One Small Change, March Wrap up and April Aspiration

My One Small Change for March was to mend and darn the pile of clothing that sat glaring at me from the laundry basket. Mending and Darning are ways of extending the life of our clothing, meaning that we consume less, and waste less. I am pleased to say that his has been a great month.

I darned 5 pairs of socks, repaired 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of PJ bottoms. I repurposed a skirt for spring. I had a big pile of old cargo work pants that hubby was culling from his dresser. Many of these were really yucky and beyond repair. But I was able to salvage all of the buttons and fasteners from them. I cut many of them into rags. There are still some garments in the bottom of the basket but the habit has been established and I think we will have it all whittled down soon.And I do mean "We" because one of the added benefits to the challenge this month was teaching the teen how to mend his own clothing. We also extended this fix-it, can -do spirit and repaired an old garden rake, repurposed old Moo Milk Cartons for starting seeds.

I thought for the last month of the Challenge, I would really challenge myself by buying nothing except food and basic necessities and, in case hubby is reading this, needed car parts for basic repairs that he does. Through the last three months of the challenge I have found that with a little creativity, thoughtful planning, and make-do spirit that I have consumed less, used less resources to meet the needs of my family and saved money. So a buy nothing month would help to extend the life of these changes we have made and allow us to really look at what we really need as opposed to what we really want. We have been very thoughtful about this since the beginning of the year as we have been saving money for our move but with our recent news we need to be even more diligent. I also think that having a buy nothing month will help me to more conscious of what we really need. I have several bins of clothing for the wee one in larger sizes that was give to us or found at thrift stores. So I will be sorting through that before I start looking for more spring and summer clothing for him. I will also extend this to crafting. I have several projects yet to finish and plenty of stash to work from so I will continue to work on these projects without purchasing any more yarn or fabric to complete them. As for food, we have eaten through most of our food storage from last year but when I do buy food I will try to make it as local as possible; which has been difficult in the region of the state that we live in as the local foods culture is not as strong as other regions of the state. But April is here and we should be able to get to a farmer's market this month. Yippee! We are going to Portland during April and May for teens metal smithing class, so what we are not able find to close to home we may be able to find down there.

I look forward to this month change. What is your One Small Change this month?

Challenge updates. IDC, Real Food and One small Change

We have been enjoying a long stretch of sunny weather. Clothes are hung outside, sap is boiling down, and the snow is nearly off the garden. It seems early in the season to see the whole garden free of snow. The yard still has small patches of snow and if they clear by the end of the week we will get rakes out and start cleaning up from winter. Beet greens that are hidden under row cover and plastic will be revealed today and hopefully by the end of the week we will be able to have some fresh greens.

My one small change for the month has been mend clothes and darn socks. This past week, I gave an old skirt some new life. I had this denim skirt that I found at the Goodwill. I wore it last spring, but there was something about it that just wasn't working for me. I decided that it was just a little too long. So, I cut about 2 1/2 inches off it and added a little calico hem to it. This week I will mend those holey pants...I swear!

This week in Real Food challenge in my effort to get rid of the refined sugar, I made a carob fudge from Sally Fallon's, Nourishing Traditions. It was made with raw honey,butter and carob powder. A friend had given a large bag of carob powder last year and it was nice to find a use for this. The fudge was yummy and definitely a treat. I put a little stash in Mark's bag of food for the week and snuck some in the freezer to bring out later because we don't need to have all that sweet in our everyday.

It is nice to have the focus of the Independence Days Challenge again. Many of the things that are part of the challenge are things we are already doing, but thinking of the challenge spurs me to think and act to explore more deeply about what we are doing.

Plant: broccoli, lettuce, sunflowers, nasturtiums. Evan helped me to plant the seeds this past week. At three, he seems much more engaged in this activity and reminds me when the seeds need to be watered. He is excited to see the small sprouts that poke through the soil.

Harvest: Maple sap, ten gallons a day for a week.

Preserve: 1 gallon,1 quart and 2 pints maple syrup

Waste not: repurposed the skirt.

Want not: I baked bagels on Friday so that we could bring our lunch with us when we went to Portland. Saving us some money. Hubby and I are close to reaching our financial goal for moving out to Farmington. We will know by mid April if he will be rehired for next school year.

Local Foods: Not much this week. The car I use had some mechanical issues so I did not drive anywhere last week. We just managed with what we had on hand.

Eat the food: Carob fudge.

