What a week it has been! We are having a “historic” ice storm, as they are calling it on the news. North of us, in Portland, they have inches and inches of snow, plus ice, so my sister who works there had to go to work and stay there. It’s really not safe to drive there. Salem got hit with ice. It hasn’t been super safe here, either.
We had branches with up to an inch of ice on them. Countless trees fell in our neighborhood and power lines were in the road, in yards–broken from the weight of all the ice.
We had quite an adventure when our neighbor knocked on our door late one evening, saying he heard the tree behind both our houses creaking and cracking. Of course, we could not move the shop out of harm’s way, but we tore out there, hooked up the camper and moved it.
Of course, it was raining the whole time–freezing rain to be exact, and our van window was completely iced over with a thick sheet of ice. Since there was no time to de-ice it, what with trying to escape a tree that might be falling, Rob had me get in, and he gave me instructions to drive it back so he could hook up, then he wanted me to pull out of the gate, completely blind, following verbal directions that were being yelled out! After getting dangerously close to the house eves with the camper, I bailed out and let Rob finish the job, with help from both me and the neighbor. Which goes to prove 2 things: 1) My claim that Rob can drive the camper so good he could do it blindfolded is true, and 2) I never, ever will apply for a job as a blind van driver.
The tree never fell, thank goodness, but many branches fell from it. It took until Sunday morning for us to get the area safely cleared and for things to thaw out enough to put the camper back behind the gate where it belongs. We are so glad we cleared out the arborvitae a few weeks ago. More of the top branches fell and Rob had to cut them off before he could put the camper back. There will be a whole street full of full yard debris bins this week, I think! Ours is certainly full. We are very thankful that the camper that was just fixed does not need repairs again!
Family members piled into each others’ houses, wherever there was power. Ours stayed on the entire time, except for very brief outages. Others were not so fortunate. The worst night, there were constant flashes in the sky, thousands and thousands of outages, and numerous problems resulting from these problems. The street right behind us and almost every street near us lost power. All night long, the calm of the night was punctuated with crashes and cracks and falling branches.
Today, we took a walk. We saw at least 15 people cleaning up yards and sawing branches. This was one street that seemed especially hard hit. One man showed us his power line in his yard and said it was colder in the house than outside. Many streets have been closed. Near the end of our walk, we saw a man standing in the middle of the intersection. He was jubilant because his power had came on and stayed for 2 minutes this time–and pointed out power truck and workers a few blocks up a hill. Now and then, we could hear a generator running, or see smoke coming out of a chimney and knew those houses were a little warmer than the others. Everyone had a story, and they all wanted to share it. It was the most interaction we have ever had on a walk.
I find it quite ironic that we have a small generator, camp stoves, an entire camper that runs on propane, cupboards of food, Dutch ovens and a small fire pit in the back yard and yet our power stayed on and we needed none of those things, while others lost their power and had no way to build fires, cook, or be comfortable. We actually felt very sad and a little guilty as we walked along and wished we could help everyone. But, we can’t, so we did what we could.
We absolutely got the best deal and lots of entertainment at our house. Power is still not on in many neighborhoods, including the baby’s, so we still have a full house. Grandpa Rob spent the day today cutting down broken branches, tending to his greenhouse, cuddling with baby, cooking, and doing dishes. He also walked over 3 miles and kept the dog from licking poor Malcolm in the face since she’s decided he is either a puppy or a new toy. Rob looks exhausted. We all feel a bit tired, I will admit!
The baby is now crawling all over. He eats any and all trash he can find, so we have been constantly sweeping. It was especially funny when we caught him chewing on an advertisement for “Clean Eating” magazine! I guess he wants to be healthy:) He’s a lot of fun right now.
I’m thankful tonight that people I love are all right, safe and warm and for the time spent with those who came here. I’m thankful for power, and a huge food storage and all that wood Rob chopped this fall. We had no trouble feeding a few extras, and I just had Rob stop for an extra gallon of milk today while he was out and about helping chop up some branches at my sister’s. He said the store was slammed, with people pushing full carts of water, food that could be easily eaten like lunchmeat and bread, and other items they needed. He said the store looked like it had been wrecked, with food in the aisles, empty shelves in some places, and items displaced all over.
I’m thankful that our house, shop, camper and cars made it through unscathed, but most of all for the safety of our friends and family. I’m looking forward to a calmer week!
Rob started many seeds in the greenhouse this week. He focused on flowers, tomatoes and peppers to start with, and will be adding more kinds of vegetables before long. I just realized I forgot to tell him the onion seeds need to go in soon….they take a long time, as well. Last year, he had great success with some of these plants that take a little longer to reach transplant size by re-potting them into little cartons one or even two times as they outgrew their small cells. Patsy wrote out a lot of tags for him so he can hopefully avoid mixing things up this year. He was a little frustrated by a few rogue plants last year!
He’s got some pansies and cilantro up. He’s also got some fine-leaved plant in the midst of the cilantro that isn’t cilantro. Since they are his own saved seeds, he figures they might be poppy seeds that fell to the bottom of the bag. We’ll know before long. The encouraging news is that some of his saved seeds are sprouting!
He decided to try to root some Daphne. I hope it does root. I’ve always had a bush wherever I’ve lived and there isn’t one here, yet.
