The beginning of the month is still hot and humid. There's so much to do, but it's so hard to get motivated. The Littles start going to the lakes with the men to cool off and swim in the afternoons. They return with the cart loaded with firewood, weeds, and grass. The fishing is horrible, but that's to be expected, given the heat.
I get up early every day to let the birds out and get the gardening done before it gets too hot. The beats are looking good, we're starting to harvest peas and lettuce, and tiny peppers and tomatoes have started forming in the greenhouse. The potato plants are a mess of bugs. I pick them off every day and toss them to the birds.
Another banty returns with a clutch of chicks. One is still missing.
The Bigs work on cleaning out the old chicken coop in the mornings, taking load after load of manure to the garden. It always amazes me how we end up with so much manure out of one little building. I spread the manure between my garden rows and pile it at the ends and side. It'll make spreading easier in the fall.
We finish the fence down to the creek on our south side. Our new neighbours get halfway to the creek on the north side before we go over to help. We take them the chicks Husband offered for the fence work. We talk and work together. Arlene is waiting for berry season to start canning. Her garden is doing well.
The weather breaks and the rains come. Day after day it rains and the temperature drops. We start cooking inside again, to take the chill and the dampness out of the house. It's sweater weather in the mornings now.
We finish the fence to the creek on the north side of Mom's property. We start fencing the roadside. We fence around Mom's yard and build gates for her back trails. The tree tops and branches give us enough firewood to finish filling Mom's wood shed.
The blueberries ripen and we start picking every day. More and more townsfolk travel through to go picking in the woods. I put a sign out, eggs for trade. A few people stop and ask about the eggs. Two agree to pick a small basket of blueberries for a dozen eggs. They come back at the end of the day. One man has some tin at his place. He'll trade it for eggs, chickens and a chicken pen.
Husband and the Bigs spend three days carting logs to town, building a little chicken coop, fencing it in, and bringing home tin. We give him four hens and two chicks, along with 3 dozen eggs.
The tin is nearly enough to finish Mom's roof. We decide to take the rest of the siding off the trailer wall that is inside the add a room, and that's just enough to finish it. That also exposes the insulation, which we pull out and put into the new outside wall. It's enough to cover the west wall. Two more to go. Mom has a can of roofing tar, which we use sparingly to fill the old nail holes in the tin. Leaks should not be a problem.
I get enough blueberries to make a batch of wine. Blueberries were the reason I bought the wine making equipment. They're coated with natural yeast, and very sweet, so I add nothing but water to the carboy and hope for the best. I rack the dandelion and dandelion/rhubarb wines.
Husband picks up the newly fashioned hay cutter and practices using it on the way home. He's got a pretty good handle on it when he gets back. It's too wet to cut for winter storage though. The rain has helped the grass though, along with our continued rotating of the cows. The pasture looks like it might last the rest of the summer now.
The boys and I finish the fencing down the road. We build gates for all of the driveways. So long as the critters don't try to cross the creek, they are completely fenced in. The sides of the creek are very steep from winter run off, so I don't think it'll be too much of a problem. We decide to test it with the horses, Mildred and the calves, leaving them loose overnight. The next morning we have to walk to Brother's place to get the horses back. They stayed within the fence, but now have too much freedom.
The rain finally settles down, and after two days of straight sun, Husband decides it's time to start cutting hay. He starts with the north side, beside Arlene and Mel. It's the largest clearing. The boys and I follow along with the horse cart, raking the hay and tying it in bundles. Most of it will be left to dry in the field, as it should, but since we expect this to be a long process, we get started right away. Once the cart is full we take it up to the house. We unload the bundles in the new chicken coop and open them back up. I spread them on the floor in the pens to finish drying.
The boys go back for a second load and I go back to picking blueberries. It takes nearly two weeks to get the clearings all cut, dried, bundled and brought back to the house. We fill the manger in the old chicken coop- the milk room, and cover the floor with thick bedding. We fill the old chicken coop from floor to ceiling for storage. The hay loft above the barn is only half full when we finish. There's not nearly enough for winter.