Challenge Updates. IDC, Real Food and One small Change

What a beautiful weekend we had! The weather was warm and sunny. The nights were cool and clear. The sap is really running. We collected 20 gallons this weekend and spent most of the weekend boiling it all down, alas we have no finish product yet. Mostly, because in the three years we've been sugaring we have never had this much sap at once to process..and it is still flowing...

So, I've been pondering what I could do in the Real Food Challenge that would move us closer to a real food diet. We eat a lot of local food, we cook from scratch, we put up a lot of food but one thing we could do is remove refined sugar from our diet. In my cupboard is a gallon of black strap molasses, 5# pounds of raw local honey, and soon, hopefully, at least 2 or 3 gallons of maple syrup and...5 pounds of white sugar and some store bought brown sugar. White sugar is mostly from genetically modified sugar beets. It is far from locally sourced ( well neither is the molasses but I need the extra iron it provides) and really it doesn't provide any extra dietary benefits as the other sweeteners do. Both Mark and I come from families with type 2 diabetes. Although we eat a good diet and exercise and do not have any weight issues, we could be kinder to our pancreases.

Two other things I would like to learn to do this month is lact0-fermentation. I am going to use this book. I also would like to make a sourdough starter. I have tried a couple times and the results have been sad.

As for good food, I made a yummy dinner last night. Onion tart with goat cheese. I used the recipe in this book that I received for Christmas. I also roasted some root veggies, sauteed some cabbage and apples with ginger and made homemade french bread. We had a glass of local wine with dinner. We shared the meal around an oil lamp. It is something Mark and I used to do when we first were coupled and fell out of the habit. But I just thought that we should take one meal a weekend and make special .

Okay, so my One Small Change for the month of March was mending. This was tackled on Saturday when I darned 3 pairs of socks while sitting outside. I feel sock rich now and Mark is now wearing the first pair of socks I made for him again.

Finally, the Independence Days Challenge got off to a great start this past week and I am really looking forward to this challenge this year.

Plant Something: I bought some growing medium for starting some seeds this week so the intention is there, the action shall follow...

Harvest Something: 30 gallons maple sap. The snow has melted off the parsnips and jerusalem artichokes but the ground is still frozen so soon we will have spring roots!

Preserve Something: We are boiling the sap down but we don't have syrup yet. 1 quart of vanilla extract started.

Waste not/Managed Reserves: Darned those socks! Started to muck out the sheep and put it in the compost bins. Tidied pantry. started 2 quarts of apple cider vinegar from some old apples.

Want not: We got our bulk food order this past week. So we have a full stock of staples now.

Build community food systems: Local eggs, local meat, local apples, local goat cheese, MOO milk!

Eat the food: I made American chop-suey from the meat, Frittata from the eggs and the goat cheese went on the onion tart.

Well, phew, it seems like a lot, but all the challenges work well together

One Small Change, February wrap up, March Aspiration

Today is March first. Time to ponder my One Small Change for March and last month's small change.

For February, my one small change was to have my oven multi-task in order to be more efficient with the liquid propane that it uses. I was able to achieve this by employing several tactics. First and foremost I tried to plan better. We bake our own bread which means that the oven is at a temp of 350 degrees for one hour, two or three times a week. On bread baking day, I would plan to bake something else in the oven while the bread was baking. Sometimes it was twice baked potatoes that needed to be baked for the first time. Other times, I would whip up a quick bread while the yeast bread was on it's second rise so that all the breads would be in the oven at the same time. I would also arrange the timing of the bread going into the oven if there was something that was going to be baked or roasted with dinner. I also resorted to batch baking; taking some of the recipes I use often and doubling them. I tried to increase the numbers of loaves of bread I would bake so that I would decrease the amount of times I turned on the oven on during the week. I also used the top of our woodstove more often to keep tea water always warm and at the ready, to slow cook beans during the day, to steam squash for soups and breads.

All in all, I think it went pretty well. I considered this month a great success when yesterday Mark was in the kitchen preparing his feast for St. Davids day. He had a batch of beer cooking on the woodstove, a pot of cawl cennin cooking on the wood stove and a batch of cyrmu cakes baking on the electric griddle. In about another month and a half we will not be using the woodstove so much. But we have an old cookstove that we use for sapping, summer canning and summer baking that we will put back into service.

For the month of March my one small change is to embrace the notion of reducing (one of the three R's) by tackling a mental block I have to the notion of mending.

