As the Spindle Turns . . .

There are going to be some changes. My business isn't making enough money to pay the bills. The increased cost of water and electric have caused a budget overrun. We have to live on a LOT less money for groceries. I need to cut that amount I normally spend in half. In the past, any money I made from my business covered these expenses. Not anymore. Sales are way down. The cost of shipping for mail order is so fricking high. Just shipping a one ounce ball of yarn typically runs between $8.65 and $8.95 within the continental US. No one wants to pay that.

I already called the bank regarding our home equity. We have the option of freezing the loan to a fixed rate. While the interest is more, we'll be paying it down faster. We won't be tempted to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. The credit cards will just get a minimum payment. We'll hold off on turning on heat this winter. Meals will have to switch to cheap carbs and less protein. I'll be researching better electric suppliers as well as natural gas. I'll be canceling the water line protection, even though the lines are incredibly old. It's going to be a rough ride with 2 data centers going in. I need to call AT&T to see if I can get a different plan.

I know you all are in the same boat. Everyday life is an affordability crisis.

Meanwhile, the house still needs repairs. The vehicles cost more to maintain. Both are all old enough to drink. The van is still missing a tail pipe. Well, not quite, it's in the front seat area. Don't even get me started on what the yard critters did today. My beans are gone. Some doe stepped on them. The ground hog started digging underneath the fence. The skunk kept me awake all night. Grrr. I took my anger out on the pokeweed. It didn't help. I found more ground hog dirt piles after I took down some of the poke trees. I am not a happy child.
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I went out and yelled at the deer who was eating my squash. It helped a little. The neighbors think I'm crazy. I need to remember to pick up the fallen quince and keep them handy to throw at the deer. There were actually several deer. I can't hit the side of a barn but it makes them leave the area.

I worked out an action plan to reduce my expenses. I have a lot of phone calls to make. If it works out, it could increase my budget by $100 or so toward groceries. I started by choosing a new electric provider. Tomorrow I look at natural gas. Then on to the phone company who I believe has been overcharging me for a long time. Then on to the water company to cancel water line protection. It's a start. Afterwards, I'll contact the Center on Aging to see if I can still get Farmer's Market vouchers.
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The weather has been a major factor. It's either cloudy and cool or sunny and hot. It rains every other day. Sometimes it rains two days in a row. With each rain comes flood warnings. There have been a few slides where either subsidence or mud has wiped out a road. When it's sunny, the humidity is punishing. The yard has become a jungle.

The tomatoes are so heavy, they broke the clips attaching them to the fence/trellis. Right now, it's bean and tomato harvesting time. More peas, beans, cucumbers, beets and carrots have been planted. The beans and cukes are up. No sign of spinach yet or lettuce. The basil looks stunning in the containers on the porch.

The neighbor says 5 deer were noshing in my yard. I also spotted a ground hog twice. I've since covered the sweet potatoes better. They've been de-foliated. The yellow beans are almost done and ready to get pulled. A squash is taking over that bed. The eggplant has recovered from the slug damage. The ground hog climbed the mulberry tree and broke some young branches, then ate every leaf on those branches.

The herb spiral is a mess. I am going to take down the height of the bricks. They keep falling on other plants, crushing them. I spent some time in the sun pulling Virginia creeper and lambs quarters. They were growing through the bricks. I weed whacked the parking strip and driveway. There isn't enough time between storms to get it all done.

While it is raining, I focus on preserving food. I often think of my grandmother and how she would have survived before the convenient corner stores. I know she had chickens. The coop is still standing. There are also pictures of my Grandpa with a giant cabbage, standing in someone else's field. They had a root cellar and a large bench with canning cupboards on either side in the basement. My sister lives there still.

This week's farmer's market haul was corn, more cherries, and nectarines. I spent today blanching 15 ears of corn and carving it off the cob. It yielded 4 full quart-sized freezer bags. That should get us through the winter. We do not use a lot .Tomorrow I will be canning the nectarines and pitting cherries. And as always, there are dishes to do. While the freezer is starting to fill, the shelves are not as full. I'm out of half pint jars and half gallon jars. I am vacuum sealing dry goods in the half gallon size. Things like flour, sugar and rice. Probably because it is canning season, the grocery store was out of sugar again this week. I got enough to do the peaches but am sadly disappointed by the store. I won't buy in bulk because last time, I had to buy a 40# sack instead of a 20 or 25 lbs sack. I can't lift 40 pounds. The co-op isn't the kind of place with 5 # sacks. It's a "bring your own container" and fill from bulk dispensers kind of store.