The elderberries ripen near the end of the month. The Littles do an amazing job of picking them off the stems. I start another batch of wine, elderberry with some blueberries thrown in for sweetness and yeast.
I can blueberries without sugar. They'll probably be our sugar next winter- one of the few hints of sweetness in the long, cold, dark nights ahead.
Showing posts with label Canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canning. Show all posts
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
June
It's incredibly hot out. And humid. It's rarely humid in the north, but this year we're into our fourth week of heat and humidity.
The garden is spotty and disappointing. Given the heat it should be growing like crazy. The greenhouses are doing well, but outside is slow growing. The weeds of course, are growing like crazy. We pull them for the birds every day- a fresh layer of weeds to cover the floor of the turkey shack every night.
We continue foraging for weeds and fiddleheads. It's too hot for puffballs now. I start a batch of dandelion wine. I skimp on the sugar, so it won't be very strong. Rhubarb is up, although not much appreciated without flour and a ton of sugar. The boys much on an occasional stick. I start a batch of rhubarb and dandelion wine. I make a small batch of dandelion syrop, blending it with the birch syrop for sugar.
We dig dandelion roots and dry them for coffee. Husband appreciates them more now, much stronger than my other tea weeds alone. He even digs some himself when he's out and about. We try to dig for roots farther away from the house, keeping the dandelions in the yard for greens.
We're cooking outside on the fire pit now. We don't have to cut the branches as small, and are able to use a lot of twigs as well. Cooking doesn't entail much. We planted the remaining potatoes, carrots and beets for seed. Meals are just a jar of canned meat and whatever weeds we foraged that day, mostly dandelion, occasionally lambs quarters. We're all in the habit now of munching as we go as well, eating dandelions as we pick, and chewing on grass and clover.
The perennial bed comes to life, and I start cutting and drying chives, and some flowers and plants for medicine and tea. I wonder if I can make tinctures with wine. I make plantain/comfrey salves with tallow. I plant calendula, bedstraw, bergamot, cicely and some other herbs. I gather stinging nettle and make vegetable rennet.
We rotate the cows through the pasture every three days. It's not enough to allow each section proper rest, but it helps. The horses spend so little time in the pasture that we just leave them up at the barn. They're usually in the side yard, or the garden yard, or at someone else's house. They graze as they go. The goats roam around loose, as always. We never could keep them fenced in. They never wander far though.
Sanya's horses were out behind the pasture one morning. Brother and Sil chased them off.
We work on fencing the edge of our property, down the side of the logging trail to the creek. Hopefully that will keep the horses out, and eventually we'll let the cows out to graze. We cut thin poles and nail them to the trees, a crooked little fence. We keep the tree tops and branches for firewood. The Littles saw through the branches with the hand saw. The basement fills slowly.
Brother and Sil take down their add a room tent and frame it in with logs. They frame all the way around the trailer, putting the roof up over both. They cut logs for the sides and chink it in with clay. Poles for the roof are covered with the vinyl tent. They soon have a solid little cabin with the drafts all sealed. They build a bigger chicken coop beside the cabin, with a trap door/window between them. They can heat the chicken coop with the woodstove next winter.
They fence in their growing yard and garden. They need to protect their garden from their free ranging chickens, and the cows that will be grazing through soon.
Mom's roof leaked last winter, so we all work together to build her add a room and put a new roof on over the trailer. She has enough lumber to frame in the walls, and press board to cover them. The roof is covered with poles, then tin. There's only enough tin to cover half of it. We have to scrounge for more materials elsewhere.
We nearly fill Mom's woodshed with the tree tops and branches we cut for the roof. We move the woodstove into the add a room. We frame in the windows and build an archway in the trailer wall where the windows used to be. It needs insulation and interior walls, but it'll give Mom more space and hopefully keep the roof dryer.
