Independence Days #2

1. Plant something: thyme, transplanted tomatoes

2. Harvest something: oregano, rosemary, green onions, sage

3. Preserve something: nothing new, working on vanilla extract.

4. Preparation and Storage: Organized pantry, purchased bins to aid in organizing pantry and other areas, found small plastic containers (think smaller than pill bottles) for storing small seeds in over the winter, came up with new way to transplant tomatoes (don’t know if it will work or not – take a gallon milk jug, rinsed out, and cut out about 1/3 of the opening, down to where the side straightens out, then across – so about half of the side is exposed. Poke holes in the bottom, fill with soil, add plant. Water through the handle to get straight to the roots!), cleaned out glass near-gallon jars for water storage…

5. Cook something/Eat the Food: baked bread (from old beer and fresh herbs!), baked banana bread/muffins from super-sale (and freegan) bananas, tried Jerusalem Artichokes (will try a few more times before I give my opinion), made beans again...

6. Manage your reserves: Cleaning out the pantry definitely helped with managing reserves, found flour and rice that needs used before we start with the newer stuff!

7. Work on local food systems: We tried to go to the Farmer’s Market, I swore the website said the first Saturday in May was the start date, but apparently, it’s the last Saturday in May. We also went to the Master Gardener’s Plant sale and picked up some very lovely plants! Talked with kids who weren’t there last week about the garden that was planted, and we checked on our seeds – the flowers my group planted are up (marigolds and others), we sampled the spearmint that is attempting to take over the bed, and talked about where food comes from (Doritos are from corn, etc.)

8. Reduce Waste: remembered bags for shopping, purchased a reusable tumbler for B’s iced mochas, hopefully he will be able to keep track of and clean it!

9. Learned a skill: still (slowly) working on Spanish. Learned and practiced making tortillas on our new (wooden – very cute!) tortilla press!