Next up is a trip to the hardware store to find those Ball jars. I've harvested 47 pounds of food so far. Eleven of which were tomatoes. I have those in the freezer until I have enough to can a batch. I still have half the potatoes to harvest, an entire bed of sweet potatoes, and an unknown amount of squash that are late season. More fencing is on order. Tomorrow I also brave the wild jungle and start taking out some of the weeds.

Friday was my do everything day. I stated by making butter. I made a double batch of zucchini bread. I won't do that again. I don't have a mixer. Stuff clumped together because the batch was so big. Still, we have muffins for anyone brave enough to risk pockets of flour or baking soda. I did a double batch of dishes. It was a huge quantity. After lunch, I started in on making strawberry preserves. I picked up 2 containers at the farmer's market. Everbearing strawberries are almost done for the season. I was glad they still had some. My cupboard is still half full. The strawberry sugar mix had to juice for 3 to 4 hours. It yielded 5 half pint jars plus a bit. They ended up being more like something you'd pour over pancakes or ice cream. I knew I'd be in pain with the hip soon so I made a chiropractor appointment so I wouldn't have to go the entire weekend in pain.



If that wasn't enough, I had to pick up my Hubby's meds at the pharmacy. Before dark hit, I had to water the garden and then pick beans. Chrono discovered the wild black cherry has fruit. Today I went out to harvest. I managed a whole pound so far. Three pounds is best for canning or jelly-making. We'll see how many the cardinals will let me have. I was dive-bombed while picking. I also made almond-butter cookies.



It's suppose to rain soon. The first storm missed us. Tomorrow I'll pick more beans if the weather allows. The popcorn needs to fill out a bit yet and the tomatoes still need to get red. I'm hoping to fill in the pantry soon. The uncertainty with the oil market, the war, the economy, etc is stressful at the least. You're welcome to take a walk in the garden with me to relax. My latest video (not monetized):
https://youtu.be/6VqoSSQ6jvw?si=I8u5Y_pej_Xp-6t0

Happy Lughnasadh!

I'm behind. Mostly on food preservation. Who wants to can in the house when the temperature is in 3 digit form? This week the weather flipped.It's cool, beautifully cool. Since the garden isn't doing much except be fodder for deer, we hit up the farmer's market with plans in mind. Investing now is a hedge against inflation later in the year.

Last year I had a much fuller cupboard:


This year it's half of that. Time to get busy. I pulled out my favorite canning book. I'm dreaming of maple blueberry syrup. There's also a recipe for cardamon plum jam. I found a pressure canning recipe for a zucchini and tomato sauce that goes well over tortellini or ravioli. I am dreaming of a full larder. To get started, today I canned sloppy joes in the pressure canner. Cucumbers are sliced with onions; currently brining in the fridge. There will be more Bread'n'Butter pickles this year. We ran out last year too early.



Of the things we grew ourselves, I preserved rhubarb, asparagus, spinach, and onions. Beans will get frozen later this week. I'll be picking more peas and beans later today. After the onions got pulled, I set them to curing. I planted more things in the bed that the onions were in. I planted more cucumbers, radishes and Swiss chard. (Plus the previous stuff- basil, lettuce, carrots and beets) I have another bed I want to get to later this week. I'm thinking spinach and peas. I may clear a different bed for cabbage. More beans will get planted up front once I clear the red onion bed. It won't make up for several crop losses but it'll be more than I had before. I am hoping for a second round of pickles as well as pickled beets.

From 2023


I plan to hit up a couple more farmers soon, with plans for each week's produce. I need 3 pounds of blueberries and 4 pounds of plums. Peaches are not in great shape this year. Last week's corn was tasteless. I'm still holding out for blackberries. Maybe someone will have some soon. Our apple tree only has 2 apples. It's possible that the birds will leave us some wild black cherries. It's time to stop dreaming of a hobbit's pantry and start making it come true.