The first two banties to go broody both hatch their chicks, 18 little fluffballs between them. We move them from the brooder boxes to the floor in one of the pens. We pick weeds for them every day for two weeks, then let them out to free range.
Week after week, the other banties hatch their chicks, and we move them first to the floor, and then outside. One of the missing hens from outside returns with a clutch of chicks as well. Two are still missing.
Husband takes ten chicks to the farmer who gave us the calf. He finds out the farmer couldn't drive his cows to Diego's. They all scattered through the bush. Most came home within a few days, but there are still a few loose. He also caught a couple of horses that were roaming free.
We shoot a fox going after the chickens one afternoon. I cut the meat into small pieces and put them into five gallon pails with holes in the bottom. I hang the buckets from the fence surrounding the turkey pen. The flies lay their eggs on the meat, then the maggots hatch and fall to the ground, providing the birds with a tasty treat.
Husband takes more parts off the tractor and delivers them to the fellow who builds cutters. He stops and chats with the new neighbours on the way home. Their names are Mel and Arlene, and the kids are Tommy and Ben. They've built a small lean-to, set up a tent, put in a large garden, and have fenced off the area. They've caught one of Sanya's horses that were in the garden before they fenced it. They considered butchering it, but for now have it tied to a tree. Husband offers them a dozen chicks if they'll continue working on the fenceline down that side of the property to the creek.
Lisa and Sally fence in their garden and a new chicken pen. They dry and store weeds and grass for their chickens next winter.
Once all of the banties are out of the chicken coop, we clean it out and start drying and storing weeds and grass as well. We clean out the hay lean to for grass storage. We clean out the loft in the barn.
We accomplish much in the longer days, without screens and such to occupy our time.
The garden is spotty and disappointing. Given the heat it should be growing like crazy. The greenhouses are doing well, but outside is slow growing. The weeds of course, are growing like crazy. We pull them for the birds every day- a fresh layer of weeds to cover the floor of the turkey shack every night.
We continue foraging for weeds and fiddleheads. It's too hot for puffballs now. I start a batch of dandelion wine. I skimp on the sugar, so it won't be very strong. Rhubarb is up, although not much appreciated without flour and a ton of sugar. The boys much on an occasional stick. I start a batch of rhubarb and dandelion wine. I make a small batch of dandelion syrop, blending it with the birch syrop for sugar.
We dig dandelion roots and dry them for coffee. Husband appreciates them more now, much stronger than my other tea weeds alone. He even digs some himself when he's out and about. We try to dig for roots farther away from the house, keeping the dandelions in the yard for greens.
We're cooking outside on the fire pit now. We don't have to cut the branches as small, and are able to use a lot of twigs as well. Cooking doesn't entail much. We planted the remaining potatoes, carrots and beets for seed. Meals are just a jar of canned meat and whatever weeds we foraged that day, mostly dandelion, occasionally lambs quarters. We're all in the habit now of munching as we go as well, eating dandelions as we pick, and chewing on grass and clover.
The perennial bed comes to life, and I start cutting and drying chives, and some flowers and plants for medicine and tea. I wonder if I can make tinctures with wine. I make plantain/comfrey salves with tallow. I plant calendula, bedstraw, bergamot, cicely and some other herbs. I gather stinging nettle and make vegetable rennet.
We rotate the cows through the pasture every three days. It's not enough to allow each section proper rest, but it helps. The horses spend so little time in the pasture that we just leave them up at the barn. They're usually in the side yard, or the garden yard, or at someone else's house. They graze as they go. The goats roam around loose, as always. We never could keep them fenced in. They never wander far though.
Sanya's horses were out behind the pasture one morning. Brother and Sil chased them off.
We work on fencing the edge of our property, down the side of the logging trail to the creek. Hopefully that will keep the horses out, and eventually we'll let the cows out to graze. We cut thin poles and nail them to the trees, a crooked little fence. We keep the tree tops and branches for firewood. The Littles saw through the branches with the hand saw. The basement fills slowly.