He picked another large container full of his winter lettuce. It has, however, been moved out of the greenhouse to allow for the new seedlings, so we will see if this cold spell they say is coming does it in, or if it is truly hardy.
I accomplished a huge project this past week. I used every spare moment for several days unloading, sorting, and re-loading the camper’s food supply. I always keep a full pantry out there, as we cook constantly while we camp. There were cans, home-filled jars and boxes of things under the bench seats that haven’t been needed for quite some time. In fact, some of those cans had been there since we lived in the camper a few summers ago. They were there as extras in case I ran out of something. I was ruthless and rotated every single item out with things canned this past summer, or with dates of later in 2021 or higher. I brought the older food in and we followed the “clean the camper menu plan” all week. Almost all the food was still good, expect for some things like crackers that had been overlooked. I had been through the cupboards that we use more frequently last fall, but still rotated the items out for longer-dated items. There is still plenty of food out there, but I pared it down quite a bit. We don’t need as much as we used to, as we are feeding less people when we do go camping.
For many reasons, we did not camp much last summer, and we hope to make up for it this summer. Our camper had a huge issue a few weeks back and began to leak badly, but now it’s fixed, and home, and filled with good food to eat, so things are looking hopeful. The night they extended the ability to make camping reservations 6 months ahead, Rob got up at midnight and made a bunch of them.
Now Rob can make plans to do some more wonderful Dutch oven cooking for us.
Of course, a certain little boy is begging to go with us. He’d love to do some fishing like he did last year. Patsy is excited, as well. This picture is at Coffenbury Lake, at Ft. Stevens State Park. We’d love to go there again, but late summer, so we need for the reservations to open up for that time slot. We’ll see what happens. In the meanwhile, we have some places closer to home to camp at over the next few months. It takes less gas, especially for shorter camping trips, to choose spots closer to home, and we have more time to enjoy our camping since it takes less time to drive there. We plan to drag Michaela along at least once. She’s been hesitant, as new situations are difficult for her, but I believe she will enjoy it once she tries it.
Rob and I had our second Covid shot. Contrary to what others have experienced, we did not suffer any adverse side effects, other than I had a slightly sore arm for one day. Rob didn’t even feel it. Of course, he does have a whole row of healing stitches in his elbow…..just went through 2 surgeries….used to suffer terribly with hip pain….just sayin’. The man knows what real pain is! But, he did not get chills, a fever, flu-like symptoms or any of that, either, and neither did I. We were told it took 1 week to become fully effective. We are giving it a little more time since there is so much conflicting information out there…wearing masks, social distancing, etc., regardless, but do look forward to attending church and visiting some friends for the first time in a year, before too much more time passes. I’m excited!!
On Tuesday afternoon, we got a brief snowstorm. It was the first snow of the winter, and in an afternoon, we had 2-1/2-3 inches piled up in the yard.
Patsy made a snowman on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we still had enough for her and Jake to play with in the yard for quite some time and build another one. Today, on Sunday, we still have one small frozen ball of old snow still standing from the snowman, but it all melted away quickly other than that. The kids got a lot of fun from that snow, mostly because it’s so rare around here.
We felt bad because Lovana had invited us over for Rob’s birthday, and had gone to a lot of trouble to prepare. But, we postponed until Thursday evening, figuring the only one who knew how to drive in the snow would be doing it with one arm………we’d better stay home that evening! We did have a wonderful time on Thursday when we did go.
My sister and brother-in-law made a snap decision to get away for a couple of days, if we would watch the kids. They had a tremendous amount of work they needed to do in peace and quiet for their business, so they packed it up, dropped the kids off Friday after lunch, and headed out. We decided to take a drive on Saturday with the kids. My sister happily pitched in gas money and money for fast food, to make the day easier for everyone, so off we went.
The weather was absolutely terrible, but no one cared. We took old bread and the kids fed the seagulls. Since it was windy and rainy, they petered out quickly. Rob had got some very old bread at the day-old bread store for this purpose. Some was actually a little moldy, to our surprise. I decided to throw the rest of it to the birds at the end of our excursion because the kids were tired and I didn’t want to take moldy bread home. I jumped out of the van near a cluster of seagulls, grabbed a big handful of bread and threw it at the birds. At that moment, the wind strengthened and caught the handful of bread and whipped it all right back into my face. Yuck and double yuck! Rob and I were cracking up, though, he in the van, and me outside. The kids never even noticed, as they were on electronics by that time. Such is life as an auntie:)
Michaela wanted to see the sea lions, so she and I did. We grabbed fast food–whatever they wanted from either Taco Bell or McDonald’s, visited a candy store, and drove home, stuffed and happy. Everyone had a great time, and that’s what matters.
Rob and some of the kids cracked out 10 pounds of walnuts he bought at a farm stand we like. They will be a gift for someone’s birthday.
I cooked several meals, and by the end of the week Rob was bored, so he cooked a whole bunch. (It’s fair to say he’s really, really on the mend, but still has stitches until tomorrow and is limited as to how much he can lift or pull). So much food, in fact, that we ended up taking a meal to some friends with a lot of children.
One thing I made was taco soup with some of the chicken/pepper mixture the school has been handing out for fajitas. They give it in little cartons, frozen, so I’ve just been re-freezing it when we get it. I added beans I cooked another day, home-canned tomatoes, and taco seasoning. It ended up so thick, it can either be eaten as very thick soup or rolled into burritos. We are getting so many little cartons of milk and they have come in handy this weekend, as Michaela drinks between a quart and half-gallon of milk daily.