Deer Proofing

I lost Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My hip went out on Thursday but the clinic is closed on Thursday. I got it adjusted on Friday. Still in pain afterwards. Saturday my hip got the message and went where it's supposed to be. But then the muscles were all confused and ached. I did manage some more of the potato harvest as well as my pitifully small onions. Chrono has been weeding a bit. You'd never know. The rain cleared out the worst of the smoke. But yes, lots more rain for my jungle. Tonight I worked on adding the new chicken wire fence to the mandala garden. I have two more sections to go. I lost daylight too soon.

The existing short fence is getting added to the onion bed. When I pulled the onions, I planted more things. Once I finish weeding it, I'll finish setting up the small fence to keep critters out. It was cool enough at night that I planted more lettuce.

Sales tax was the major accomplishment. I hadn't even started setting up the spreadsheet for this year. Sales are logged. Tax has been filed and paid. Bookkeeping/spreadsheet is setup for the year. Earnings are pathetic. I expected that. With the economy the way it is, sales are down about 30 %. Granted, I have not been good about winding yarn and renewing sold items. Probably sending out email campaigns would be good too.

Pennsic is a sneeze away. I need to make an inventory list of consigned goods. There are more doctor appointments happening this week too. There are three of us and it seems every day something needs to be done, routine bloodwork, followup from surgery, CT scans, and of course dentistry. There are three of us and somehow, it happens all at once.

Tomorrow's docket: make mozzarella, wash milk jars to be returned to the farmer, inventory at least 300 items, play chauffeur for Hubby's appointment, weed the garden, plant something and finish the fencing. I shouldn't have to buy vegetables but I did! I could plant fall peas. Swiss chard wouldn't be bad either. There are more onions and potatoes to harvest. The weeds are overwhelming. I'm thinking about where to create another compost pile. There are ever so much green weeds to compost. The grass has been cut and the sidewalk swept. Yup, I'm done adulting for today.

The SPR will run out soon. There is no end in sight to the war(s). My garden isn't producing as much as I'd like. There is too much uncertainty on my plate. The larder needs to be more full but the bank account is stretched thin. Ideally, I'd like enough frozen vegetables for 6 months to get through winter. 6*30 is 180 servings of vegetables. I've frozen about 6. There are no butternuts this year. There could be sweet potatoes but the deer have other ideas. We'll pickle beets but cucumbers are dicey. We'll see on the tomatoes. For protein, we estimate about 60 meals at the moment. That's a third of the way to my goal. As the beans ripen, I'll get a few batches of those frozen. I have both purple and yellow bush beans. There could be pie pumpkins as the season progresses. The panic is due to experiencing the oil embargo first hand in the 70s with gas lines and shortages. Please, let's not do that again.

I am having to rewire my brain to finish a quilt I started 40 years ago. I got to go shopping for edging today and came up with a way to fix a mistake I made years ago. The sewing machine went in for a new belt and tune up. Kudos to friends who encouraged me as well as the quilt shop in Finleyville. I think I can do this. I also got to look over a Harvest Right freeze dryer at Tractor Supply. If the garden was more productive, I could see spending the money. Harvest Right has a sale online this month. I'm not there yet. The fence and two garden beds never got built. That needs to happen before I can begin to raise what I need. Meanwhile, the fall garden can get started. I'm working on it (in my head anyway).

The cooler weather has been a boon after our heat domes. I''ll take it.

It's been a struggle. It will get worse. What am I talking about? Food security, affordability, staying above water. Yeah, all those things. You know it. I know it. The media, not so much. The Guardian just came out with an article that due to the Strait closure and no fertilizer coupled with climate change, or I believe they said El Nino effects, food prices are expected to go up 9% in Europe. In America, we have the added tariff effect. The dementia driven one keeps pissing off other countries. It won't be long before no food comes out of Mexico. Our food prices are already up 12.5% (not sure what the current rate is). Many indices remove food and fuel prices from their calculations due to variabilities or swings. Beef is the main driver. Wheat crop this year will be poor. Package sizes are down again at the grocery store. Pay attention to the weight, not the size of the carton.