Brother and Sil take down their add a room tent and frame it in with logs. They frame all the way around the trailer, putting the roof up over both. They cut logs for the sides and chink it in with clay. Poles for the roof are covered with the vinyl tent. They soon have a solid little cabin with the drafts all sealed. They build a bigger chicken coop beside the cabin, with a trap door/window between them. They can heat the chicken coop with the woodstove next winter.
They fence in their growing yard and garden. They need to protect their garden from their free ranging chickens, and the cows that will be grazing through soon.
Mom's roof leaked last winter, so we all work together to build her add a room and put a new roof on over the trailer. She has enough lumber to frame in the walls, and press board to cover them. The roof is covered with poles, then tin. There's only enough tin to cover half of it. We have to scrounge for more materials elsewhere.
We nearly fill Mom's woodshed with the tree tops and branches we cut for the roof. We move the woodstove into the add a room. We frame in the windows and build an archway in the trailer wall where the windows used to be. It needs insulation and interior walls, but it'll give Mom more space and hopefully keep the roof dryer.
The first two banties to go broody both hatch their chicks, 18 little fluffballs between them. We move them from the brooder boxes to the floor in one of the pens. We pick weeds for them every day for two weeks, then let them out to free range.
Week after week, the other banties hatch their chicks, and we move them first to the floor, and then outside. One of the missing hens from outside returns with a clutch of chicks as well. Two are still missing.
Husband takes ten chicks to the farmer who gave us the calf. He finds out the farmer couldn't drive his cows to Diego's. They all scattered through the bush. Most came home within a few days, but there are still a few loose. He also caught a couple of horses that were roaming free.
We shoot a fox going after the chickens one afternoon. I cut the meat into small pieces and put them into five gallon pails with holes in the bottom. I hang the buckets from the fence surrounding the turkey pen. The flies lay their eggs on the meat, then the maggots hatch and fall to the ground, providing the birds with a tasty treat.
Husband takes more parts off the tractor and delivers them to the fellow who builds cutters. He stops and chats with the new neighbours on the way home. Their names are Mel and Arlene, and the kids are Tommy and Ben. They've built a small lean-to, set up a tent, put in a large garden, and have fenced off the area. They've caught one of Sanya's horses that were in the garden before they fenced it. They considered butchering it, but for now have it tied to a tree. Husband offers them a dozen chicks if they'll continue working on the fenceline down that side of the property to the creek.
Lisa and Sally fence in their garden and a new chicken pen. They dry and store weeds and grass for their chickens next winter.
Once all of the banties are out of the chicken coop, we clean it out and start drying and storing weeds and grass as well. We clean out the hay lean to for grass storage. We clean out the loft in the barn.
We accomplish much in the longer days, without screens and such to occupy our time.
Monday, August 12, 2013
April
The rains come. Snow melts. Snow falls. Rain. Warm days. Cold nights. More rain. More snow. The roller coaster of spring has arrived in the north.
By mid April it's no longer safe to go ice fishing. The men have little luck fishing from shore. The sleigh bogs down as they travel through the bush. The trails aren't clear enough to use the cart. Everyone stays within walking distance of the house.
What little grass pokes through the snow is still dead and brown. We manage to shoot an occasional bird, rabbit and fox. They stave off starvation for the birds, just barely. The birds are getting more milk than we are now, along with the kale that I planted midwinter in the sunroom. I'm afraid I may have to start feeding them my seedlings soon. They're almost ready to transplant now, with no where to transplant them to.
I busy myself in the greenhouses, working the soil, filling buckets with snow, patching the plastic. It's still too cold overnight to plant inside, but towards the end of the month the weeds start growing, giving the chickens some fresh greens.
The men cut logs to build more greenhouses for each house. The ground is still frozen, so no digging yet. At least they'll be ready when they can dig. Tree tops are brought up for firewood. Our wood shed is full, so we begin refilling the basement.
