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Thread: What did you do to prep today?

  1. #1001
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    Dec 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChristieAcres View Post
    Great deal! I often freeze bananas and then use them for "Kefir Smoothies!" Did you freeze any of your banana bread? Great idea on the meatloaf! We must have been on the same wavelength...

    I'd been contemplating what to do with about 50% of what is in our freezer, and numerous bags of my homegrown tomatoes were taking up needed space (we will need that for more fish, venison...). So, out they came, and I set to work making Marinara Sauce. I added my own Garlic, Purple Candy Onions, and Egyptian Walking Onions, spices, and home dried Bay Leaf. I made 7 quarts, canned 6/7 of them, will can the other one probably tomorrow. There was a little more time in prep, so that was it for the canning. I harvested Blueberries, Thornless Blackberries, Marionberries, Alpine Strawberries, and Scarlet Runner Beans. The other task of the day was more weeding, wherever it needed it most, instead of concentrating on one main area of our garden.
    I wish I had your energy! Today I canned 5 pints of ground sausage (mostly just to see how it turned out I'll try some this weekend to see if I'll can more. I found some shelf stable soy milk at the Dollar Tree for $1,(bought 10 I'll try to buy more next week).

  2. #1002
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    Quote Originally Posted by joy50 View Post
    I wish I had your energy! Today I canned 5 pints of ground sausage (mostly just to see how it turned out I'll try some this weekend to see if I'll can more. I found some shelf stable soy milk at the Dollar Tree for $1,(bought 10 I'll try to buy more next week).
    I have to admit to being good at multi-tasking, anyway. The driven part I guess I was born with. No matter what each of us are doing, each and every prep task completed represents us gaining ground! Ground sausage...just reading what everyone is canning is giving me more ideas, uh oh...

    Been pretty busy the last few days, harvesting, weeding, and going through canning jars. I picked up over 60 quarts, a dozen or so assorted sizes of jelly and pint jars FREE Where I buy my raw honey, or try to (if she is there, always insists I get a quart as a gift), I saw boxes of canning jars in the owner, Barbara's, carport. I called her up and asked her about the jars, told they were given to her, and would I like them all?!

    This morning, I packed up my lunch supplies, brought my "shopping list," and drove over to my buddy's home to do three hours of filing for her (she runs a successful successful internet biz, which now has a storefront, both in addition to a pest control service). After I finished filing, I made tuna melt open-faced sandwiches using my Candy Sweet Purple Onions, Heirloom Tomato, and cheddar cheese. With that, I served us both mixed berries (Alpine Strawberries, Marionberries, Blueberries, and Thornless Blackberries) w/whipped cream (sweetened with only honey). After a nice visit, I was paid and drove South to buy some Barley for our piglets and try to fill that shopping list. Since I had inventoried my jars, knew I needed jelly jars (1 dz) and pints (2 dz), cheesecloth, and was hoping to find a cooling rack to fit my water bath canner (especially for small jars). When I stopped into the discount store, there were no canning supplies, but there were 11 small fluted glass punchbowl cups. Though not a prep item, made me immediately consider how useful they would be for the next family dinner, especially if I made my homemade egg nog...smaller portions

    When I returned home, set straight to work, opened the valve to water 1 of the 2 larger raised beds on the schedule for today. The harvesting commenced to include Scarlet Runner Beans, Thornless Blackberries, a few Marionberries, and I dug up mixed variety of potatoes. Following that, the critter harvesting job was next. The rabbits get fresh food and our piglets get Comfrey twice/day. DH surprised me by cleaning out my garden cabin, finished installing three lights, and is now going to install a sink. We were given a dark pink one When I was just about to start preparing dinner, DH asked if I wanted to go FISHING. So, a quick snack was served, we ate fast, and out the door to catch some fish! DH just packaged up enough fish for four dinners, now sealed, and in the freezer. This time, he caught all the fish, but I "womaned" the net!

    A short while ago, DH went out to turn on all the lights, so I could see my garden cabin all lit up. Then, he closed the fencing of the chicken pasture. They have been pesky, got into a garden bed, and trampled some onions. DH is putting up a fence section, just chicken wire, to keep the chickens out. I'll then be able to plant the rest of my "Winter" garden.

    Since DH outworked me in a big way today, he gets the back rub!