I've been struggling with a hip that keeps getting out of whack. My bed is trying to kill me. I've been sleeping in chairs to prevent extreme pain. The chiropractor costs money. Lifting has become a problem. It's hard to farm without being able to lift. Some days are fine. Others, not so much. The weather hasn't helped. After the epic heat wave, came the monsoon. It went down to the mid 80s but we had 100% humidity. There were flood warnings. The neighbor's house got struck by lightning. The current outlook is for another epic heat wave. The yard looks like a fricking jungle. I'm not taking pictures. You can't tell the forest for all the trees. I mean pokeweed.

The mechanic finally listened to me after the third time the van was towed to his garage. Yes it was the fuel pump. No, it's not a good thing when your vehicle stops dead in the middle of a road. (for the third time) It was 102 degrees that day. The price tag was really high. It makes you feel like you will never get out of debt. It's still better than a car payment.

The potato grow bags smell like mold. I've been harvesting between rain drops. I'm going to need to clear a path to get at the backyard potatoes.. I haven't had to water at all. I pulled a few onions and some beets. The peas are finally ready. I need to clear Bed #1 to plant for fall. Bed #2 is halfway available. I may throw in Swiss Chard. I have a fence to set up too. I spoke with another neighbor. The squirrels are eating her sage. We have gourmet squirrels now. They totally cleaned out my strawberries. That's why I'm going with a chicken wire fence that is taller. I've gathered around 22 pounds of food so far this year. Looks like something ate my squash plants. The sweet potatoes are loving this weather. The cucumber decided the trellis wasn't good enough and is opting for my bush beans instead. The feral pumpkin (volunteer) is producing a yellow fruit. Since no other squash are growing to cross pollinate yet, I'll let it go a bit, just to see what it is. Squash stops growing in the 90 degree heat to wait for cooler temperatures. Meanwhile, I have several tomato volunteers as well as the ones I planted. If I'm lucky, I'll get out and put in more carrots too. Basil doesn't quite like all this rain, but we've already made pesto once. The corn was 4 ft high by the fourth of July. Weird. Not tasseling yet. It's a dwarf variety. I hate to think what the normal variety would have been.

You need to grow a large variety of plants so if there is a crop failure, you have other things to eat.

Today I cook so when it's super hot, I don't have to. We eat a lot of vinegar-based foods in the heat. Today I'll make more German potato salad. Granola could happen. Fruit salad is already in the fridge. Coleslaw or refrigerator pickles may be next. I don't know how my cuke is doing. The way it's growing, I just hope the squirrel didn't swap seeds and leave me a bird seed mix pumpkin. One of the cucumbers already turned into a tomato. Flea beetles are everywhere. The eggplant leaves look like Swiss cheese.

I need to pick calendula for hand cream. I already started this year's batch of St. John's Wort oil. I think I'll use up the old stuff on my hip to see if it helps. It worked well on my last batch of hand burns from the oven.

I had 2 kinds die back. One is a red potato with a red center. The other kind is a French Fingerling. Typically, both of these should have grown for at least another 2 weeks. Some of the plants had a bad case of flea beetles, eating the leaves. In any case, I started harvesting. The first totally dead fingerling only had 3 little potatoes. They weighed 2 and a half ounces. It was disappointing. The red potatoes are yielding much better. I've only harvested 3 out of 8 grow bags. I got a half pound out of each bag.





The empty grow bags got repurposed immediately. In one, I threw in one of those little green potatoes I found on the windowsill. In the other bags, I planted some of the leftover sweet potato slips. As I harvest more, I'll be planting both the sweet potatoes and the little green potatoes until they are all planted. Even if the sweet potatoes don't reach full maturity, they'll be big enough to produce slips next year.