I went to Safeway myself, for the first time in months, instead of sending Rob with a list. I did fine, and stuck to my list, but did notice I came in over what I wanted to spend by a few dollars. I later got in a conversation with 2 checkers, and one was explaining that the items he was marking recently were all being marked up 20 cents each…right down the line. He was working in the soda department, but said prices had risen in other areas as well. The other checker said that the sales are for a few cents more than they used to be, which I noticed. I did notice that butter was very inexpensive, and they were doing a loss leader for ice cream, so we won’t be suffering this week:). In fact, I easily stayed within our grocery budget for January and was able to order extra bulk items from Azure Standard, such as large packets of pepper and spices, along with some cleaners and other things I like to get from there. It wasn’t a large order, but I like to keep stocked up when I can.
Staying within budget is a direct result of the marvelous garden we grew and preserved this past summer. We’ve been really reaping the benefits of that garden and eating jar after jar of fruits and vegetables and pulling item after item out of the freezers. The school lunches are helping, too. It’s not because milk is expensive around here–it’s holding at about $2/gallon. It’s because we usually get milk, apples, carrots and celery and a few other things that help us stretch out the time between store visits. The less we are in the stores, the more I save because it causes me to eat our home-preserved and bulk foods more often and to be more creative with them. Win-win! The fact that we grew greenhouse lettuce helped too, with stretching the shopping trips out. We have one more picking of lettuce out there. I’ve been amazed at how much we ended up getting from this experiment. And, it’s almost time to start our plants for this spring’s planting. I’m excited to begin the cycle again!
This week was unusually busy during the first half, and unusually quiet the second half. Rob scurried around getting wood hauled, things picked up and put away, and so forth, and then had surgery on Friday. He had one surgery for carpal tunnel and nerve surgery on his elbow, both at the same time. It went well, and we spent a quiet weekend icing and elevating his arm. I planned nothing else for the weekend, since he does an awful lot of house chores around here, and I knew I needed to do them all for a few days.
He took our daughter Lovana shopping on Wednesday, as she doesn’t drive and finds it very handy when she can talk her dad into taking her to various stores. While he was out, he picked up some groceries for us. I didn’t need many, but I forgot to ask for corn tortillas. I didn’t want to shop again, since I had enough to do, so I remembered a comment from Terri W. a while back, who suggested I make my own. I told her I couldn’t because I don’t keep flour in the house, but then thought, “why not try corn ones?” I’ve watched my friend make them before, in a tortilla press, which I don’t have, so I squished them between plastic wrap and two plates. Then, I fried them in a pan. They aren’t as thin as the store ones, but they tasted wonderful!
We just keep eating and eating our home-preserved food. We’ve especially been enjoying pickles and applesauce this week. Pears, peaches, giardinera, jams and cauliflower have been eaten as well, plus more.
Jake enjoyed making a Kiwi Crate kit as part of the homeschooling materials his mom sent over last week on the one day I do school with him. It was a basketball catapult. Fun!
We finished reading about the Wright Brothers and a book called “Thimble Summer.” He liked them, but boy did I have some talking to do when he realized the little girl in “Thimble Summer” was hitchhiking! I explained it was a long, long, long time ago and they did that kind of thing then, but NEVER, EVER now, and on and on and on. Did you every get caught out trying to explain a tricky part of a book to a very literal, special needs child? It’s not for the faint of heart, I’ll have to say:). But, I do enjoy reading to him, and he loves hearing it, so we read quite a bit last week. Although we do formal school only one day per week, I read aloud every time he is with me, and before bed when he spends the night.
We get a lot of frugal fun from books. I read to Patsy and Rob this morning for about an hour. He’s a bit bored today, and loves hearing the story we are reading. (Still on “The War That Saved My Life”–it’s a great book!) This morning, his bandage started slipping down and his stitches were showing, so I drove him to the doctor and they re-dressed his arm. After all, a guy can’t go around with his stitches showing:) They said it looks wonderful! After surgery, they said the nerve surgery on the elbow was “more than they thought it would be” and it has hurt there especially, but he is handling it just fine with ibuprophin, so that is a relief.
Rob and Patsy watched lots of westerns on t.v., while he was icing and elevating that arm. I was happy to wash dishes and cook, to the sound of gunshots ringing out and the drawl of John Wayne, while being very thankful I had a sink, fridge and stove to use, rather than a wagon, bucket of water and campfire to cook with, lots of food, and no bullets to dodge while I did my chores:). All joking aside, I take those things for granted, and around the world, so many women have to contend with all that and more, just to put a meal on the table for her family. I really did take a moment to be thankful for all that I do have.
We finished the side yard project this week. This used to be a real mess, with waist-high weeds along the fence in spring and mud in the winter. We wanted it to be more usable, and for there to be a cleaner surface to walk on as we went back and forth into the camper. When we camp, we have to load in our fresh foods and our clothes for the week. We also use the camper fridge as our extra fridge when we buy a large quantity of something that was on sale. We also use the camper for a guest house on the rare occasions that someone visits us over night. Where the raised beds are now, there was a grassy area that was an inconvenience to mow and a wasted area to water, but it’s hooked into the sprinkler system. I wanted to grow more food there instead.