I can what meat is left in the entranceway freezer. There are over 700 jars, enough for one meal a day for each house, until fall. We decide not to butcher anything big until then. With any luck Dorie and Nelly will calve soon, and we'll have meat for the future. Mildred's calves are growing well, and Monsoon, the little bull, will probably be on the menu next winter.
The garage freezer is filled with pop bottles of water. All the extra bottles have been filled and stored in the basement. The carboys, canning jars, and 5 gallon pails in the cold room have all been filled with water.
There are only a few jars left of pickles and beats, and still a fair bit of jam. Sometimes the boys take a jar and eat it straight. What else can we do with it with no flour for bread or pancakes?
Dad and #2 carve a mold of a foot, and make new shoes for #2 from last year's cow hides. They plan to carve more molds in everyone's sizes, but only #2 is without shoes for now.
We're down to the last four bales of hay. We need grass soon. The snow melts slowly. We put up more fences in the clearings, more places to graze this summer.
We have visitors regularly now. The townsfolk come out to see if the trails are cleared to the bush every 4 or 5 days. They're looking for greens. They cut pine branches for tea, but there's not much else to be found yet.
A seed exchange is set for mid month. We go with just a few assorted seed packets. There are fewer people than last time. We hear of many who didn't make it through the winter, or chose to head south. Letters from the south tell of decimated populations, but an early spring, and growing season well under way. Town governments have begun contacting one another, seeking answers to the questions that everyone is asking- when will the power be back on. In some areas windmills have been fixed, and pockets of hydro do exist.
We're surprised to find some of the Mennonites there, and they have wheat, barley and oat seed with them to share. Everyone gets enough seed to grow one acre. I am thrilled at the prospect of bread in the fall. They have a working mill, and will grind what wheat we grow, in trade for other goods in the fall.
Everyone is hopeful for the future. We've survived the winter. In another month we should begin harvesting the first spring veggies, and fresh weeds and forage before that. Hydro in the future. Some hope for normal.
By mid April it's no longer safe to go ice fishing. The men have little luck fishing from shore. The sleigh bogs down as they travel through the bush. The trails aren't clear enough to use the cart. Everyone stays within walking distance of the house.
What little grass pokes through the snow is still dead and brown. We manage to shoot an occasional bird, rabbit and fox. They stave off starvation for the birds, just barely. The birds are getting more milk than we are now, along with the kale that I planted midwinter in the sunroom. I'm afraid I may have to start feeding them my seedlings soon. They're almost ready to transplant now, with no where to transplant them to.
I busy myself in the greenhouses, working the soil, filling buckets with snow, patching the plastic. It's still too cold overnight to plant inside, but towards the end of the month the weeds start growing, giving the chickens some fresh greens.
The men cut logs to build more greenhouses for each house. The ground is still frozen, so no digging yet. At least they'll be ready when they can dig. Tree tops are brought up for firewood. Our wood shed is full, so we begin refilling the basement.
I can what meat is left in the entranceway freezer. There are over 700 jars, enough for one meal a day for each house, until fall. We decide not to butcher anything big until then. With any luck Dorie and Nelly will calve soon, and we'll have meat for the future. Mildred's calves are growing well, and Monsoon, the little bull, will probably be on the menu next winter.
The garage freezer is filled with pop bottles of water. All the extra bottles have been filled and stored in the basement. The carboys, canning jars, and 5 gallon pails in the cold room have all been filled with water.
There are only a few jars left of pickles and beats, and still a fair bit of jam. Sometimes the boys take a jar and eat it straight. What else can we do with it with no flour for bread or pancakes?
Dad and #2 carve a mold of a foot, and make new shoes for #2 from last year's cow hides. They plan to carve more molds in everyone's sizes, but only #2 is without shoes for now.
We're down to the last four bales of hay. We need grass soon. The snow melts slowly. We put up more fences in the clearings, more places to graze this summer.
