the house(Amish) and land and convert to English with wheelchair accessible and some off grid due to electric not always on. In 2021, 3 years later, we refinanced for a lower rate (and removed PMI) and the amount was down to $247,500 on a 30 yr loan (lowest rate we could get for a farm). It was a 2 bedroom with no baths and is now a 4 bedroom with storage and 2 baths (one wheelchair accessible).
We put a solar pump on the deep well, added a wood/coal heating/cook stove, graveled 400 ft of driveway, ran new field tile and added a windmill to the pond so it doesn't get yucky. Put in 1/4 acre garden in raised beds (my health issues) and pernnials for long term harvesting. We have fuel on site (that needs to be kept full) so if the electric goes out long term I can keep freezers going long enough to me to can all the meat in them since I have 2 propane cooks stoves and 1 wood cook stove. About a week of dailycanning according to M. Grid goes down we will be okay. It will be rough and hard work but we would be okay.
So after the celebration of take out, (he hauled hay for E all afternoon so E paid for our supper) Hubby asked what our goals for the rest of the year was. I knew he would ask.
Increase savings and CD's to cover 3 months expenses. Right now we would have to pull more for retirment funds after the first month, might be able to go two with Social Security so we could still pay extra on mortgage.
Pay down mortgage so the amount that is going on principal is more than the amount going on interest. That would be 12 regular payments. I say small steps with him as he gets overwhelmed with big steps with his health issues. Where in my head I said pay extra for next 4 months and be to that spot.
Put together the metal garden beds and fill with dirt.(rainy day project of putting them together)
Plan fall garden and next year's gardens, moving to heirloom and open pollenated for majority of crops.
Changing bottom of ramp to basement for short term root cellar. Use lumber and stuff we have in barn as we already have a tarp door on the ramp.
Find a good cleaning routine.... better storage (no closets in this house).
Build cabinets in barn for storage. We have lumber and stuff we can use and not buy much if anything.
Then he added, 3 of his doctors and our primary want us to eat better... since Sept it's been horrible between heart attacks, my bp dropping to 50/75 for a solid week, Freaking covid then the freaking flu, Son2 having heart issues...Daughter 4 house burning down (she's doing good right now)... it's like putting meals on the table is what ever is the easiest. Neither of us has much of an appetite.
I'm pulling more veggies from the pantry and freezers than the gardens. It's not a good year for it, first 8 inches of rain in 2 wks then nothing but high heat to kill the plants. Berries did okay, not as good as normal but okay. Asparagus the same. I have plenty of canned green beans and beets so it they don't do well it's okay. L's wife planted beets , said if she had extra she would let me know.
Going to go sit on the kitchen porch with Charlotte... 3:48 AM.
Have a great day and wonderful week
Prayers for peace and sanity
Blessed Be
as we were sittting on the kitchen porch enjoying our coffee with Charlotte who we have found is a creature of habit and wants to sit on the porch every morning and is not thrilled we sit on the porch after the news in the evening instead on in the front room where she curls up in Hubby's recliner.
Hubby starts with... I remember we are suppose to be working at rebuilding the saving and paying the house off. Maybe some back for a replacement of the old truck... BUT
I sighed, thinking his cognitive dysfunction was rolling but he laughed about it. At least at that point he was pretty much on spot with what we talked about.
He wanted to know how we were sitting for the grid going down. Got a couple odds and ends needing dealt with but pretty much could handle it if I had to can everything in the freezers. I already have started canning some of our meat when I buy it. Would need to make sure fuel on site is kept up so I can run generator for 2 wks to deal with it. We keep the solar pump for the well charged and he checks batteries every month. We keep the solar cube (looks like a cooler) charged also.
Then he brought up the gardens. We still have some wooden garden beds and they constantly have to be weeded as they are lower than the metal beds. He got one set half weeded in the time I weeded the rest of the gardens. I told him it was better since he added more weed barrier around the entire garden and the new push mower is a mulch mower. He wanted us to replace those beds with metal AND add enough to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes and more herbs and such. He watches the news nightly and said in the past week he saw over a dozen food recalls and know that is why I started changing what we eat and what I grow.
I priced the two brands of metal beds that we have and then found a 3rd one that was having a sale. First brand was $350 a bed, (I did not pay that when I got mine) the second one was $180. Not bad and just a bit higher than it was when I bought that brand. I found a 3rd one at Amazon for less than $100 each. He will get the soil in the fall when the stores are trying to clear that kind of stuff out. He will also put out to the Amish that he will be looking for potatoes and sweet potatoes (to grow starts from) this fall. E's Mom does white sweet potatoes so we might have 2 varieties of that.