I like it that the harvest will be spread out a bit. I hate harvesting all at once. The rest of the driveway potatoes:

Yukons


The Lehigh's are at about the same stage as the Yukons. The "Raspberry" and Purple Majesty should follow about a week after the Blue Viking. After I harvest the 8 bags of reds, I'll harvest the rest of the French fingerlings, followed by the raspberry. The only problem is that the weather will switch to incredibly hot as the week goes on. We'll hit near 100 F. I need to find a place in the shade for the driveway potatoes. Concrete heats up fierce. It means moving about 20 bags.

I have been adding cococoir to the repurposed soil. There have been a lot of storms through. Yesterday, we were poised to go down to the basement until the 2 tornadoes totally missed us. It's been that kind of a month. The backyard looks like Jurassic Park. I swear I have Mega-flora growing.

I got the cleavers out of the fenceline garden. The pie pumpkin I planted germinated. I tossed summer squash seed in a couple of places. I started removing the quack grass under the mulberry and I found loose, rich soil. Found evidence that a deer was eating a sunflower as well as some sweet potatoes. don't know what time there will be between storms and super heat wave. I haven't even been able to get the parking strip mowed. It was really wet this morning and overcast and drizzly throughout the day.

It appears Hormuz is closed and attacks are ongoing. The US will be out of gas mid-July. Food crisis incoming plus inflation and recession. I haven't had this much fun since the 70s. I'm picking up extra at the farmer's market each week to preserve for winter. This week is blueberry maple syrup. I also picked up ground beef to turn into spaghetti and meatballs that I will pressure can. I was delighted to find an approved recipe. Next time I hit the meat market, I'll be canning sloppy joes. For now, we're trying to use up what I canned last year.

I have brats, burghers, and German potato salad planned for the heat wave. I'll cook outside on my little rocket stove.

Can I go back to bed now?

It was long overdue, but I got my SCA membership renewed. I did pre-reg for Pennsic. Will I be there? Only in part. I need to load in and take merchandise out. My daughter has her own schedule during this time so I will be at home baby-sitting my husband. Caregiving has been undervalued in our culture but it is a vital service that is necessary. I was hoping for one day away from home, but it is too close to when my daughter leaves for her show.

I went outside and made a plan for where to put the extra plants. The celosia will look great no matter where I put it. They will be in full glory in the fall. Right now they are small. I am concerned about the basil. It didn't like all the rain we got but also it's suppose to get cold. We're expecting a low of 49 F this week. Do I leave them in pots and bring them in at night or get them into the ground? They'd really like to be in the ground. I think they are coming in tonight. Who'd have thought, mid June and the plants need to be brought inside.



I finally got one type of squash planted. The Lakota squash tasted very good last year. I put it in the almost empty bed. The currants got cut way back. There is no reason a squash vine can't twine its way around them. I replanted the carrots too. After the skunk destroyed the bed, I put vermiculite on top (instead of boards) of the carrot seed and a piece of fencing to prevent digging. The carrots will grow through without a problem.

Waiting for me to get a round tuit, there are more squash and pumpkin seeds. I also have beans to plant. The next batch of lettuce is due to be planted. It'll like this cold snap. As for my goals, I am 5 pounds behind what I harvested last year at this time. I'd hoped for 5 pounds of strawberries; instead I got a half pound. This year was late for everything.



We bought a bag of organic potatoes and discovered they were green. But they didn't have eyes. I put them in the window to chit. That might have been in March. I didn't discover them until I moved the orange trees outside. They are covered in sticky orange sap. However, they have eyes! I am also starting to harvest my first potatoes of the summer. The French fingerlings died back. As I harvest, I am planting these spuds to take their place. Yes, it's early to be harvesting. The weather's been weird. Potatoes further back are getting hammered by flea beetles. I even pulled one out of my hair yesterday.

Yesterday's storm brought in the cold air. Up toward Ellwood City, there was a tornado. The weekend before last had its tornado count revised up to 6 or 9 area tornadoes. It had been 3. We don't usually get tornadoes in the hills. Derechos are more common. Driving home from the event on Sunday was fine. The storm was short but powerful. No electricity lost. No trees down. Although I still have to check the backyard for tree limbs.

After I make yogurt, I have more work to do. Never a dull moment. Last night's Stanley cup final was exciting, Jordan Staal won the Con-Smythe trophy. I'll be in withdrawal until October. I love to knit while I listen to each game. Last night was a battle of the goalies. Each shot, "Denied". The short handed goal was incredible. It was 6 on 4 to boot. Just incredible. Love it! Until next time. . .