We started last fall. Patsy worked on it for a while, and was paid for her efforts, and then decided it wasn’t her favorite thing, so Rob and I took it on. There were concrete stones, weeds, roots, rocks and dirt to move.
As the fall and winter progressed, we worked at it when we could. There are pebbles where the camper steps stop and red bark for the rest of the area.
Rob built the first raised bed from reclaimed lumber. He had to buy part of the lumber for the second one, but using the scavenged lumber helped bring the cost way down. We saved all the dirt we dug up from the area by the camper to help fill the new beds. The bags are some dirt that was dug up before Rob got the beds built. We saved all the concrete edging stones for another future project. Rob has a plan to put in drip irrigation connected to the in-ground sprinkler system that is already there, and make it as easy to water as the rest of the yard and garden.
We covered the grass under the beds with old cardboard from boxes to discourage weeds, then shoveled in dirt.
A few weeks ago, I put some purchased, enriched soil and some bone meal in the first bed and stirred it up. Then, I planted baby strawberry plants in half of it. This weekend, Rob finished filling the second bed with dirt and more enriched soil. I spread out the rest of the red bark chips and he trimmed off the neighbor’s bushes that had been growing through our fence. The branches were starting to lean out toward the camper, and were a real trial to brush up against after a rain…..quite startling I’ll say when the water went down my neck!
I plan to plant some peas in the empty bed before too many weeks pass. The other half of the strawberry bed will be filled with early spring veggies such as boc choi, spinach and cabbage or more peas. I bought a big package of those. It’s just easier around here to get into a raised bed in early spring since they dry out sooner. The main garden is way too wet. There is good sun here, so I’m excited about what might grow.
The arborvitae look dismal now, but they will leaf out all too soon. I don’t want them anyway–they are the neighbors. He does know we trimmed them off on our side. Rob thought it was just common courtesy to ask permission even though they were growing through onto our side of the fence, and of course he was fine with it.
Since the camper is not at home now, we decided to hustle up and finish the job while it was easier to work in that area. How Rob does it, I’ll never know, but he will back it in there and the steps will open up right where the gravel is, every single time. The door will just barely open, but the slide-out will also open exactly enough to not hit the gutters on the house (about 3 or 4 inches) and there will be enough clearance to get in and out the door. It amazes me every time. Now that the project is done, we won’t track as much mud inside, and I’ll have 2 more beds to grow food in. I should not get water down my neck any more, and Patsy won’t have to man-handle the mower into that inconvenient place anymore. It’s nice to have it done.
With a little help from Jake, we filled the bin as full as it would go, and still have 2 garbage cans and a trash sack full, waiting for another garbage pick-up day. He wasn’t sure about getting in there, so clung to Uncle the whole time. In the end, I think he enjoyed the experience, but his slight weight didn’t make much difference in compacting the twigs, so it was mostly for fun:)
Rob’s hat and pull-over is another Christmas present I sewed, I just didn’t want to post it before Christmas in case he peeked:). It’s coming in handy as we continue walking for exercise. We try to get out most days, and especially when either Jake or Michaela is with us, since we like to make it one of our activities on those days to keep them engaged and occupied.
We had a gorgeous day today, so decided to drive down to the Oregon Coast. Rob and Patsy collected rocks and I walked the dog.
I packed a picnic lunch and we ate it at this overlook. I never tire of the ocean. I could watch it every day. It’s a special place for both Rob and I and we were so happy to be able to visit today. Since we took our lunch and one of the small cars, the trip was very affordable.
One day, we took Michaela with us when we went to the dentist. Our dentist is a distance from our house, and we wanted her to have some fun that day. After the appointments, we went to a park we knew of and fed the geese, ducks, seagulls and a pigeon some buns I had taken along for that purpose. She didn’t mind the rain, and seemed to enjoy herself tremendously, taking the longest time to break each bun into bits and throw the pieces to the various birds.
We also drove along the rail road tracks and looked for trains. It’s one of her favorite things to do. Imagine our surprise when we came upon the remains of a train wreck from at least a week ago. We had felt that would be cleaned up by now, but it wan’t. There was a tremendous pile of lumber being cleaned up, and twisted, mangled railroad cars. Thankfully, no one had been hurt, but the mess was horrendous. Since no one was hurt, we were glad she was able to see what was involved in the clean-up of such a wreck, all caused by a tree that had fallen on the tracks.
To top off the day, she got to use one of her Christmas gift cards to drive through McDonald’s. For her, it was a great day, and we didn’t have any cavities, so it was win-win for us all:)
Rob’s mom wanted him to stop by to pick up some things. His sister had brought avocados from her neighbor, there was a huge box of food from his cousin (a Christmas gift), and she also had quite a few groceries she had been given that were too much for her to use. I was delighted to see it all.
I was shocked to find all this broccoli in the garden. With the cabbage we are still eating, plus the large bowl of lettuce I picked, our purchased fresh veggies are stretching farther than ever. In fact, when Rob asked if I needed him to stop and get groceries this week, I was able to say that there was not one single thing I needed this time. In fact, I’ve decided that no more groceries will be purchased until the fridge clears out a bit. It’s too full.
