August 22, 2010

Pay It Forward Book Winner & IDC Update

And the winner is ..........

Mama Pea of Home Grown Journal!

And my Independence Days Challenge update for August 15 - 21 is below. Rain put a damper on a few things, mostly fall planting. I'm not complaining, because July was so dry. Since our 2½ inches of rain a week ago, we've been getting about a tenth of an inch a day. Just enough to keep things soggy. Other than that ....

1.  Plant Something - the ground's too wet :(

2.  Harvest Something
  • green beans (bush)
  • green beans (pole)
  • strawberries
  • tomatoes
  • okra
  • black turtle beans
  • sweet basil
  • rosemary
  • oregano
  • thyme
  • cucumbers
  • eggs
  • amaranth
  • chamomile flowers
  • dill
  • figs
3.  Preserve Something
  • froze okra
  • dehydrated figs
  • canned dill pickles
  • froze eggs
  • dehydrated bananas
  • canned soup from garden veggies & my defrosted "waste not" turkey stock from holiday turkeys
4.  Waste Not
  • The usual composting of whatever scraps aren't fed to the chickens and goats.
  • We've been getting a goodly amount of rain lately, so instead of using cooled canning water on plants, I've been putting the clean stuff in the washing machine. 
5.  Want Not
  • seed saving
  • preserving the harvest
6.  Build Community Food Systems
  • blogging about it
  • Pay It Forward homestead book giveaway
  • Benita has suggested several times that I ought to consider writing a book about our life here. I find that wonderfully encouraging, but can't imagine anyone being that interested in what we do.  I finally told her I'd think about it, talked to DH who was all for it, and so have said I'll work on it  Hopefully "working on it" doesn't commit me to a tremendous amount of progress.  I mean, who has time?  ;)
7.  Eat the Food
  • the usual (and loving it)

8 comments:

Mr. H. said...

I think a book would be a wonderful idea. It is one of the best ways to share your knowledge with others and as time marches forward I think there will be more and more people that are interested in a lifstyle similar to yours.

Thanks for the reminder on freezing eggs...I got to get cracking on that.:)

Blue bird said...

Your blogging is very intersting and Google tells about to have them put together as a book.
There are various ways: in time by months or quaterly, a year wtih selected blogs, etc.
Look up in Google Help about making a book from your blogs.
Love: Julia/blue bird :)

Michelle said...

Your book give away is a great idea, Leigh.
The idea of writing your own book is also a great one. Most of the reading I've done lately is of homesteading type blogs such as this one. I've also enjoyed reading hard copy memoirs of homesteaders. The great thing about on line blog reading though is the interaction between reader/writer. To me, it seems, there surely is an interest.

Are you using the harvested Amaranth for people or animals? I have so much to harvest but only use it for chickens. I'm wanting a chipper shredder to make mulch from the dried stalks of that & all other stalky things.

Leigh said...

Mr. H, I appreciate that. I think sharing knowledge is why blogging is so popular. It seems that a lot of us like to see what others are doing and increase our own understanding of successful homesteading.

I take it you've frozen eggs before! And if you're doing it again, then it must have been successful. Good news for the rest of us.

Julia, good idea. I'm still in the thinking stage (likely to stay there for awhile :) and thinking that I'd like to use the blog entries for some of it, and expand on those and some other things as well. I love to write, I just don't know anything about writing books.

Michelle, I'm with you on the blog reading I do these days. I agree that one of their greatest benefits is the interactions that occur and the relationships that develop. We're quite a community, really.

The amaranth is for the chickens. It's a new crop for me and we are learning as we go. The giant variety wasn't perhaps the best choice because it's difficult to get to the seed heads. What type do you grow? The chipper/shredder is a great idea.

Ozarkhomesteader said...

Gee whiskers! Those are amazing kitties, and it looks like the rest of the crew is eager to meet them.

By the way, we've grown three different kinds of amaranth, and elephant head and Hopi red dye re-seed themselves all over my garden. The heads will bend down, especially on the elephant head, so harvesting is not a big deal. We save most of ours for the wild birds anyway, but I'll be wanting to harvest more once we get our chickens.

Loree Jackson said...

Kitties are the bestest people :)

Anonymous said...

I found your blog about a week ago and I have been reading it in all my free time since then. I really enjoy the variety of posts you have done. There is such a big variety of things to learn about homesteading and your experience is really helping me to prepare for when my husband and I are able to buy a property.

I left a comment on this post specifically because I also wanted to encourage you to write a book. I love reading books about peoples personal experiences with homesteading of any variety. Some I have really enjoyed include "The Egg and I", "The Last of the Mountain Men" and "The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living". You are a good write, I believe I would be entertained and educated by any book you write.

Leigh said...

Anonymous, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. I am in fact trying to work diligently to finish a book about Dan's and my first four years of homesteading. I'm finding that I truly love writing. I hope it's of interest to others when it's finally out. :)

It's exciting to know that you and your husband are looking forward to a homestead of your own. All I can tell you is that we all start at the same place, the beginning. :) There are lots of ups and downs, and lots to learn, but it's so worth it.