Homestead Challenge Wk 2

I love Heather's homestead challenge! It's really gotten me motivated to accomplish as much as I possibly can over the course of one week. Just to show it off to my friends : ) So here we go:

Plant Something: I didn't plant any live plants this week, but I did plant a few seeds of thought. Does that count? I've been talking to a dear friend (S.G) about emergency prep and getting ready for a rough winter.

Harvest the Food: OH YES! The tomatoes are ripe! I'm getting about 12-15 lbs. a day of my earlier varieties, plus green beans, onions, peppers and herbs.

Preserve the Food: This week has been a whirlwind of food preservation. I've put up around 20 qts. of green beans, ditto tomato juice, plus dried tomatoes, apples, potatoes, peaches, black cherries.

Eat the Food: We finally got to enjoy one of our perennial summer favorites: Margie's Sandwiches. They're toasted cheese sandwiches with diced onions and bell peppers, with salad dressing, mustard, salt and pepper. Somehow that combination of flavors just work, and it's one of those tastes that you wait all year for, just for that first ripe slicing tomato.

Reduce Waste- As always, scraps go to chickens and we endeavour to eat all our leftovers. And usually, it works.

Reuse/Repurpose/Reclaim- I reused some plastic sheeting from Lowe's to put in our flowerbeds, under the mulch to suppress weeds. That's about it. Too busy in the kitchen to do anything else.

Have Fun!- As always, bike rides to the cemetery and this week Jeff surprised Mara with a new bicycle. We also went to church this morning and made homemade ice cream this afternoon. Simple fun, right at home!