Independence Days Challenge

I find myself playing catch-up with the season. Bare soil has been over-ridden with weeds. The clutter that is symptomatic of a hectic life is closing in. The best laid plans of knitters and gardeners....

So...down to business..

Plant: sweet corn, summer squash, cukes, blue coco dry beans, transplanted volunteer sunflowers

Harvest: last of the spinach, scallions, oregano, yarrow, peppermint, swiss chard, lettuce, rhubarb can I count the strawberries I picked at work?

Preserved: dried oregano, tincture of yarrow, dehydrated spinach, dried mint

Local Food systems: we bought some strawberries at the farm I work at for nibbling. I plan to pick my own by the end of the week. I should be able to count all the strawberries I picked here. I have thoughts on large scale farming and its workers I will share them with you later this week.

Eat the food: strawberry fruit leather, a frittata with garlic scapes, swiss chard and scallions, chicken soup with swiss chard, garlic scapes and fridge gleanings.

Waste not: We save all our chicken bones and freeze them for soup later. This last batch of bones had hint of smoky bbq on them. It made for a really nice stock ala Nourishing Traditions. We use vinegar for helping to extract all the good mineral from the bones. I used most of the left over food bits for the soup: garbanzo beans, tomato paste, mash potato and sauteed onions along with garden gleanings. I helped to kick this little cold we have all shared. Side dressed spuds and a few other plants in the garden with barn compost.

Want not: Found a new jersey sheet at the Goodwill for another rag rug. But there is not much time for the hands to find solace in handwork so it will wait for quieter days. We are making lists. I consider the list important to keeping us on track with what we want to do, what we need to do and how we avoid spending money, time and energy on those things that are not helpful. We mowed the yard, mulched garden paths, weeded and finished planting the old home garden.