We have visitors regularly now. The townsfolk come out to see if the trails are cleared to the bush every 4 or 5 days. They're looking for greens. They cut pine branches for tea, but there's not much else to be found yet.
A seed exchange is set for mid month. We go with just a few assorted seed packets. There are fewer people than last time. We hear of many who didn't make it through the winter, or chose to head south. Letters from the south tell of decimated populations, but an early spring, and growing season well under way. Town governments have begun contacting one another, seeking answers to the questions that everyone is asking- when will the power be back on. In some areas windmills have been fixed, and pockets of hydro do exist.
We're surprised to find some of the Mennonites there, and they have wheat, barley and oat seed with them to share. Everyone gets enough seed to grow one acre. I am thrilled at the prospect of bread in the fall. They have a working mill, and will grind what wheat we grow, in trade for other goods in the fall.
Everyone is hopeful for the future. We've survived the winter. In another month we should begin harvesting the first spring veggies, and fresh weeds and forage before that. Hydro in the future. Some hope for normal.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
March
The snow keeps coming. This will not be an early spring.
The men continue ice fishing, feeding us, the birds and the dogs. They bring home logs which we pile outside of the wood shed, slowly getting them cut up by hand saw. The wood shed is nearly full.
Mildred calved. She has a lovely little heifer calf, Maureen. We get busy milking right away. So much milk, and such poor storage. I make butter and cheese and yogourt. It's a great addition to our diet. The excess milk and whey goes to the dogs and birds.
Coffee is gone now. Husband has adapted to drinking homemade tea with me in the mornings. It's mostly dandelion root, pine needles, mint, rosehips, and yarrow. It's hot, and we drink it without sugar or honey now. The milk makes it much more palatable.
We emptied the freezer in the garage. I canned the remaining meat for summer. We started filling pop bottles with filtered melted snow and filling the freezer with them. When we ran out of pop bottles we made a trip to the dump to scavenge for more.
The dump looked to have been well scavenged already, but we were able to dig out a couple of bags of pop bottles from the recycling bins. We found a few boards and an old pair of boots that might fit #2. They have a rip in the side, but I can patch them with a piece of leather.
We stop to visit one of the neighbours on the dump side of town. He's had a few calves born already, but lost one cow during delivery. The calf is only a few days old, and not doing well. He hasn't been able to get one of the other cows to adopt it, and milking enough to feed it isn't going well either. He agrees to let us take Monsoon home to try on Mildred.
Mildred takes the new calf just fine. She seems quite content with two calves. Our milk supply drops a little for a few days, but then seems to pick up again. It's still more than we can use before it spoils, so no loss.
We get the extra pop bottles washed out and continue filling them with filtered water. I know it won't be enough to last the summer, but it might make things a little easier when we have to haul water again in the spring.
I start seedlings. Lots of seedlings. The plant stands in the sunroom are full of tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, herbs, and perennials. Mom, Sil, Nira, and Lisa all have their shelves in front of the windows filled with seedlings too. We are all looking forward to spring.
We got a letter from my sister. It took 6 weeks to get to us. She's with her family in Saskatchewan. Luckily it's a small town, so they're doing as well as most of the folks in town here. No word from government, military, or any sort of officials. No power. Waiting for spring. She has learned to grind her own wheat. Everyone there is grinding wheat. The town plans to get an old mill up and running in the spring. Meat has been scarce, but they're getting by. We all write letters back to her, and hope she gets them.
The men continue ice fishing, feeding us, the birds and the dogs. They bring home logs which we pile outside of the wood shed, slowly getting them cut up by hand saw. The wood shed is nearly full.
Mildred calved. She has a lovely little heifer calf, Maureen. We get busy milking right away. So much milk, and such poor storage. I make butter and cheese and yogourt. It's a great addition to our diet. The excess milk and whey goes to the dogs and birds.