He called around for prices for tires for the Silverado, got a set of four and got a discount for not using credit card (almost $20). He then took the truck to get oil change and engine flushed using a coupon that one of the Amish got in their mail and passed to him. He pit stopped at the hearing aid office as he's not been hearing me when I am right in front of him, they replaced the end pieces, cleaned them, changed his right hearing aid ear piece to a bigger size and turned it up. He has lost a little bit more hearing on the right side. ALL FREE.
THEN that evening, when we sat on the porch after the news he starts with, I want to at least 18 months total stock up for the home (I pretty much do close to that after kids took me down to 6 months during pandemic, they all stock up for at least a month if not two now). He took a breath and stated firmly" I want a savings of what it costs us for 3 months and I want the house paid off in 10 yrs."
I answered that I usually have about 18 months (some is 2 yrs like pasta) but not on everything and I would have to buy dehydrated potatoes to cover that as he doesn't care for canned. He was okay with it. I also pointed out that it would be by servings not he go eat what ever amount he wanted. He was iffy on that until he tried a couple pairs of jeans on and realized he had not lost what he thought he had but he is between sizes. I offered to take darts in the bigger size. He is thinking about it. But did ask me to start measuring his food or prep stuff that he doesn't have to try to remember what a serving size is. I made a berry cobbler (used the odds and ends up from the garden) and when it was done I cut it so when he got some, he could see exactly what he amount he should take. He really liked that.
Since I inventoried all food I know how much I can use a month.
We get Social Security... did he want that amount also put back also? I also pointed out the we were pulling extra to pay extra on mortgage so we didn't need to put that part back, just regular payment that includes taxes and house ins.
He said since there is constant talk of only getting 70% down the road to put the other 30% in the amount with what we are pulling from retirement....
Okay, first we won't need to pull that much from retirement if the mortgage is paid off and second... 30% is MY social security which is where we have been heading for anyways since the widow neighbor ran into problems of paying her bills as her budget was needing both her and her late husband's. I also pointed out I might be slow at getting the savings to that point since extra money is going on the mortgage.
We refinanced in 2021 with 30 yr mortgage (pay off date 9/2051)
As of this month, I have the pay off date 2/2046
He wants it paid off 7/2034.... if I can hold to what I have budgeted it will be paid off 8/2029... When I told him that he looked surprised. He didn't realize that even though we were paying off the taxes, I still paid a bit extra (not the amount I had budgeted) on the mortgage.
I got groceries.... milk and heavy cream, mixed berry pie filling (finishes out that need). I stopped at the Mennonite produce stand and got a small zucchini, 2 green tomatoes, 5 peaches, a loaf of bread (marked down) and a pan of cinnamon rolls (marked down due to being Saturday).Total spent $65.
I still need to stock peanut butter and miracle whip (Hubby hates mayo).
Going to be an interesting year.
We set the budget. Set an extra amount to send every month to mortgage company.
We refinanced in 2021 as we had paid 20% and could #1 get the PMI off and #2 cut the interest rate in half.
So mortgage of 8/2021 was for 30 yrs ending 8/2051 (we would be in our 90s)
With all the other bills we have had I have been able to pay an "extra" 2 yrs so we have 5 yrs paid to pay off mortgage 7/2046, we would be in our mid 80s.
With the set amount we would be paid off 8/2029.
This is how we set it up for now.
I already use my Social Security to pay all medical,life insurance, birthday and Christmas $ for 35 kids,grandkids, great grandkids, and Hubby's parents.
I will now use my IRA to pay the extra on the mortgage.
Hubby was using his Social Security to cover costs in business, now it will cover what his IRA does not cover of the house.
IF we had the mortgage paid off and bought no groceries we wouldn't need to pull either IRA.
We decided the set amount we would pay and then he suggested any money left over to be divided between savings and the mortgage.
He plans to finish cutting the wood that is on site and get it put up for winter. He doesn't ever want to be in the place like we were when he had his heart attack and not have the wood for the winter done. He is trying to get 2 yrs worth on site so it's not a you have to go cut or spend $$ to get it.
We have 8 garden beds that should be replaced, that is a maybe. I need to go through seeds to make sure I have enough for next year (heirloom and open pollinated) I do harvest my own seeds from some. I need to do more.
I have 3 roses bushes that died completely due to winter weather, maybe 1 peony due to too much and then not enough water thanks to how the rain came in and a 3 fruit trees (we think moles got the fruit trees) PLUS we are battling moles.