Starting with these socks. They have been haunting me all winter. It is just so much fun to cast on for a new pair of socks. But these old wooly friends have served me well and still have a lot of life left in them, as well as a few well worn heels. So I will mend these beauties and wear them in my work boots this spring. This will also save the life of my newer socks.

I also have a basket full of mending. Little tears, seams that need reinforcing, work pants that just need one more patch. So I will diligently sit down at least once a week and whittle away at the pile.

By mending the clothing and socks I am giving my garments longer life and preserving some clothing from being relegated to the work clothes drawer. I am not adding to landfills with old clothing. I am not buying more clothes when the ones I have are just fine; even if they have more character than the ones found on the rack at the Goodwill.

So what is your change this month?

A Two-fer: One small change and food Friday but really Monday

Well, I am into the first week of my February One Small Change. For this month, I am trying to have my propane oven do double duty. This part of the challenge has been a little more challenging. Last Tuesday, I made bread and my intention was to make a quick bread that could share the oven. But I didn't get the bread started until later in the day and by the time the bread was on it's second rising, I was in the middle of making dinner and well...you know how it goes...the phone rings, the wee one has his witching hour and the best laid plans of moms and bakers ...

But as the week went on I was able to think about this and plan a little better. I made a curried squash soup this week. I steamed the squash in my dutch oven all day on the wood stove so that it was ready to puree when I was making dinner. I made some apple bread this weekend and made a double batch. I made a double batch of bread yesterday. While the bread was baking I threw 4 potatoes in there to bake. Teen cooks one meal a week and his favorite recipe right now is twice baked potatoes; so they will be pre-baked and make his prep time halved.

As for a promised menu from the week, I wasn't very diligent with keeping track of it all so I will give you a run down for the weekend and then share some more from this week on Friday.

Friday dinner: Roasted local chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli

Saturday breakfast: Toast with homemade jam, yogurt with frozen berries

Lunch: leftover squash soup and left over broccoli.

Dinner: Chicken enchiladas with garlic, corn, rhubarb salsa and shredded local carrots.

Sunday breakfast: Apple bread and eggs.

Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches and applesauce.

Dinner: Chicken soup with dehydrated zucchini, pureed carrot, pureed tomato, local mushrooms, garlic, dill, and frozen green beans. Bread and Cheese.

I also canned 2 quarts of chicken stock for later use using Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions recipe where she adds lemon juice ( or vinegar) to help draw out all those healthy minerals from the bones.

This coming week I would like to share some of my favorite low-tech kitchen tools and I will have another menu list from this coming week.

I also would like to share the rug I was crocheting this weekend. Worked up in record time! A little obsession is a good thing right? I am very pleased with it and think I will definitely make another but it is tough work on the hands so I will return to some finer knitting.

One Small Change, January wrap up, February Aspirations.

Well, this being the last day of January, it is time to think about my One Small Change.

My One Small Change for the month was bringing my own bags to the grocery store and forgoing the plastic.

I will admit to one day forgetting the bags and having to use plastic. In retrospect, it came down to the very reason why I chose this small change. Rushing out of the house and not planning ahead meant that I left my bags at home.

But I have gained a lot from doing this challenge. First, I have a collection of really cool bags that I was able to make from materials around my house. Second, for 99.999% of the time I was conscious of this one small change. Bringing bags has yet to be a thoughtless habit, unlike the practice of using plastic bags. But this may good. Because if bringing fabric bags is not a thoughtless act then I find that using plastic has also turned into an act that I am more aware of.

For February, my One Small Change will be to concentrate on the one non-renewable fuel source that we use in our home. Propane gas. I will tackle this in several ways. First, our hot water tank uses propane so I will be wrapping it this month. Second, because I bake a lot, I will be more conscious of using my oven more efficiently. No longer will I bake only one item at a time in the oven. Instead, I will plan ahead and make sure that ,if I am baking bread, I will have several other things baking in the oven at the same time. I will also exploit the top of my woodstove to heat food up. I look forward to sharing some the things we are doing in this pursuit.

Also, I will not be reverting to my plastic bag habit but will continue to use my fabric bags! As a budding seamstress I am really enjoying using reclaimed materials to make our bags.

One small change update

I have not used one plastic bag since the beginning of the month. I feel all puffed chest and proud! I really think for me it is a matter of just trying not to leave the housed rushed. Well, it might also have to do with it is too darn cold to go anywhere (yup, Zero Degrees this morning), thus we are not spending any money. Win win! It has become something I have been very intentional about.