Coffee is gone now. Husband has adapted to drinking homemade tea with me in the mornings. It's mostly dandelion root, pine needles, mint, rosehips, and yarrow. It's hot, and we drink it without sugar or honey now. The milk makes it much more palatable.
We emptied the freezer in the garage. I canned the remaining meat for summer. We started filling pop bottles with filtered melted snow and filling the freezer with them. When we ran out of pop bottles we made a trip to the dump to scavenge for more.
The dump looked to have been well scavenged already, but we were able to dig out a couple of bags of pop bottles from the recycling bins. We found a few boards and an old pair of boots that might fit #2. They have a rip in the side, but I can patch them with a piece of leather.
We stop to visit one of the neighbours on the dump side of town. He's had a few calves born already, but lost one cow during delivery. The calf is only a few days old, and not doing well. He hasn't been able to get one of the other cows to adopt it, and milking enough to feed it isn't going well either. He agrees to let us take Monsoon home to try on Mildred.
Mildred takes the new calf just fine. She seems quite content with two calves. Our milk supply drops a little for a few days, but then seems to pick up again. It's still more than we can use before it spoils, so no loss.
We get the extra pop bottles washed out and continue filling them with filtered water. I know it won't be enough to last the summer, but it might make things a little easier when we have to haul water again in the spring.
I start seedlings. Lots of seedlings. The plant stands in the sunroom are full of tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, herbs, and perennials. Mom, Sil, Nira, and Lisa all have their shelves in front of the windows filled with seedlings too. We are all looking forward to spring.
We got a letter from my sister. It took 6 weeks to get to us. She's with her family in Saskatchewan. Luckily it's a small town, so they're doing as well as most of the folks in town here. No word from government, military, or any sort of officials. No power. Waiting for spring. She has learned to grind her own wheat. Everyone there is grinding wheat. The town plans to get an old mill up and running in the spring. Meat has been scarce, but they're getting by. We all write letters back to her, and hope she gets them.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Day 90- Garden Thoughts
Three months without power and it's crazy ass cold outside! I think our day time highs are in the -25°C range, and the nights are in the -40's.
Husband never 'got around' to building a windmill, not that it would help much now anyway, since there's almost no wind- just cold, cold, cold! He did add 15 batteries to the battery bank, taken from cars off the roadside. He's also installed a series of car radiators around the kitchen, livingroom and our bedroom. He wrapped the woodstove with copper pipe, then connected waterhose to run between the radiators. It helps a lot.
He found another mini solar panel in an abandoned car, and hooked it up to the battery bank. We're still only using the batteries to run the furnace fan for short spurts, but every little bit helps. We sealed off the upstairs- the boys are camped out semi-permanently in the livingroom. Husband collected a few alternators, pulleys, and gears, so if he ever gets motivated to try the car alternator windmill he should have what he needs to build it.
The Bigs wander around daily with the calking gun, filling in drafts we never knew we had before. The Littles have been doing chores- it's the only time they go outside lately- and if they don't go outside I might have to kill them. We're all cranky from being cooped up, but the little two fight and argue all day long. Board and card games have lost a lot of their appeal, with everyone trying to find a little spot to get away from each other. On a positive note- everyone is reading these days!
I sorted through my seed stash and started tomatoes and peppers. It's a little earlier than I normally start them, though only a week for the tomatoes. I had a good supply of store bought pasta sauces, tomato juice, and tomato soup going in to this winter. Next winter we might still be on our own, so that's a whole lot of gardening and canning we've never depended on before.
We're eating out of the freezers almost exclusively now- no sense opening jars when anything that's left in the next few months will have to be canned. Beans, beans, the musical fruit, lol. There's not much variety for veggies in the freezers.
I've started canning some meat as well- ground beef and stewing meat, just a canner load per week. I wasn't going to, as we could probably use it all up before spring, but then what? I'm not sure I'm ready to become a vegetarian or rely on what we can hunt or catch through the summer. It's easier to do the canning now, while the fire's heating the house and the snow is providing the water, than to try butchering in the spring and having to can it all. Looks like Mindy will be safe 'til next fall. At any rate- I've got about thirty meals worth of meat canned now.
