Independence Days Challenge..forward HOE:)

Well, phew! Life is getting busy, busy, busy! Mark finishes school this week. We are moving stuff to the new house and working on things there. Tristan and I start our new farming job this week. And I am filling in at the bookstore for a couple of days.

And Tristan is finishing his blacksmithing class. He hopes to take advantage of the open forge day they will have there every week this summer. This is a skill and art he is really excited about. This fall he plans to attend the local tech school to get some welding experience. He wants to work as well so he can save his money for this very COOL school that he is interested in attending. As a homeschooler who is not really thinking of college, it is exciting for him to find an avenue of study that fits his learning style; which will provide him a skill. I will confess to moments of concern this past year when it seemed he was drifting and did not really have any focus on anything. This is not to say that he does not enjoy many hobbies but, in terms of transitioning to adulthood and some of the responsibilities that come with it, he did not seem to be following any path that would lead him in this direction. But I should remember the lesson of homeschooling that I am taught repeatedly during this venture: when he is ready he will learn it. Thank goodness:)

Meanwhile, the Independence Days Challenge is keeping me on track with the work of the season. It would be so easy to get waylaid with everything we have going right now.

Plant: pole beans in the old garden. We are putting in a small raised bed at the new house. My intention at first was to duplicate plant veggies that would be coming into season at both places at the same time so I could have beans, zukes. I went to the farmer's market in Farmington and met our very local organic farmer. She had seedlings; buy 4 get one free, so I found tomatoes, basil, leeks and kale. I was so grateful for the leeks and kale because we did not plant those this year and we really enjoy these. So we will have some at the new house. I did not think we would have basil either. I was planning to buy crates of tomatoes for canning but now we will have some fresh toms for our plate. I planted at these seedlings at the new place and also planted some acorn squash. I planted pole beans at the old place.

Harvest: spinach, scallions, yarrow, irises chive blossoms

Preserved: chive blossom vinegar, tincture of yarrow,frozen spinach. Still have a bit of spinach left to pick.

Support local food systems: Went to the farmer's market. I also found out that our local farmer attends a market in our new town on Saturday mornings. I bought garlic scapes from her as well. She has a CSA where we can buy shares in small increments throughout the season which will work well for us while we are moving. Dropped teen off at work for his first day of work at local farm. I begin on Wednesday.

Eat the food: Meat loaf from local beef. Salads.

Waste not: the usual composting, recycling, dropping stuff off at the thriftstore

Want not: A local thrift store is closing in Farmington. They were having a 25% off sale the other day. I found a couple of yards of cotton fabric and a skirt pattern. Canning jars and an old milk crate. I use the milk crates for storing canning jars. During canning season the jars have a way of multiplying and spreading over every surface of the kitchen. So, at least during the season there is one container that is easy to get to when something is ready to be canned or is easy to put away when not in use.