March 15, 2010

Independence Days Challenge - Week 2

Let's see, what have I done since week 1?

1. Plant something
  • De Cicco broccoli
  • American Flag leeks
  • Parris Island Cos Romaine lettuce
  • Yellow Ebenezer onion sets
  • Cherry Belle radishes
2. Harvest something - nothing this week

3. Preserve something - nothing this week

4. Waste Not
  • kitchen scraps to the compost
  • soaking water to sourdough starter (see Date Muffin recipe below)
  • uneaten catfood short story - uneaten dry goes to the songbirds, uneaten canned to the chickens.
  • uneaten catfood long story - It seems that Rascal has suddenly decided that he's a finicky eater. Not that he's always eaten anything offered. For years, the only catfood he would eat was Friskies Dental Diet. He didn't like other brands or flavors, he didn't like canned catfood, and he didn't care for table scraps or cooked meat, maybe only a bite or two of raw. For about a month or so now, he's begging to be fed but turns his nose up at almost anything I offer. Needless to say, he's lost a lot of weight and I'm stuck with bags and cans of stuff he doesn't' want. Rather than composting the uneaten stuff, I'm giving it to the chickens and songbirds.
5. Want Not
  • stocked up on Ezekiel 4:9 flourless, sprouted whole grain cereal from a local discount grocery
  • bought a couple more pounds of baking soda for food storage

6. Build Community Food Systems
  • blogging about it
  • a neighbor commented on the fence for our new chicken yard, so I know folks are noticing what we do here

7. Eat the Food
  • from home preserved we're down to jams, jellies, pickles, and relishes
  • Oh! And the spaghetti sauce. Can't forget about that on pizza.
  • sourdough starter in bread, muffins, and pancakes
  • the sauerkraut (yum)
  • Ezekiel 4:9 cereal with the yogurt I made last week
  • tried a new muffin recipe which used both sourdough starter and dates from food storage. Recipe below...

Date muffins

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup warm water

Mix and allow to sit about an hour and a half. In the meantime soak:

1 cup dried date pieces in warm water

When ready to make add

1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder (non-aluminum kind)
1/4 C raw sugar
dates, soaked & drained, add soaking liquid to sourdough starter

Mix, spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 425F about 15 - 18 minutes or until done.

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10 comments:

Julie said...

You make me look really bad! But hubby has started clearing the spot for our garden but it is to early to start planting here so I guess I'm ok!

Theresa said...

Leigh,
Hats off for the challenge! Have you taken Rascal to the vet? Cats can go off their diets and literally starve themselves to death. Feline anorexia is a true condition and problem and believe me, tube feeding a cat is no fun. The lack of eating for whatever reason makes them feel bad so ergo, they continue to not eat.
http://cats.suite101.com/article.cfm/why_isnt_my_cat_eating

Nina said...

too early here to even start seeds inside, so nothing yet planted. Frost is just coming out of the ground so too wet to even plant peas and other early crops. Nothing to harvest.. We always compost what we can. We are getting low on the homemade jams and jellies though..
I did buy two blueberry bushes but it's too early to plant those yet. It was one of those either buy them now, or they'll be gone tomorrow. I guess I did stock up on flour, but only because it was on sale for an incredibly good price.

You should take your cat to the vet. A cat going off it's food is often the first sign of something that is out of the cats normal range, illness etc.

Leigh said...

Julie, garden prep counts! You can't plant anything if the ground isn't prepared!

Theresa and Nina, yes, we took Rascal to the vet immediately. The details are on his blog here. The bottom line is that his remission from feline lymphoma is over. He was diagnosed over two years ago. Surgery and chemotherapy bought him these past two years, but he has another tumor and we have a decision to make. The next line of chemo might give him another year, pallative treatment (prednisolone) will make him more comfortable, stimulate his appetite, and possibly shrink the tumor. That would only give us another month or two.

The decision is whether to put him through the stress of multiple trips to the vet, blood tests, and 2 kinds of medication, one of which has to be given by the vet 3 days a week. That would be a 3 month regime with no guarantees. We're not sure we're willing to put him through that again. He's 10 years old, happy, going out and hunting, not in pain. He'll eat if I offer what he's interested in, i.e. certain cat treats, raw meat, and baby food.

It's a tough decision but we have to ask ourselves, who are we prolonging his life for, him or us? Mainly we don't want him to suffer, which right now he's carrying on as per cat usual.

Nina, I would have bought those blueberry bushes too!

Theresa said...

Oh gosh Leigh,
I don't always keep up with the cat blogs, I didn't know Rascal had one. I know Catzee did.
I'm so so sorry. I know exactly where you are headwise with this. BIG HUGS.
Theresa

Margreet said...

Leigh, sorry to read about Rascal. Wish you well with your difficult decisions.
Margreet

Sharon said...

Ian cut more firewood today that he got with a Forest Service permit from the Plumas National Forest. Waste goes into the composter.

I still miss my Carson Kitty - he would be nothing but Friskies from the pink or blue bag only. If I brought anything else home, he wasn't interested.

Leigh said...

Thanks Theresa. I know you know.

Thank you Margreet

Sharon, isn't it funny. For years Rascal would eat nothing but Friskies Dental Diet. And he never liked table scraps or canned cat food. Funny too, how long we miss them after they're gone.

Nina said...

Leigh, that's a difficult decision. My friend's cat has just been diagnosed with that. Our pets become like family. I still miss pets from many years ago.
Currently our cat has taken to waking me up if I'm not up when he thinks breakfast should be served. He and the dog actually work together some days. It's quite funny, seeing as they normally ignore each other with a somewhat dramatic flair!

Leigh said...

Nina, that's too funny about your cat and dog. Yes, they do become like family. Rascal has been a good addition to ours. I'm just glad he's feeling well for the time being.