Food ambitions for this year:

get a second crop and harvest of peas - one in the spring, one in the fall
prepare and freeze more pesto
make a hard cheese - cheddar or gouda
make blackberry jam
make apricot jam
put up a roasted red pepper spread
and a tomato preserve
come up with a scheme that will allow me to purchase pastured chicken from the farmers' market and store it so that I can use it in small portions without cooking the whole thing and then freezing the bulk of it (which makes for yucky chicken)
put up a comparable quantity of tomatoes as last year
experiment with an alternative onion storage technique, and store more onions
research grain mills with an eye toward being able to grind my own whole wheat flour; bonus points if the mill is electric but retrofit-able for hand grinding
freeze some broccoli
freeze more corn
do the math for the economics of making my own butter
dry more celery
look into making mayonnaise; this is especially interesting if I can do it in small batches or if it keeps well
find Caitlyn a replacement for her "nut covered raisins" breakfast cereal, something that doesn't have corn syrup or hydrogenated stuff in it
read up on making pasta - not likely to be something I do regularly but it would be good to know how to do it
harvest more of the "fringe" berries - the huckleberries and lingonberries - in the yard
experiment with more of those good-for-you veggies like beets and turnips, both growing and eating

Other ambitions:

attempt making soap
sew more of our clothes; especially see if I can extend the life of things Caitlyn outgrows by lengthening or repurposing
complete some more quilts, especially some of those that have been waiting in the cedar chest for proper backings or those I've been intending to make out of old t-shirts
write more regularly, even if it's blogging
balance my reading diet of fantasy fiction with serious fiction and non-fiction
find some non-neighborhood volunteer activity; I'm infatuated with the idea of helping out on a farm
laugh more
get myself sufficiently extricated from neighborhood association stuff that I'm interested in doing stuff with the broader community (tackling the anti-clothesline rule or teaching sewing or something)
add a new client or two to the roster
bring in more money each month than it costs us for Caitlyn's preschool
worry less, especially about The State of Things - all I can do is prepare as best I can for the space I'm in and worrying isn't going to change what happens, or make it happen faster or slower
find a better balance between what I want to do and what Caitlyn wants to do
go for more hikes
come to some decision about what comes after preschool
get more exercise
organize the garage to better use the space
let go of useless stuff I've been hanging on to, like all my notes from my college courses; I probably have all my AP US history notes from high school around here somewhere, too

February 22, 2009

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