Of eggs, seasons, and walipini

Deborah, over at Antiquity Oaks, just posted about Winter: the egg-free season.  This post is too well written and has too much information for me to butcher by trying to summarize – definately worth the read.  What really stood out to me was this > 

I’ve grown to love eating seasonally, and I find a lot of wisdom in it. When we’re not doing much physically, we probably shouldn’t be eating a lot of eggs. We probably should be eating more dried beans, cabbage, squash and root vegetables that store well for winter consumption and are low in fat and calories.

Intense.  Thought provoking.  Makes me think/wonder about the milk cow or dairy goats.  Their production/dry periods are less in line with day light and more synch’d with a hormonal schedule.  We try to stick with what we have canned/put away for when fruits & veggies are not in season – a goal that I continually try to meet.  Stitching to fruits that are considered local is a bit more of a challenge.  That would leave us with no citrus.  =(  and I do love clementines.  What’s a girl to do?  My indoor gardening skills are not what I wish they were (due to a too busy schedule) otherwise I would grow some fruit trees indoors.  What do you do?

While I am on the egg thing, Es*sence posted about her experiment of long term egg storage without refrigeration.   The first link is the beginning and then this one is at the 90 day mark.  Looks to be the answer of how to get through the no egg times.

And then I find this project from Phelan; a walipini.  Oooh, I want one!

Getting ready for the Garden and giveaways

Our greenhouse will not be built in time to use for this year so seed starting will begin indoors, hogging the window space.  My challenge is how to create pots to use for seeds that will not require me to buy plastic.  The round, newspaper pots I made last year (using a glass) did not work well; the bottoms would not stay closed and the round shape made it difficult to keep them close together.

Thankfully, dancingfarmer has reposted information on how to make newspaper pots; this design makes sense to me and appears to be what I am looking for.  The link to directions can be found here.  There is also this video. . .

And now for giveaways:

• An artful wand created by Marie Segal.  My favorite piece in her shop are the Dia De Los Muertos pendants. 
• Beautiful babbles from M. Augusta Woodland. 

I spoke to the good neighbor today and she knows someone who has a garlic farm about 30 minutes from here.  He is coming to her place to talk garlic and I think I may head over to listen in. 

We might see snow this afternoon eve; it is raining and the current temp is 37.4.  Brrs!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

DNTC update

Better late than never, eh? I believe this update is a week behind.

1. Walking to work: gave notice for my second job. This solves part of the problem. With the girls summer schedule, I believe I am good to walk to work 2 days out of the week.
2. Windows for the green house: We installed replacement windows a few years ago and never removed the old storm windows; Voila! Windows for a small greenhouse.
3. Sewing machine: Still waiting to hear from someone to fix my machine. Bought a new Brother CP 5000 something-or-nother and love it so far. Now I just need to learn to sew something other than hems! If I can get the other machine serviced/fixed for a reasonable price, I will do so and either keep, donate or do something with it.
4. Tallow is still in the freezer. Back to item one, now that I will not be working at the restaurant in July, that will allow more time to cook this down and then make soap. I will be posting/asking about what recipes people like to use, scales, etc.
5. Complete – Etsy banner purchased, ‘calling cards’ made.

It is amazing how life just comes together once goals are put into writing.

Doing Not Thinking (DNT)

A few weeks back Kathie at Two Frog Home started the Doing Not Thinking (DNT) challenge again. So much more can be accomplished when one has the support and reporting requirements of and to a group.

After joining the group I realized that I had not really thought through what I wanted to accomplish with this challenge. Well, now I have it:

1. Walk to work at least three days out of the week. Now, keep in mind that I live 2 miles from work so this will be no big deal. The challenge here is making sure I get up in time and leave the house when the bus picks up the girls (8:00 am). I’ve timed it and can walk 2 miles in 30 minutes. Reading this post by Sharon prompted me to get off my arse and start doing something to help fix the problem. Yes, I am but one; however, my one plus another plus another eventually adds up to many. My generation will only see the tip of the climate change iceburg. My children and grands will have to live that horror. If I can save just a little bit of that pain then I will do what I can NOW.
2. Begin collecting what we need to build a greenhouse. The major challenge on this will be locating the windows. I’d like to repurpose old glass from a building being torn down or old windows being replaced.
3. Find out what is up with my sewing machine. Straight stitches work just fine. A surging type stitch (zig zag) is too loose to be much good. My Singer machine is older and yes, I still have the original manual. Now, pick yourself off the floor. =) Even using the instructions, these stitches are still too loose.
4. Make homemade soup using some tallow that we saved from a side of beef. Now Rhonda Jean, over at down–to–earth, has a great soap making tutorial and a current entry about making cold pressed soap. She also includes a soap calculator, though I am not sure I know how to use it. If the tallow does not work, I will make our soap using Rhonda’s process.
5. Get serious about my home business so I can quit waiting tables (still have my day job). I have started creating an Esty store (the name is subject to change) and while this appeals to my creative nature, I am not sure if this is the way to go. If you needed to buy towels, wash cloths for the home, and cannot make your own, where do you go to get them? Walmart or do you try to buy homemade? If you go the homemade route, do you shop online? What types of online stores do you like? Do you flea market? etc.

This seems like a short list yet is packed with some intense (for me) items. *whew* Now to get started.