Oh my goodness, it’s cold. The snow that fell on Seattle last night is mostly still here, which is unusual in my (limited) experience. Factor in the wind and the perceived temperature has been below 20 degrees F all day, which is about where it’s forecast to be for the next week to ten days. I’m very much not looking forward to standing at the bus stop for our rides to and from school tomorrow. Cold weather is good, however, for appreciating the work that went into food storage over the summer. I spent time this evening pouring over cookbooks …
Category: homesteading
I have eaten the last of the caramels made by my grandfather. I think I made the last batch last three years, sneaking them one at a time out of the freezer. But they are gone now. I may go into withdrawals at any moment. To add to my list of things for the kitchen: candy thermometer and marble slabs and a stainless pot of sufficient size. Maybe one of those neat double handled knives Mom has… which could be useful for cutting large cheeses as well. I still need the 16 or 20 quart stainless pot for cheese making, …
The only thing in dinner tonight that came out of a can were the olives. Just about everything else can be accounted for. Homemade pizza crust, with homemade sauce. I made the mozzarella yesterday, with milk from Golden Glen Creamery. The tomatoes came from Rockridge Orchards. The zucchini came from the Alvarez Organic Farm. The pizza was a little overcooked – still trying to find the best way to divide the dough so that Ian and I get a pizza to share and Caitlyn gets her own pizza, with only the things she wants (“Nothing scary, Mama, ok?”). And the …
I’ve had the link to this video on my desktop for months, waiting for a good time to post it here. Not that the “why less stuff is better” shtick is news to any of the five people reading this, but it’s a good video with coherent explanations (I thought). Maybe one of the five people reading this know someone who could benefit from a viewing: The Story of Stuff Of course, in my quest to minimize stuff and reduce waste, I did just buy an actual plastic waste bin for the bathroom. And storage bins for Caitlyn’s enormous collection …
Things I’ve learned today: 7 pounds of rhubarb cans to a lot more than the 7 half-pint jars I was hoping for. I have 13 little jars of rhubarb now… one really should move the butter dish before firing up the canner… Caitlyn isn’t quite ready to give up afternoon naps, despite her protests to the contrary. She fell asleep in the stroller today, something she’s only done once before. This time, I had the sense not to try to put her in her bed but just draped a quilt over her and prayed the cat would not meow in …
Caitlyn and I had our lunch outside in the garden today, all informal and picnicky, perched on the stepping stones eating our sandwiches while Wasabi took in the sun. She wanted to know if it was popsicle time yet. We’ve planted the peas. Caitlyn has her own “garden”, a large planter where she’s put in peas and hopes for corn. She helped plant the first of the lettuce seeds, carefully sprinkling then covering and watering. I have to keep her from over-watering the beds or from digging where we’ve planted. Til the seeds come up, it’s just so hard to …