Which brings up another worry. Canning jars. I've gotten a few extras from the flea market, maybe an extra case or two. I wasn't counting them, because I always bought extra jars whenever I found them. This is different though. I won't be able to freeze summer greens or beans with no power. Everything will have to be canned. All of those tomato products I normally buy come in their own cans. This year they'll be taking up jar space. Jars that I don't have. Jars that I probably won't be able to get.
Which really makes me rethink the garden and the menu. We need to grow more of everything, but we really need to grow more of what will store without processing. More cabbage- which can stay in the garden until after it freezes. More squash and pumpkins, that keep well. More root veggies. Do dry beans count as a veggie? My beloved green beans, which I'm so tired of right now, will be few and far between next winter. And of course, those veggies aren't the easy seed savers either, which will make the following winter even more scarce.
All in all, we're doing ok. I just hope we get hydro back soon.
Husband never 'got around' to building a windmill, not that it would help much now anyway, since there's almost no wind- just cold, cold, cold! He did add 15 batteries to the battery bank, taken from cars off the roadside. He's also installed a series of car radiators around the kitchen, livingroom and our bedroom. He wrapped the woodstove with copper pipe, then connected waterhose to run between the radiators. It helps a lot.
He found another mini solar panel in an abandoned car, and hooked it up to the battery bank. We're still only using the batteries to run the furnace fan for short spurts, but every little bit helps. We sealed off the upstairs- the boys are camped out semi-permanently in the livingroom. Husband collected a few alternators, pulleys, and gears, so if he ever gets motivated to try the car alternator windmill he should have what he needs to build it.
The Bigs wander around daily with the calking gun, filling in drafts we never knew we had before. The Littles have been doing chores- it's the only time they go outside lately- and if they don't go outside I might have to kill them. We're all cranky from being cooped up, but the little two fight and argue all day long. Board and card games have lost a lot of their appeal, with everyone trying to find a little spot to get away from each other. On a positive note- everyone is reading these days!
I sorted through my seed stash and started tomatoes and peppers. It's a little earlier than I normally start them, though only a week for the tomatoes. I had a good supply of store bought pasta sauces, tomato juice, and tomato soup going in to this winter. Next winter we might still be on our own, so that's a whole lot of gardening and canning we've never depended on before.
We're eating out of the freezers almost exclusively now- no sense opening jars when anything that's left in the next few months will have to be canned. Beans, beans, the musical fruit, lol. There's not much variety for veggies in the freezers.
I've started canning some meat as well- ground beef and stewing meat, just a canner load per week. I wasn't going to, as we could probably use it all up before spring, but then what? I'm not sure I'm ready to become a vegetarian or rely on what we can hunt or catch through the summer. It's easier to do the canning now, while the fire's heating the house and the snow is providing the water, than to try butchering in the spring and having to can it all. Looks like Mindy will be safe 'til next fall. At any rate- I've got about thirty meals worth of meat canned now.
Which brings up another worry. Canning jars. I've gotten a few extras from the flea market, maybe an extra case or two. I wasn't counting them, because I always bought extra jars whenever I found them. This is different though. I won't be able to freeze summer greens or beans with no power. Everything will have to be canned. All of those tomato products I normally buy come in their own cans. This year they'll be taking up jar space. Jars that I don't have. Jars that I probably won't be able to get.
Which really makes me rethink the garden and the menu. We need to grow more of everything, but we really need to grow more of what will store without processing. More cabbage- which can stay in the garden until after it freezes. More squash and pumpkins, that keep well. More root veggies. Do dry beans count as a veggie? My beloved green beans, which I'm so tired of right now, will be few and far between next winter. And of course, those veggies aren't the easy seed savers either, which will make the following winter even more scarce.
All in all, we're doing ok. I just hope we get hydro back soon.
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