That is because….(sad face)….the camper sprung a leak in the recent rain and wind storms we’ve had. It has been towed away to be looked at by a repairman who will hopefully pinpoint the problem quickly and be able to fix it immediately. It’s been a whirlwind week sopping up water, washing things that got wet, and cramming all the camper fridge food into my house fridge. The camper fridge doesn’t hold that much, but enables us to buy larger quantities of things like eggs (which we recently did), so now my house fridge is stuffed with eggs, for one thing, and a plethora of condiments for another. It looks like insurance will help with at least part of the repairs, so that’s a good thing.
In the meanwhile, the Oregon Park Service announced one day that it would be opening up camping reservations for a 6-month window, starting the next day. They’ve been slowly letting people reserve sites further ahead–starting at 2 weeks, then a month, and so forth. (Before the whole thing shut down last spring for Covid, it was 9 months). We knew the good ones were going to go fast, so we got up at midnight that first day and got several prime spots reserved over the next few months. We know Jake wants to go with us part of the time, and are hoping Michaela will take the plunge and go some time, too. We were so glad we were so aggressive, as they mentioned on the news the next evening that the website stopped working or something, and many people were disappointed, and that when people did finally get on, most of the good spots were gone at desirable times. Whew! I just can’t even think of taking special needs kids camping for several days without full hook-ups since the showers have been closed at most campsites since Covid started, but now I don’t have to. Now to convince Michaela that camping is fun…… We can use our park pass for these camping trips, so they end up being very affordable.
Rob has a day surgery on Friday, for Carpal Tunnel in one hand–they will do 2 small surgeries, one on his wrist and one on his elbow. This is a problem he’s had for a long time, but the hip issue was more important to fix. So, in preparation, he’s been fixing everything in sight–there’s a new light on the back porch, new mini-blinds in the bathroom since those broke, lots of firewood hauled, and the side-yard project is finished. I can’t even imagine how many projects he would have finished if it was a surgery where he would be down and out for a long time. He is supposed to recover quickly from this one, but I’ll admit, I’m thrilled to have those projects done. I’m also glad he is getting this fixed. They said it’s “severe” and that he will have permanent damage if it isn’t fixed. I believe it, since he keeps dropping things these days–he just can’t feel things like he used to. All the approvals are done, so this will be covered by insurance, which is a nice thing to know.
I got a notice that curbside pickup will resume at our library at last and have an appointment to get the books and movies I ordered months ago, that came into the library, and have been sitting there for the past few weeks while they were closed again for Covid. I no longer can remember what I ordered, so am looking forward to being surprised tomorrow when we get them.
So, I should have a quiet week where I do school, keep the kids, take care of Rob, read and cook eggs. Sounds good to me:)
I’ll leave you with this fossil Patsy found on the beach. I thought it was an especially nice one.
Somebody likes his Grandpa. And, Grandpa likes him, too. Rob and I had the pleasure of spending some time with the baby this week–loved it! I’ve always called Rob the “Baby Whisperer.” I’ve seen absolute stranger babies leap for him on more than one occasion. It’s so cute to see them together.
I picked another large bowl of lettuce from the greenhouse. We mixed it with store lettuce and had many salads this week. I used some of our garden cabbage as well, in a stir-fry. It called for fresh broccoli, which I didn’t have, so put large chunks of cabbage in instead. It was great.
Our method of menu -planning this week was a mixture of all the ways I do it. I made a list of meals in my notebook, and I made a couple of recipes I had chosen and marked with sticky notes in magazines a while back. I referred to that list the first part of the week, then Rob went out to the big freezers in the shop and grabbed a whole chicken, some steak and hot dogs and we just cooked those the second part of the week. I made 2 soups–clam chowder and broccoli. We ate soup several times. It’s so easy during lunch times to just grab a bowl and microwave it. The broccoli and broth were some I’d frozen and the clams were given to us in some canned goods Rob’s mom couldn’t use and passed on a couple of months ago, added to potatoes and the milk that seems to be on sale constantly around here these days. Inexpensive meals, and really a treat this week. I plan to do a chicken-vegetable soup this week, since I boiled the bones of the chicken Rob took out of the freezer and I have tons of frozen garden vegetables.
He went to Safeway for the bargains. Our favorite one was a 3-lb package of bacon for under $6. He divided that into small baggies and froze them to pull out over time. He got yogurt for 37c/each, bread for 77c each (2), and a couple of other things we needed. Fred Meyers had butter for $1.77, so he got the 5 allowed, and topped it off with tortillas for $1 at the Dollar Store. He came out under $30 and that’s more than enough for this week. Last week’s shop was more extensive, but we are right on track for another month where we easily stay within our grocery budget and should be able to set some aside for bulk purchases later on.
We filled the yard debris bin again with clipped branches. Rob also took a chain saw to the fig tree in the front yard and removed the weak, dead branches and also worked on other bushes/shrubs. We are debating on whether to cut down the fig tree entirely, or just remove the weak and damaged parts, but don’t have to decide now. The bin only holds so much at one time. Since they will take that debris bin every week, for free, we love to fill it up as many weeks as we can.
Rob and I got our first Covid shot. We were offered the chance, due to our job–we are considered part of the health care workers, as we care for developmentally disabled clients. We were a little scared, as it’s so new and all, but so far, so good. (At least I was–I absolutely hate shots!) We go back in a few weeks for shot #2, and then I will be able to go out and about so much more freely. I know everyone doesn’t want one of those shots, but I have to admit, I’m excited to know that I won’t be spreading that nasty virus to any of my loved ones. That’s worth a lot to me.