Our purple martin house needs replaced.E fixed the top which the birds sit on and noticed it needed replaced so said something NOW. If Hubby wants, he could take this one down and use it for a pattern this winter to make one or he could get one of the Amish to make one as several do in this area during the winter.
Instead of our normal stocking of 2 hams, 2 turkeys, 20 lbs of bacon and 1 prime rib roast for Christmas eve, we are doing 1 ham, 1 turkey, 1 prime rib roast and 10 lbs of bacon UNLESS I find it on sale. I also need strawberries to dehydrate as I am NOT paying that price to buy them and really wished I had checked on the dehydrated fruit BEFORE the fruit season. I also need blueberries for the freezer. Mine are not making enough and the birds definitely got to the ripe ones before I did.
I checked the FDA food plans for grocery budget, we fall between thrifty and moderate. Since I am stocked as best as I can be or will be when the gardens come in this fall.I am now working on what I will buy at the store when we go every 6 wks. Milk will be bought every two weeks at Save A Lot.
Now I just need to put what I just finish stocking up in it's proper place
some different things he was thinking about buying.... He had a car dealer send him a notice they would buy his truck for more than value so he thought to go get the same size truck newer and get a loan for it
We don't need a Ford 350 for personal use which we have since it was for the business, a truck yes as we have to tow the tractor to repair shop, a Ford 150 would be okay, a Ford 250 would be the biggest we need.
I brought up that if we still was paying the mortgage and one of us dies, the other is going to struggle to live on what is coming in. (I won't because I can do the work around this place, he will as his brain disfunction will require him to have help which is why we are talking finances again , some more, what ever.) I then added we have a 2005 truck that is falling apart and can't be driven farther than 20 miles from home that needs replaced. I haven't found anything I am willing to pay for to replace it.
The house is going to need a new roof in 7 yrs. AND it will be metal not asphalt as they last 50 yrs instead of the 15-20 yrs of asphalt. That money needs to be put back now.
We priced pavers ($2,000) for the area needed for walker with wheels or wheelchair needs at the end of the front porch ramp. E thinks he can put cement in it for less since he owns his mixer. He was going to come over but Amish had 2 funerals back to back so he was busy with that. His in laws are in (M's brother's wife was one that die of cancer) so he will be still busy the rest of this week playing catch up with his own work.
Hubby grumbled around some and then came back with... if we went back to like when we were in the bankruptcy, what would the time frame be for paying off the house and what changes would we have to make to do it. I can tell you right out,I got the 5 yr banruptcy paid off in 4 yrs ONLY because he worked with me... as a farmer growing up and early 20s he got used to living on loans, if the farm didn't make enough to pay it off, it just got rolled over to the next year's loan. Until the government came down on that practice.That's not how I was raised. My parents didn't buy anything on credit until they were in their 50s.They even paid cash for their first home and car.
I told him we could start in Aug paying off the mortgage as I wanted to get some money back into savings and pay for the pavers or cement so his parents can come here to visit. Order more heirloom seeds for next year AFTER the last payment for the taxs is paid.
I will set up a monthly savings for items like the roof,once a year house insurance, once a year propane,car maintenance and house maintenance I already have Christmas and birthday money done that way.I will also set aside an amount to fill in with meat. I need some pork and poultry and both are on sale in the fall in this area.
I have enough beef for the year. I just finished restocking the pasta. I have most of the veggies except winter squashes (if mine don't do well,I can get them from the Amish or Mennonite around the corner) I specified we had to eat healthy and eat our colors and I did NOT mean M&Ms. Eating healthy means less doctor bills and even though those costs are a lot less than what they were before Medicare and Medigap, I want to keep it that way.Medications are cheaper AND both of us has came off a couple meds with the change in diet.Hubby has been able to stay off Gout meds (which rip your system up and you live in the bathroom , he said he thought he had my Crohns) by drinking dandelion root tea once a week. He drinks it daily if he starts having a flare up which he hasn't for a couple years now.