  3. #1003
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    Aug 2010
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    I had a good week but didn't post my fun each day. Ok one day I harvested most of my garlic and hung it to dry. I cleaned out the garlic beds and organized my compost area. Then I went through and added all baby plants I could pot up and place them in my mini green house thing I call my plant palace. I cut extra herbs to dry, picked a tree worth of apples, canned up 34 quarts of apple sauce, but took two days to finish it as I had my daughter and grandson visiting, froze 12 bags of blue berries, 6 bags of green beans and pulled the dry comfrey off the lines to bag. I began separating dry Garlic bulbils and then I took my Grandson out Blackberry picking, we ate some and froze some. I froze up 6 more loaves of bread and re organized my home canned items in my pantry to rotate last year in front with this year in back. I finished harvesting different seeds from my flowers and packaged them up. I also organized my sewing area as it is time to get to it! I arranged a trade for some plants for some wood to repair my deck. I hand washed dozens of jars to ready them for....my huge black berry harvest this week. Oh it is my favorite, they smell like pie baking when the sun hits them, of course I will snack as I pick! Then we will get to freezing more crab after we rebait the traps. It is hard to say what I do by the day but each day I try to add to something that will be useful or edible for preparing for the winter and then some! Part of my prep this past couple weeks was to make sure each family member had warm coats, lots of warm socks and sweaters, that thrift store was wonderful!
    As the sun sets over the water, the air is drenched with the nuances of honeysuckles mixed with other florals, roses plus pines and the waves kick up the deep water scents combined. It is my gift for a time to see this, through the windows of my realm....borrowed and quite treasured with every moment in time.

    Have a lovely Day
    Romy
    Island Girl
    www.romysrealm.com
    www.kefirwellness.com
    www.romysrealm.blogspot.com

  4. #1004
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    I spent most of my day doing misc garden chores, including hand-watering, fertilizing numerous plants w/Comfrey Fertilizer (yes, from my own Comfrey plants, great stuff), checking all the trees in the orchard, and my regular chores. Len took some rare time off to go trail riding on his motorcycle. He invited me, but I wasn't up for what he was out for, LOL. Sure enough, he returned after 3.5 hours... He spent some time marking where the foundation would be built for our second garden cabin (that is a rebuild of the cabin dismantled and moved from our last property). Then, he decided it was time to go FISHING. Normally I go, but our critters needed fed, had inside work to do, and someone had to prepare dinner. In 3 hours, I hear him at the door, "the Great Fisherman is home," he exclaimed, holding up a bag of fish weighing 52#s (had to be weighed). Of course, dinner was served and I then helped him package/seal 23#s of fillets. We also now have a lot more crab bait in the freezer (fish heads/scraps left). There is no room in the freezers for anything else.

    Time to do more....CANNING and use other methods of PRESERVATION! The Excalibur is calling my name, DH will be learning about brining/smoking fish, and both my Water Bath Canner & Pressure Canners will be put to use. I have enough berries now to make jam/syrup, so need to get on it.

  5. #1005
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    I am reading and just being totally amazed at all of you!!! I love reading your daily preps and canning and freezing. Christie I needed your fresh herbs today.... *I made a recipe that I got online and I am not happy with it. Made with dried herbs because I didn't have your FRESH ones. God Bless you all. I love reading your happiness adventures in the canning and gardening world.

  6. #1006
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    Just got back my Excalibur from DDIL, she went on a fruit dehydrating marathon for several days. (I was having withdrawls ) I asked her if she wanted one for her B-day she said she'll just borrow mine again sometime. I don't mine really but other stuff I loaded up the car with besides the 9 tray Excalibur ie... meat slicer, apple peeler corer to name a couple, is alot to move around.Today I'm going to take some of my home canned fruit that's getting older, puree it and make fruit leather for the grandbabies and dehydrate a couple batches of apples I found on sale for long term storage.

  7. #1007
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    Quote Originally Posted by Animal Lover View Post
    I am reading and just being totally amazed at all of you!!! I love reading your daily preps and canning and freezing. Christie I needed your fresh herbs today.... *I made a recipe that I got online and I am not happy with it. Made with dried herbs because I didn't have your FRESH ones. God Bless you all. I love reading your happiness adventures in the canning and gardening world.
    I grew herbs in pots for many years... If you have room for them, you will have your fresh herbs! I find reading this thread very encouraging and get all kinds of ideas, uh oh, as my DH would say.

    joy50- Just got back my Excalibur from DDIL
    Looking forward to hearing everything you are dehydrating, now! Sounds like a good Christmas present for her, to me...

  8. #1008
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChristieAcres View Post
    I grew herbs in pots for many years... If you have room for them, you will have your fresh herbs! I find reading this thread very encouraging and get all kinds of ideas, uh oh, as my DH would say.

    Looking forward to hearing everything you are dehydrating, now! Sounds like a good Christmas present for her, to me...
    (Her biggest problem is finding storage space, They are busting at the seems at their place). She is a couponer, and has alot of food storage "preps". She had to put the dehydrator on her dryer which was down the hall so we/she had to get all those trays of wet fruit through the kitchen and down the hall to the laundy room/ food storage area without too much mess to clean up each trip. They plan on adding on to their home next year, maybe then we can define a working space for food prepping/storage for things like food dehydrators

  9. #1009
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    It's small potatoes, but I canned 8 pts of green beans. Every little bit helps and there's just 2 of us. Doing pickles later or tomorrow.

  10. #1010
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    Dec 2009
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    Today I deciced to do something new(for me) with my dehydrator. Fruit leather. I have alot of canned and frozen fruit I needed to do something with so I made several flavors of leathers, strawberry /banana, pear/pineapple, banana/pineapple, blueberry/banana and nectarine. I'll seal them and put them in my preps, should be a nice treat for the grandkids when times get harder.

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