We got our stimulus checks. We had an extensive repair done on the van, so…easy come, easy go. What a blessing to be able to drive a safe van! And, what a blessing to see the Lord provide for our needs in many ways. He just never fails us. Ever.
If I want produce like this again, I need to plan now. Rob and I have done quite a bit of garden planning this winter and I’ve already ordered and received my seeds. Here’s what we’ve got planned.
Over the past few months, we have been improving our side yard. There was a strip of grass that became a place to pile things, caused lots of moans and groans every time Patsy had to man-handle the lawn mower over there to mow the tiny strip of grass and was wasting water to irrigate something we did not like. Rob built raised beds. Cardboard was put in the bottoms and dirt is being moved from beside the camper to fill them in. Last week I mixed in 1/2 bag of purchased growing mix and some bone meal and planted 1/2 of one bed with strawberry runners that had grown from my existing strawberry plants. If we want strawberries, the beds need renewing frequently or they don’t produce well. I was happy to get this many new baby plants for free.
We have raspberry and blackberry (Marion) bushes growing as well. This fall, we cut down an old peach tree that shaded those berries and the back of the garden. I’m excited to see how much better things should grow with the additional water and sunlight they will get.
The bags on the left are full of leaves. Rob picked them up downtown where someone had raked them up and left them out for the taking. Patsy has since dragged them into the garden. They are still in the bags. When the sun shines on the bags as spring comes on, they will decompose more quickly then if we poured them out. At least they did the last time we did this and hopefully it will work again. In the late spring, they will be spread out and tilled in, as long as they are pretty broken down. Otherwise, we will have to wait as they will rob the soil of nitrogen while they break down if they are too intact. Part of our planning is a constant search to improve our soil. We expect a lot from our garden, so we amend the soil every chance we get.
Rob will clean the greenhouse soon. He has some winter lettuce growing now, and will start some of the baby plants soon. Right now, it’s not heated at all, but he will put a heat mat under the new seeds when he plants them. It’s been a very mild winter. We have a space heater we can plug in if we absolutely have to, but we’d rather not.
Here are some of the seeds we are using this year. We also have a bag full from of partial packets from previous years, and quite a few seeds Rob saved this past summer. Since it’s the first time he’s done so much seed saving, we are being a little cautious. We will use his and the purchased ones until our confidence has grown and we make sure it’s been done correctly. Still, we ordered about 1/2 of what we do sometimes. You cannot save seeds from hybrids–they won’t grow true to kind. Still, I grow some of those because I want the product they produce. The flowers were a Christmas gift. I love zinnias, so I know I will grow those!
It looks like a lot of seeds, and it is. I grow a huge garden, and we start our seedlings of things like tomatoes and peppers. We also give away some starts to my sister and others. I can and freeze large quantities of vegetables and fruits–I’m talking hundreds of packages and jars, so I need a lot of produce!
I ordered from Territorial Seeds and Pinetree Garden Seeds this year. I like to order from Johnny’s sometimes, but like to limit myself so I don’t have to pay as much shipping. We have several great garden centers around here and I can pick up more things if I need them. I like to order, though, because I like to choose the varieties I want with the disease resistance and productivity I want.
Here are some of the kinds I like to grow. Remember, some of these have been saved, or I already have a partial packet of them so you may not see them in the picture.
Lettuce: The photo is Yukon Winter Mix from Territorial. It’s from the greenhouse. It is the first time I’ve grown it. I had good success in the garden, have some in the raised bed under plastic and in the greenhouse. I ordered more, plus a winter mix from Pinetree. I always grow Buttercrunch. It’s my favorite. I like lettuce mixes and always grow them, plus Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed Lettuce from Territorial. I like the Flashy Troutback lettuce from Territorial, also. We have Gondor head lettuce from Territorial and have used Summertime in the past.
Onions: I have green onion seeds we saved. I get packets from the Dollar Store sometimes if I need them. I grew Patterson F1 onions for storage and Red Bull F1 as well, from Territorial, and will do so again. You cannot save these seeds, as they are hybrids. They store well. We still have tons left and usually they last until spring if they are not all eaten. I grew white onions last summer. They are all gone because they do not store well.
Cabbage: Last fall, we planted Quick Start cabbage from Territorial because is was the only kind Rob could find seeds for. They were in short supply around here last summer. It grew quickly, made a great fall crop, and I still have one out in the garden that looks good. The rest have been picked and eaten. We ordered another packet of it. It is a smallish head, grows quickly and tasted great. I’ve grown the Cabbage Mix from Pinetree for years. It is all kinds of cabbage mixed up–red ones, big ones, small…all mixed up. I only got 1 red one last year, and will have Rob make sure to not thin out all of those this year, as we enjoying the cabbage/apple relish (?) mix I canned. Even with only one, I got 6 or 7 small jars.
Carrots: I’m not picky on those. I ordered Eskimo F1 from Territorial, just for fun, but am happy with Danvers Half Long from the Dollar Store or anywhere else.