I plan to make a couple of more bags this coming week to fill out our bag collection and I was thinking that all the old, hole ridden and stained bags might serve well as liners for my new bags. Keep the pretty on the outside:)

I have also been thinking of stepping it up a bit. I have seen patterns for bring your own veggie bags. So, when I head into town this week I think I will find the material I would need for this as well.

Are practicing One Small Change? How is it going for you?

Baggin' it!

Well, it has been a few days into the New Year and I am putting into practice my One Small Change. For this month I have chosen to forgo all plastic bags. This past weekend I realized that one of the reasons I may be forgetting my bags is that I have had them for a long time. I've accrued them over the years from thrift stores, donations to good causes. They are stained, holey and some of the handles have broken off. So Hubby and I put our collective creativity together and made some new bags.

Hubby repurposed the feed bag into a grocery bag. We have a few more of this sort of plastic weave bag around and will be making a few more.

I made the patchwork bag to hold my knitting ( which has been christened by a water bottle some little person put in it while we were about today). All the materials for the patchwork were from stash, old jeans and finds from yard sales. I also put a tool pocket inside the bag for easy reach of the tools I use most often.

Wee one wanted a new bag too. His library bag was also well worn out, so he got a new one for the new year. I think Scruffer kitty would like one too!

So today was the first chance I have had to remember the bags. I went to Marden's, a salvage store, for .75 fat quarters for more patchwork. While digging in my wallet for the cash to pay, I heard the clerk open a plastic bag. I told her that I did not need a bag and I added that it was a New Year's resolution to stop using plastic bags ( gotta spread the word;). We went to the healthfood store next and I used a cloth bag there as well. I think that it is easier to remember to use my bags when I go to the grocery store but I have a tendency to forget when I go to other retailers.

I also made a linen bread bag for keeping homemade bread in. I had an old linen table cloth that had been stained by one feast too many and saw this idea at Soule Mama. I am still a novice at the sewing machine but I am having a blast with the process. Next project is to make some take-a-long produce bags. Oh and all those old bags, well, they will be mended and patched because they are still useful!

One small change and New Year hopes...

I have joined Hip Mountain Mama in her "One Small Change" Challenge. The idea is that small changes can make a big difference. We live fairly lite on the earth here at Fleecenik Farm but it is so easy to slip, it is easy to take the easier road, dismiss the one plastic bag because it is only one bag. But it all adds up ( as the cache of plastic bags in the cupboard prove) So for the month of January my one small step will be to be very diligent about bringing my fabric bags with me everywhere I go and to remember to bring them into the store when I do go to the store. It is the small changes that create better habits.

As for New Year's resolutions I am going to take a different approach this year. Each year there is a list of things I hope to do. You know the typical stuff: exercise more, eat better. Well, inevitably, I do not fulfill these goals. It is January and my natural inclination this time of year is to hibernate. This hibernation is always a good time of year for me. I feed my creativity, explore and learn new things. I nap. I play. I bake. I read cookbooks. Why would I want to deny the pleasure I get from this yearly rhythm?

Instead, I am going to strive to improve what is working already. This is not to say that there are not goals I want to accomplish. I want to open an Etsy Shop this year. But the shop is just an extension of a family goal.

Anyway, in the effort to improve what is working already, there are several areas in my life as a domestic goddess that I would like to refine. We have been doing really well with eating from food storage these past couple of months. What has not worked, in this regard, is my documentation on this blog. So I will be making a weekly post about how we are managing this, with recipes! Sometimes I have found that we spend more on food when we are on the road. So I would like be more diligent about cooking food to take with us.

Money is an area of our lives that we have been looking really hard at lately. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you have been following our family's travails as hubby lives two hours away during the week. He has been home for 2 weeks and goes back to work on Monday. We have accepted that this may be the way our lives are for the rest of the school year. But we don't have to be victim to circumstance. We have found a potential home that we can owner finance. We need 10% down for a down payment. We will have the needed amount by June 1st if we follow a very austere savings/ money management regimen. We have been paying attention to every penny and find that there is all sorts of extra money in our budget if we just pay attention to where is all goes. I plan to write more about this as I share some things I have discovered over the last month.

I would also like to give more attention to working with what I have on hand. My handmade Christmas did not require the purchase of vast amounts of materials ( partially because I have a bit of a yarn stash). Anyway, I have several home projects I would like to work on this winter that require me to use paint and fabric I have on hand. I would like to explore kid crafts while working with what we have on hand.

I have learned to embrace hibernation and the introspection that comes with this time of year. I look forward to sharing our continuing adventures this coming year!