menu... OWN YOUR OWN... I had the flu... garden seeds..finances

 after dehydrating

50 lbs before dehydrating

This is a Dickinson pumpkin/squash (yes pumpkins are winter squash). It is the vartiety that Libby's pumpkin in the can is.

I actually got 2 of this size done of the pumpkins. Have 6 more yet to do but figured I would give it another day of making sure I am over the flu first as more than one of the kids/grandkids/greatgrandkids got it back within a few days. I told them to quit giving me that crap through the phone. 😲

Hubby finished up some of the odds and ends. Finally yesterday I fixed a grilled cheese and lunch meat sandwich. I ate 1/2 of one and called it good. He is having pot pie for supper tonight. I am not sure if I will.

BUT since I was sick, I went through the seeds, checked and rechecked what we had and what we needed vs what we wanted since we decided to grow more of our own food...Then decided with how things were going to order enough to go 3 yrs and focus on more heirloom, open pollinated and fewer hybrid favorites. 

Found about 1/ 4th of what I would have ordered not available at all or not available for 2025. A  few was from China (radishes) not available pretty much at any of the of where I shop, it's okay, I just ordered something else. Definitely reminded me of pandemic and trying to get seeds. At least I have enough canning jars. I usually order between 4 to 6 places. It took almost 10. I told Hubby I will pull 2/3rd of what I have,  split that in half and vacuum seal them and place them in freezer for next year and the following year. I will go back to making sure I have a "seed" plant in a container planted away from anything else so it doesn't cross pollionate. Been awhile since I have done that. Might get a I think I have a book on that subject. Might go to library and look for one. 

Since I am no longer grocery shopping every 2 wks. I am starting to feel homebound. A couple of the Amish ladies mentioned it as they had medical tell them it's not good. I told them in the old days my grandparents called it cabin fever and women would have mental issues due to it. My aunt suffered twice from it before my cousin started driving and got her out of the house every other week. 

After a couple of the kids read this...https://itreconomics.com/2030s-great-depression/... I understand their fear... 2 just lost their jobs due to Trumps cuts, one is looking to lose his along with his medical. Grandkid lost his survivor benefits.By time they battle for it back he will already have lost his medical he was paying himself. One working as custodian will lose hers if funding to schools ends or gets cut especially if they go pay to play as most in her area can't afford that and she's the last hired so would be the first fired...So in their eyes a Depression is coming.Even though we don't think it will get THAT bad, it's going to be hard... you can't keep running up debt and not pay the freaking bill off.  A recession is local (like only the USA), a Depression is global is the best way to get them to think of it. Or as I put it, quit doing Door Dash and COOK.

There are a couple things we would have liked to finish changing for wheelchair accessible but okay for now it's not getting done. 

I have to do the finances Wednesday. Electric bill is in early.... it's on the higher side...$150...minus the $15 for security light make it's $135.... I used the dryer for bedding, throws and such twice last month, it ran 4 hrs total (yes I kept track). 5 chest deep freezers, 3 refrigerators, 2 humidifiers running full time . Grow cart will be on. I had already saved the $$ for seeds...and part of the $$ for soil needed for the new garden beds.

Charlotte says it's nap time LOL

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.

Anne....

 send again, please.

Happy Holidays

 Due to family health issues, I won't be on line much..

Take care of your self, then help others, healthy boundries as the kids say.

Blessed be

prayers for peace.

2025, how low can we go?

 Miss Charlotte has decided SHE gets the glider in the front room. LOL She wasn't happy with the wooden rocker in the dining room. She usually sits in the recliner rocker in the front room that is Hubby's place to sit when he isn't at the desk.

SO, Son2 was putting together a spreadsheet for us to keep track of finances. He been sick, been on medical leave for over 90 days and still running more testing. So it's something for him to do.

He realized that if he goes on full disability, he can pay the bills but he won't have money to by groceries or replace his 2005 car.... then said he didn't think we could just live on only Social Security. 

I told him he had to have 3 months income saved in 1 yr also. 

He came back with GAME ON... 

We did agree to not count food or paper products since I garden and he doesn't and there are 2 of us and only 1 of him. His cats supplies equal our costs for Charlotte. 

We decided to run it mid month to mid month due to when we get our Social Security and he get's paid every 2 wks. He asked to start it the 15th of this MONTH.

No problem. We noted what was already in accts. and I suggested we move what ever is in the accts. on 14th to be moved to savings but not counted as the 3 months. He agreed. 

I don't know if he really thinks we can not live on Social Security alone or if boredom is causing him to make a game out of cutting his expenses.  We have medical costs he doesn't but he has heating and water/sewage costs we don't. Hubby thinks Son 2 will quit/give up before 3 months. But I will stick it out just to prove a point.