Spinach and Greens: Joi Choi Pac Choi from Territorial is our favorite Boc Choi for early spring and fall planting. Rob’s just getting into kale in the past few years, and finds he likes the Tuscan kind. We ordered Dazzling Blue Kale from Pinetree to try it, and have been enjoying several kinds of kale my friend Jeannie sent me seeds for. We are newbies to growing celery, and have lots of skinny, leafy celery with hollow stems growing right now. We will try Tango from Pinetree this summer and see how it does. We’ve grown Bloomsdale Spinach from various sources, ordered Palco from Pintree for early spring and Reflect from Pinetree for summer planting.
Beans: Blue Lake Bush beans are our favorite. I got 2-1/2 pounds from Territorial this year, as we grow a tremendous amount. I can many quarts each summer. Carson is a good yellow bush bean. I grow a few rows of those and usually mix them into some of the green ones when I can, if I’ve got any ripe ones, for color variance. I also like growing some pole beans for a continuous crop until fall so we can eat fresh ones as long as possible. The bush ones give a large crop all at once for preserving. Rob saved a bunch of Blue Lake Pole Bean seeds. I bought Violet Podded Stringless Pole Beans to grow. They were a bust last summer, but I’ll try again with more sunlight to help them along this year.
Tomatoes: Glacier (Territorial) for small, extremely early tomatoes. Black or Chocolate Cherry, Sungold and Yellow Pear for small tomatoes to snack on. We got Fantastic F1 from Territorial for canning, Cordova F1 as a sauce/paste tomato and are trying CarmelloF1 for the first time for slicing. We grew BuffalosteakF1 last year and will use the rest of the packet this year. We could not get WillametteF1 this year from Territorial, so Rob ordered some from the internet. We’ll see what they turn out to be:). We got some Longkeeper seeds. I grew them years ago and want to try again. The green tomatoes Rob picked and ripened lasted until Thanksgiving. Maybe these can do better.
Broccoli: Hybrid Broccoli Blend from Territorial. It gives broccoli at different times, as it is a mix of different varieties, which is nice.
Herbs: Dill, basil, cilantro, parsley. I’m not picky. I order some, get some from the Dollar store, and save seeds. My parsley self-seeds, as does the cilantro and sometimes dill.
Peppers: Carmen (Pinetree or Johnny’s)–it’s a long sweet pepper that ripens early, a must for my climate. I’ve grown it for years. I’m growing Jalafuigo Jalepeno from Pinetree this year as it promises to be larger and spicier than others. Anaheim can be purchased many places. Serranos from the Dollar Store work fine, as I only need a few. Lola F1 from Territorial is a recent favorite. It’s a long, light green sweet pepper and bears heavily. Rob started Hungarian Wax Peppers from the Dollar Store last year, not knowing what they would be exactly. They were great and we still have a package…We also have some bell pepper seeds from there.
Peas: I grew some Tall Telephone Pole peas last year and got a few. This year, I will go back to an old favorite, Maestro, a bush pea from Territorial. I don’t grow them every year, but I plan to put some into one of the new raised beds for an early spring crop.
We use multiple succession plantings of Oregon Sugar Pod II peas. Tons! We eat them as fast as we grow them and I plant a new, tiny row every 2 weeks all summer long.
Beets: Early Wonder Tall Top is our favorite. I’ve also used Detroit. Pinetree Beet Mix is good, too. Rob got a whole handful of Early Wonder Beets on clearance at a local farm store, so that’s what I’ve got this year, plus a bunch of the mix left over. Even with all I grew last year, we had to buy a bunch to pickle–beets are a favorite around here!
Pumpkins and Winter Squash: I struggle with those in this garden. I’ve tried Butternut and Delicata with poor results. I will try again, but was super grateful for the Sweetmeat and Butternut Rob’s cousin gave us, and the ones we were able to purchase at a local farm stand.
Summer Squash: Raven F1 Zucchini from Territorial is great, as is Easypick Gold F1. From Pinetree, I like Tromboncini and Summer Squash Mix. I use a lot of those and make relish and pickles with this as well as eat it fresh.
Cucumbers: Lemon cucumbers grow great and self-seed often in my garden. Rob saved some seeds of those this past summer. Pickling cucumber seeds are fine from the Dollar Store, but, again, Rob saved some. The slicers–same story. I also have some from last year in case his don’t grow, but I think they will. I use a great deal of pickling cucumbers–I canned about 50 pints last summer–so I need a lot.
Flowers: I always grow zinnias and they self-seed in my garden. I like nasturtiums as well, plus Rob grew great pansies last year. He also grew snapdragons from the Dollar Store seeds and they are still alive. He likes to experiment, and so I will have whatever flowers he decides to grow at the time. Last year he saved over the geraniums again, so I will have those. He started a bunch of those from seed last year, and then some cuttings from ours and my aunt’s plants.
Even with growing all of this, sometimes crops fail, or I can’t grow enough, so my sister is gracious enough to let me pick from her garden. We also buy things from farm stands, such as cauliflower, which we do not grow, or peppers if I need to make relish before ours are ripe. It’s always a changing process, but keeps my mind busy and my body active. I love gardening!
We’ve been enjoying our holiday around here! The kids came over on their usual days, and I did school with Jake on New Year’s Eve as I always do on Thursdays, but then we had our own little party. No one told him there wasn’t school, and he does very well with a routine, so his family got lots and lots of homeschool done this past couple of weeks since there was no distance learning with the public school, of course.
