Independence Days, Year 3... A.K.A. Erika Tries the Blogging Commitment Thing!

I'm gonna cheat... Starting off on the wrong foot... I know... but I'm just going to start where I am now, seeing as I haven't mastered the year-round thing yet.

1. Plant something – Lettuce (leaf and romaine), cucumbers, 2 kinds of squash, 2 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of peppers (I think... maybe just one), celery, celeriac, cilantro (it will never make it to seed 'round here for coriander... we'll be lucky to save seed this year!), Egyptian walking onions (purchased as starts), and aloe.

2. Harvest something - Made Mung Bean sprouts... does that count? Harvested some of the green onions that keep growing, since I never pulled up the onion.... Continued to take cuttings of herbs.

3. Preserve something – I've been working on herbal medicine from some fresh/dried things; it's not really preserving something, but learning how to preserve things when I grow them... For me, it's a step in the right direction.

4. Waste Not– Realized it's time to plant last year's potatoes, we've eaten all the ones that haven't sprouted. We started buying food less often, planning meals, and prepping food in bigger chunks - avoiding our biggest pitfall - going out 'cause it'll take too long to cook. Roasted garlic that was starting to sprout.

5. Want Not – Brought in a truckload of soil for my herb/kitchen garden, hubby built a fence to keep Jessi-Lou out of said garden, hubby built a cold-frame out of scrap wood and an old window we got from freecycle... and hinges from the re-store, I'm sure there's more...

6. Build Community Food Systems – I'm always talking with folks about local food... haven't done much more, other than make some connections for future bartering...

7. Eat the Food – Roasted garlic, freezer meals, etc. Made some NUMMY garlic with home grown herbs and garlic with flour grown and milled in-state... I really need to work on a good fluffy bread recipe... mine are always crunchier than crunchy on the outside, and not very fluffy...