Up with Charlotte

Son2 is in counseling at VA, They call it Hero syndrome as he wants to rescue people aka women with children that play the poor me really well. Made him a good soldier but not so good with women, especially this last one that used to serve with him. He is doing better, she did let him know thru the chaplain that the child was going to be released when he got to a certain point in his therapy but would be needing long term therapy. The court ordered her into medical care and probation. 

It's raining so Charlotte is pacing, as long as I am up she will lay behind me, won't lay with me in bed or on couch. Has had this issue since the basement flooded. 

Hubby's Dad is having surgery this morning so he will be sitting with his mom and siblings at the hospital. He needs a growth removed from his bowels. Second time in 3 yrs.

I have canned all the meat and soups...GO ME....

I still need to can/freeze/dehydrate winter squashes including pumpkins.

This week I will do a really good cleaning of the home. We let the wood stove go out last night as it's in the 50s today even with rain so I can give it a good cleaning today as the highs of BELOW freezing is back in on Wednesday morning. We are getting rain since it is warm instead of sleet or snow.

We have did a round of "do we need to keep this?" I have 5 cloth grocery bags full to donate. I just donate the bags also as they are getting thin.

Our "getting out of the house" has been taking Charlotte for a ride but instead of around the neighborhood we have been going to other areas to look at lights

Son2 is working on a program to help me keep better track of the finances. He already caught that I forgot a couple things and inputted them. Mentioned that my grocery budget is under $500/month which is what the USDA suggests.  I told him since I grow berries, apples and veggies that I don't BUY that at the store. I would be spending $$ to finish filling the new metal garden beds and getting seed potatoes and sweet potatoes to grow this coming season. Now he is asking what I am canning instead of how am I feeling LOL.

Have a good day. Blessed Be

Taking a break from canning.Good news/bad news

 Sloppy joe (for hamburger pie) and Taco soup.

Sausage and potato soup, honey garlic porkchops and spicy pineapple pork chunks.

The weather forecast for the coming week. Winter is about a month early.

Winter squash including pumpkin is holding well. The rest of the meat for canning, I put directly in to freezers. So we decided to focus on getting ready for Christmas and I can go back to canning after Thanksgiving. 

Hubby went through all the Christmas lights. We have 4 Christmas decorations, issues with lights that might not get fixed. He is working on a purple martin house now as the old one fell apart.

I am behind on paperwork but got Medicare, medigap and part D dealt with for both of us.

Good news is the 5 yr old boy is recovering and in physical therapy , does have a long road of recovery especially with him having autism and in his grandparents home.

Bad news is his mother tried scamming several of our friends, some veterans and son that he was still having surgeries and she needed copays. Since the child and her was under a protection order due to an attack on her last year. It was hard for Son2 to check on them while in hospital.He finally had Children services and law enforement check on him and found he had been released and there was no copays needed.He definitely broke engagement off, been friends for over 20 years. And she is looking at criminal charges. Said her dad was a cop... he is security for a factory. They filed for custody of the child, thanked Son2 for caring enough about the child to stop her from using the boy. 

Found out that is not the only criminal activity she was doing.SIGH. Son2 put himself in to counseling over it. 

A Friend of on one of our kids

Woke up by Son 2 who had someone try to break in to his house. His neighbor got her security alarm going off because they went through her yard and over his fence. He was still up but had his lights off. When he flipped his lights on to check out his own security camara, they took off WITH his camara.Cops were there within minutes since neighbor has autocall on her securty for that crap. They actually put in a sheriff's sub office in that area but it's not manned all the time and the housing divison is right off of interstate 70 about by a mile. So they don't know if it's local doing it or if it's someone bouncing through.

A frind of asked  our child what I was doing with my vacation from the gardens...

Answer... canning quick main dishes

 WHAT??? WHY ????was the response.

Lots of answers to that one, because the meat was on sale, I am out of freezer room, so forth and so on 

Reality is , I am cutting down the take out so need healthy quick meals that are basically heat and serve without much to add to it. 

I saved 25 % on the grocery bill buying potatoes, onions and 1 salad mix and the rest was meat and dairy.  I have only to get one roast for Christmas Eve (Christmas day is leftovers) as who is coming is floating so we decided to get the roast and if they come, there will be enough, and if not, we will put leftovers in packages for other meals in freezer. Since we have a superbug, Covid and 2 types of flu going around,sickies are not welcome LOL which is why there is no confirmed of who is coming.

I got my Holiday meats for Thanksgiving, New Year's eve, New Year's day, Valentine's day, our anniversary, St Patrick's Day, Easter (I moved the ham from Christmas day to Easter) Memorial day and July 4th. 