Rob stopped off and got a dozen donuts. We put out a plate full of candy and chips. They did a donut puzzle and I read the story about Homer Price and the Donut Machine. We had a game tournament where there were prizes for first, second, third, fourth, fifth and some prizes “just because.” I played Sorry with the girls, Rob played chess with Jake, then we all played Apples to Apples. Then, we watched “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” It was a rousing success of a party, and was over by 4:30. My kind of New Year’s party. I planned to go to bed early.
But……the dog was very disturbed by all the fireworks in the neighborhood and would not let me sleep until about 2:15 am. Poor thing. So I rang in the new year after all:)
Every single year since she was born, Alissa has celebrated her birthday with Rob, as they both have January birthdays. Hers is the 2nd, so we’ve always celebrated hers on or near the actual date. Then Jake joined in the January celebration when he was born. She wanted to continue the celebration. It was a teeny, tiny party compared to some years, but we had a great time. Isn’t that a cute cake their Mama made? Sadly, I dropped the cheesecake upside down while trying to take it out of it’s pan, and it did get a little beat up before Rob rescued it and flipped it over, but it tasted super good….thank goodness for blueberry sauce. It covers many flaws:)
She’s 20. Crazy!!! So, Rob taped 20 pennies, 20 nickels, 20 dimes, 20 quarters and 20 dollar bills together in a long, long strip and put them in a shoebox with a slit in it and she had to pull them all out. He wrapped the box in many, many layers first so she had to get through all that as well. With him and her, it’s all about who can give the silliest present sometimes…..they have fun, and she can certainly find somewhere to spend the money.
Even with our celebrations, we did get a few things done, and did some money-saving activities.
I made 2 kinds of soup and we ate those many times. I made home-made refried beans for the party. I did cook substantial meals a couple of other times, but we just ate lots of soup, leftovers, etc. for the most part. Rob got a cheap Little Caesar’s pizza for him and Patsy to eat New Year’s Eve. I ate an expensive frozen gluten-free one from Costco. That was still way less than buying a gluten-free one from a pizza place. I do make my own at times, but we wanted our own little celebration that night for Patsy.
I received a little spring form pan for Christmas for my Instant Pot. I used every last bit of cream cheese I had experimenting and made 2 little cheesecakes this past week. I used my home-made cherry filling for this one and my blueberry filling for the one I took to the party. It worked very well. It was also good to use the cream cheese, as it had been around for a while.
In the spirit of January, I cleaned quite a bit. One thing I did was sort the Tupperware cupboard. I received a few new containers for Christmas, so I put those in, and got rid of some things without lids, etc. and just got rid of a few things.
I worked several times on my pantry shelves in the garage where I keep my food storage. Patsy helped me one morning. We killed many spiders, wiped up little spills and organized it better. We filled up containers from bulk supplies. I was delighted to not find very many surprises, and that I didn’t have to throw away a lot of things–only one or two things that were hiding behind things. That’s why I go through it a couple of times a year. Sometimes, even though I have the best of intentions, things get put where they don’t belong or I just simply forget to use something, especially if it was given to me and it is not one of my usual items I cook with on a regular basis.
I’ve been holding off on grocery shopping for a while. I made a detailed list for Rob to fill today at Safeway. I was able to use the $10 off $50 coupon, many other coupons I downloaded onto my card, such as cereal for $1/box, milk for $1.99/gallon, eggs for $1.50 for 18, and many other bargains. He had to buy some things that were not on sale as well, but I was thrilled with the amount of groceries he got for what he spent. Now we are set again until the produce he bought gets used up.
They gave out free school lunches a few days over the holidays. We did not go every time, but did get a few of them. Today, they are back to their regular daily schedule, and I took Patsy for one.
Let’s see…..a choice between a picture of my super cute grandson, or 2 kind of ugly turkeys…….hmmmm……no contest–baby wins!
Back to the turkeys, then….. Rob found 2 fresh turkeys on clearance yesterday. We baked them both, boiled the bones and made tons of broth, and stocked the freezers with broth and turkey chunks. We did not make turkey for Christmas, so saved some out to eat.
I made a turkey-rice soup while I was at it. I also boiled the ham bone and then filled the crock pot with ham and beans. I do have a menu plan for this week, but I will save several of those meals for next week. In January, I always try to eat a lot from the pantry and freezers, and I plan to do the same this year, so it will nice to have a few meals already planned.
My amaryllis lily bloomed, just in time for Christmas. We’ve been enjoying watching it grow all month.
This week was very full of Christmas. We got all the presents finished and delivered in a timely fashion, and had short visits with some. We decided to drive to the beach Christmas Day. The weather was not very good, but we didn’t care. We had a great time. I took a short walk, and Rob and Patsy walked down to the beach to look for rocks for a little while. We took all of our own food, changes of clothes, blankets, towels, and pretty much everything else we could possible think of, knowing no stores would be open. Of course, we didn’t need any of it except the lunch, but, hey….it’s 2020. Better safe than sorry!
Contrary to what happened to others, 2020 was not the worst year I’ve lived through. After all, Rob had a life-changing hip surgery, some other people I care for had medical things that literally saved their lives, and I had an amazing gardening season. Although I know several people who had Covid, none of them caught it badly. I have a lot to be thankful for.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and are looking forward to the new year as much as I am. I always love January. It always feels so fresh and new. I’m excited to see what it has in store for us:)