Today was a jungle reduction day. Early morning while it was cool, I headed out front to a section that was overrun with curly dock and quack grass. I dug out roots from a small section. At the point of exhaustion, I stopped and just started cutting the grass with the sickle. I excavated two irises and three coneflowers. It was a start. The soil was decently damp and easy to uproot the grass. Two robins spent the hour chewing me out. Yes, there were lots of worms. There is more to do.

Errands and chores followed. I attempted to make sweet rolls. I was hungry. I goofed. I was supposed to double the yeast. They are still rising. Soon. . .

I headed back out at 4:30 or so and started in on the fence-line garden. The whole area was covered in cleavers. It also had quack grass. I was close to a repeat of this morning. The big difference was the soil in back was dry. It was not as rich as it was in spring. There were also a bunch of goldenrod. Again, within the soil, I dug out the roots It was much harder because of the lack of moisture. I did about 4 feet by 2 ft. I was covered in the green baby burs from the cleavers. The plants are over 4 feet high. I climbed in the shower. Don't need no ticks.

Tomorrow is another day. Still need to plant summer squash and watermelon. And all those flower babies!

While I enjoy playing with flowers and color, it's time to spend energy on the backyard. I listened to a whole bunch of economists. It started with CNN reporting that Brent Crude futures won't normalize until 2032. That shook me up a bit. I actually never thought about the different schools of economists that are out there. What I'm seeing is that the warning signs are there, no matter who you listen to. Economic recession is here. While many still argue for stagflation, reality is slow growth, fewer jobs. People are stretched to breaking. Yes, I know, K shaped economy, but my customers are not part of the upper portion of the "K". We have yet to feel the impact of the fertilizer shortage. Wheat is at its lowest planting acreage in a very long while. Cattle populations are already low due to drought. These things don't magically go back to normal. It will take 2 to 4 years to increase herd size. Most of the east coast lost their fruit crop this year due to prolonged late freeze. Now add on an el Nino. , high diesel prices to transport food, lack of immigrant labor to pick crops. And yes, a lot of our food comes from Mexica and is tariffed. Could we have engineered a worse crisis?



There is still time and it may not be as bad as predicted but there is nothing like being prepared. Now that my show is behind me, it is time to put pedal to the metal. The new Birdies raised beds are built. The first one needed a topper. The soil settled down quite a bit. I picked up better quality soil for the top. I discovered that Miracle Gro Organic is mostly aged Canadian peat moss. It doesn't say that, but that's what it looks like and smells like. I also got Happy Frog soil and fertilizer with mycorhyza (sp?). The bag was large and heavy. My hips hate me now. I added Sluggo Plus. I had a whole oya bowl full of pill bugs. The sweet potato slips are chilling out there, waiting for sunset. I'll plant them and give them a cover. Tomorrow night will be chilly again (45 F). I brought down straw to mulch them thoroughly. That'll be one bed down.

I started on the second bed. The soil hasn't settled yet. Watering didn't help much. The coco coir block and worms will go in this bed, once they arrive. I'm still torn. I was going to put carrots and cucumbers in here but I still have more sweet potato slips. I set up a trellis, at least the poles, for it as well. I need to get carrots planted very soon. I am out of soil now. Another trip to the hardware store may be in order. The zucchini bed isn't set up yet. It'll need soil. The cinderblock bed isn't either. I have to reset several blocks and remove the grid walls. Then weed it and get its trellis set up. It too could use a topper of soil. Heirloom tomatoes will go in here. Probably beans as well.

I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything. The new beds took longer than I thought. The fence isn't finished. Only one deer was through yesterday. It's been totally stripping the black raspberries of leaves. I need to get pumpkins planted too. Back to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Good movie if you haven't seen it. While it rained, I made a treat:


A small amount of weeding and weed-whacking was done. I swear I planted onions but I have rows of calendula instead. How did that happen? I need to weed until I find the goumi berry. Those cleavers have gotten tall. There are berries to harvest.