Instead of rotating through, beef, pork, poultry, vegetarian, seafood for meals. I can do beef, pork,poultry, vegetarian (think green beans, potaoes or fried cabbage and fried potatoes), seafood (canned tuna, salmon and mackerel), Eggs/ cheese (grilled cheese sandwiches or cheese pizza), dried beans (I have 90 lbs of different beans and some of each canned) and pasta (1 onion 2 cups meat or beans and 3 cups veggies) and soups. Hubby is NOT a soup eater and is barely okay with pasta.He grew up eating steaks and pork chops and hams. I grew up with bean soup, boiled cabbage and fried potatoes (fried potatoes at every meal) with some cheap meat when Brother was playing football. Many time he got the meat and parents and I didn't. I had pasta only when I stayed with Nonna who came from Italy. Daddy didn't allow Mother to fix it. When he remarried, my stepmom told him to be thankful for what she put on the table and put spaghetti on it every week. He finally apoligized to Mother for being so picky. My stepdad got him to try Chinese food. Daddy loved it.
I can bet that with a month or so I will be having the same conversation with him. He did suggest that he not go to stores by himself since he doesn't just buy what is on the list. I suggested he call me if he sees something that he realizes isn't on the list but we need or is at a great price. I know in time he won't be able to go by himself let alone drive. He made a comment to the one doctor about he had heart attack and was using it for the reason he has brain issues (which is due to head injuries and loss of hearing) , doctor pointed out I had a stroke and have CP and wasn't having the issues. HUM... I told the doctor we call it glitching He does better with using that term when he struggles and if its a "bad" struggle I will tell him we are both glitching and need to take a bit to calm down and get on same page... so far that works to calm him down and get him refocused. I have to work in the world he is living in and it concerns me I might slide right in there with him. Mean time... it's pay off what is owed and keep explaining how we are doing it over and over.
Stay safe
prayers for peace and sanity
Blessed Be
A.C. is at 80 ℉. Weather forecast just extended the heat index over 100 until Sunday. This is not normal for this area especially this time of year. Curtains are closed to keep the sun out. Hubby opened the north window curtain and moved his laptop there instead of turning a light on or even light an oil lamp*which gives off heat* our usual go to for light. That window gets some shade
We had lunch meat in tortilla wraps, chef salad (75% from our gardens) and egg salad (free eggs from Amish neighbor). I made strawberry ice cream using strawberries from the gardens. We picked up some Gatorade to keep electrolytes up after mine dropped after working in the gardens even though it was mostly in the morning otherwise it's mostly water. We have pulled some leftovers from the freezers to keep from cooking. We got a pizza from the local small store that serves lunches also. They got a new owner and he was tired of driving 20 minutes to get a pizza so he put in a pizza oven and expanded the store. It was good, thin crust was not soft so it held up well to the 4 toppings we had. On the expensive side if you are already in town, the one gas station has good pizza same size for $11 . This was $18 and had 2 more toppings than the gas station one.
Hubby checked out an auction around the corner from us. They had a knee hole desk, 2 wood boxes (for storing fire wood) and some windows. Windows were too small, desk was bigger than what Hubby has and the wood boxes were pretty old and repaired a lot. So he didn't stay for the auction.
E came stopped in late last night to tell us a 14 yr old Amish boy lost control of the horse and buggy he was driving at the railroad crossing while a train was going pass. The buggy side swiped the train after the horse broke the cross gate , tossing the boy out and then landed on his head. He hit the road face first.They think he die instantly.
Stay safe
Prayers for peace and sanity
Blessed be
I on the other hand spent 2 1/2 hrs, 3 bottles of water drank, in the gardens and in by 11. Went back out at 11:30 to finish the 4 beds covers to protect the lettuces... should have waited until evening because my BP dropped low, pulse went up after I came back in... we had turned on the AC and set it at 80 degrees. Gatorade, and rest brought everything back to normal including the lecture from Daughter 2 (her boys did 2 a day foot ball practice in this type of weather) and Son 2 due to Iraq. We won't mention (oh yes I will) that Hubby retired EMT drew a blank and went over to E and M's asking what he should do for me...M came over to check but I was already doing what I should be doing.She told me to take an umbrella to the gardens the rest of this week even in morning. Doc told me in by 11 was good(he gardens also) but don't go back out into the heat (index was 105) until after 8 pm.and only if the index is below 85.
So I rewrote my to do list and in middle of night added this.
Next time I will turn on the light and put on my glasses as neither of us could figure out what I wrote... I figured it out later it was supposed to be mosquito (mosq) pellets 4(for) pond.
Hubby dealt with it and we picked what few berries was ripe... before 8 am. this morning. Laundry is on the line, he is in barn checking on the generator he might have to take to HAM radio field day on Saturaday. The barn is 80 degrees.
We had chef salad last night and egg salad today. Probably will finish the egg salad at supper.
I am resting as required by my body, let alone everyone else.
Stay safe
Prayers for peace and sanity (common good sense also 😜)
Blessed be
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