I picked 25 recipes from Pressure canning for Beginners and Beyond by Angi Schneider. 

I figured up my costs, divided by how many jars(main part of the meals) and even Hubby was a bit shocked. It comes out to around $1.25 PER JAR which is a meal for us. Figuring 150 jars.I plan to use 3 a week. That gives me a year's supply. 

Hubby asked me why I had a cloth grocery sack with a empty card board box in the freezer.  I use cloth grocery bags to keep things separate, I have the bag tagged on handle using freezer tape to tell me what is in it. The bag is for the pumpkin puree I will freeze in 1 cup amounts when I can cubed pumpkin and winter squash so I know to NOT use that space.

Put homemade bread and a fruitI have frozen or canned with soups.

Put rice or pasta and fruit with the rest. Keeping in mind I already have canned or froze my fruit of my own or local. I do buy canned fruit that is not grown in this area like pineapple etc. I have plenty of flour. My yeast is in freezer plus I can make sourdough starter. 

I have a little bit of lettuce and some kale still growing in the vegepod that I covered with frost protection row cover.

We picked up 15 lbs of oats at Amish bulk store on the way to pick up the pumpkin roll Amish made us, they donate any money earned from them to Children's hospital in Columbus. St Judes has helped with Amish bills more than once.Since I am now making granola on top of the oat fruit bar I make once a month and Hubby eats oatmeal sometimes as a snack, I am not sure how long that will last us.

We are trying to eat our colors, red, green, yellow/orange, white/tan/brown and purple/blue/black daily to be healthy so I made a chart to mark off what was ate and what we need to put a little more effort into eating. The blue/purple/black is an effort for sure. 

We should be able to drop the grocery budget to $100 a month. I will move what I budgeted to savings to pay for the replacement of meat probably late summer of next year. What is left will be put on mortgage. 

 We have an Englisher that is looking to start making goat cheese. We have a couple Amish that will take an order for cheese when they go to the east side ot the state for other things. There are some stores that specialize in cheese over there. 

I am still trying to pay off mortgage early and yet bring the out go of $$ down. 

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be

Life keeps rolling

 Hubby's uncle and brother doing fine after heart issues.

Mother in Law has her congestive heart failure stablized and is doing fine. She went grocery shopping and was not worn out afterwards.

Nephew is NOT rejecting his lung transplants. He caught a super bug that Medical doesn't have a name for but it's going around and they are using high dosage of steroids to kick it out. He is home and doing okay.

Five yr old now has the same superbug,and is not responding to surgery. Keeps having seizures even under sediation. He is having spinal fluid leaking, his BP is through the room. Since they know he has infection in his blood, his mother can't even leave the room to see anyone or have Son2 (fiance)or his grandpartents come in to see him. Mother is now struggling herself. He was supposed to have surgery last night, didn't get a text or call of what time so probably after 11. It will take 10 days to find out if the surgery did any good. Prayers are just in God's hands and Lord please stop his suffering and hoping we don't lose her also as he's been her whole life for last 5 years as he is autistic. 

I canned 15 quarts of beef stew... I called it minced stew since the pieces are so small. I did NOT use gravy (not good for homecanning) but figured I could drain the beef broth off and make gravy then add back to the stew. 

Using the meatballs that was already in the freezers. I still have 6 meals of meatballs in freezer.

I canned 7 quarts of meatballs in beef broth

I canned 7 quarts of meatballs in tomato sauce

I canned 7 quarts of meatballs in thin cream of mushroom sauce

I canned 3 pints of "slidder" size hamburger patties in beef broth.

I was going to do white bean and poultry chili but decided to wait until after Thanksgiving and use part of the leftover turkey for that.

While digging out meatballs I found 3 small prime rib roasts. So instead of buying one for Christmas I am going to use them. Hubby asked how we had them, I ordered a larger roast last year because Son2 and his date was thinking of coming up. They decided at Thanksgiving to not come up. So I just cut the extra amount into sizes that would work for the two of us. Son1 should be up unless weather stops him and he can take leftovers home with him. Plus I can slice it up for Philly steak subs and pizza instead of ordering it or buying frozen kits. LOL

SO I will start on winter squash and pumpkins.

Since the light frost didn't damage the herbs in the garden nor the kale. I dehydrated more and need to put those in containers.

We had Philly steak subs for supper that I added mushrooms to. We have a little of the meat left and 2 sub buns so I will make Philly steak pizza subs for supper tonight with apple Waldorf salad on top of lettuce from the vegepod.

I know we will have red kuri soup and spaghetti squash this week. We usually eat what I am canning.Maybe stuffed acorn squash???

I am thankful to not being living in a country that the gangs run the country.

Prayers for peace

Blessed be