Bee~ Journal of then...

[Beekissed]

Well, pretty soon I'll be so busy on this place that I won't have time to dwell on it.....or that's my plan anyway! This will be my first time living alone....completely alone...since Feb. 28, 1986!!! So, starting on June 12, I will be walking around a lonely house.....

It is difficult to wrap my mind around.

 

[Farmfresh]

You WILL adjust. At first it will be HARD, but you will make it.

My sil is in the Navy and is gone A LOT. My poor daughter keeps up their animals and acreage all alone 95% of the time. I miss our soldier and I have a hard time dealing with how lonely my daughter is - but we are proud of him.

They grow up so fast.

 

[keljonma]

Well, pretty soon I'll be so busy on this place that I won't have time to dwell on it.....or that's my plan anyway! This will be my first time living alone....completely alone...since Feb. 28, 1986!!! So, starting on June 12, I will be walking around a lonely house.....

It is difficult to wrap my mind around.

I don't know how you figure you're going to be lonely - between having the animals and us to talk to!!

 

[freemotion]

A batch of brownies cures almost anything.....except one's pant-size! Ahhh, elastic waist skirts!!!!

Don't forget to get that boy going on all the projects that take manly muscles before he's outa there! You said he put a shelf unit for your seedlings together in an hour.....hand him the hammer and drill and tell 'im to get crackin'! Times' a'wastin'!!!

 

[Farmfresh]

Never fear about that Bee!

Before my tiny little baby son (6'1"+) moved out it was hard to get any work out of the boy. Now he stops by to visit (and usually eat dinner) and he actually asks me about doing things for me. He unloads feed, hauls in wood, and in general does all of the heavy stuff that I need to be done for a while. I think he feels sorry for the old lady now.

It is a lot nicer when the kids are gone in many ways. You actually become wise and knowing, for example. When they live at home you try to tell them stuff that is important for life and they don't even hear you talking (like on Charlie Brown). Now they come to us for our sage wisdom. Yeah right.

Sometimes they have REVELATIONS! You always said when I left all of the lights on and the doors wide open (including the refrigerator door) that it caused high bills... you were right!

Or when I visit my oldest daughter's house (you know the daughter that we actually had to RAKE out the stuff under her bed when she was younger!) and she asks us to take off our shoes so we won't track up her floors.

Life after babies is interesting indeed.

 

[Beekissed]

FF, I'm counting on that!!

Kel, you're right....I'll have plenty to do...until sundown. Then no laughing will get to me. We have a lot of fun here just being together and laughing at each other.

I've already planned the building of my leanto before they shove off into the world...as well as my electric fencing around the garden and some cold frames. Guess everything else will be up to me...and I need the exercise, for sure. It will be kind of fun to have them come home after basic training and be amazed at everything I've gotten done.

I know there is life after kids, but I'm still trying to imagine it...this isn't the most cultured and interesting social mecca in the world, ya know!

I am going to take a water colors class and a basket weaving course, if I can get in on it. Also am going to try to find a beekeeping seminar that isn't too far away.

I'm also going to make this my "squirrel year"...where I can up everthing I can get my hands on, juice everything I can, dry everything I can, make plenty of ACV for us and the animals, organize my cellar to the nth degree for maximum storage capabilities, buy hay at the lowest price and store, store, store.

I'm planning on getting a piglet from my sister and feeding it all my older apple drops, black walnuts, and any wormy chestnuts. Nothing is going to waste this year! The grass goes to the lambs, pig, and chickens. All garden wastes goes to the pig, chickens or compost bin.

By winter, my cellar will hold two different kinds of potatoes, mangles and winter gourds, pumpkins, squash, canned tomatoes, corn, slumgulleon, deer meat, spaghetti sauce, salsa, pumpkin pie mix, honey, bags of onions, braids of garlic, ACV, apple juice, tomatoe juice, canned chicken, apple sauce and butter, apples and anything else I can lay by.

I'm going to collect all the carbonaceous materials I can...leaves, wood chips, grass clippings, you name it, I'm stockpiling it for winter bedding for the pig and sheep. I'm going to buy grains this summer when the prices are lower and store them in bins.

This should occupy my time until winter, at which time I'm getting out the sewing machine and starting to make some quilts and throws.

I intend to build me some row cover frames this year and keep some cold hardy crops going all winter, so I can have fresh lettuces, broccoli, etc. this winter. I am going to challenge myself to eat almost entirely from what I've grown this next year.

I want my house to feel like the house in Farmer Boy....stocked to the brim with food and warm things. I want this year to be my challenge year.

I'll take pics when I'm done.....

 

[Farmfresh]

I love the Farmer Boy book!

One word of advice about the "squirreling". Can in smaller jars!

We used to use a quart of beans or a quart of corn in a meal with few leftovers. We were used to cooking for a horde of young people - always starving. Now we two old duffs find ourselves wondering what to do with all the leftovers!

Case in point. Last week hubby was going to make chili for dinner. A wonderful thing! I walked past him getting ready and OH NO! He had out the big chili pot, two pounds of burger, two quarts of spicy jalapeno tomatoes, two quarts of pinto beans and a quart of tomato juice! I asked him how long he was planning on eating chili, because that much will last him and I a month! I think he was a little mad, but he sized it way down and it was delicious!

PS I suppose I live in a "cultured, interesting social mecca", but what do I do?

I work on pre-season garden plans, prune my fruit trees, talk to you all and consider reading Farmer Boy for the millionth time!

 

[freemotion]

I re-read my boxed set last winter, but now I have to dig out Farmer Boy with all the references to it!

How about canning the chili already made in pints? Actually, two can eat a quart of chili in a sitting. I can in pints so we can have a quick, instant meal, especially on those nights when we don't eat together because of work schedules. It is so handy!

 

[Beekissed]

When I make too much of something, I just freeze it in qt. sized bags, thaw, and re-use for my lunches. This actually works out really good for me, as I don't have to do much prep time to get ready for work. I want to start taking my lunch more anyway. Some days I go all day without anything to eat and then pig out when I get home......not good.

I have mostly qt. canning jars and I will fill them up. I'm not just canning for me now....I want to lay by for my family and church members and anyone else who may need food this next year. Plus, I don't mind eating the same meal twice in one day, so the qt. sized jars are okay with me. I can't see going to all that trouble of buying smaller jars and wasting the canning time of filling the smaller jars, etc.

I'm going to buy some pint jars this year, but only for my honey to sell and for making beeswax candles for my own use.

 

[Farmfresh]

I still use the quarts for tomatoes, juices and soups etc. I just really like the pints for veggies, pickles etc... It does not take me much longer to can in smaller jars, because my canner will do two layers of pints.

I didn't switch jars all at once either. I just started watching for smaller jars on sale and at garage sales etc.. I like being able to open a jar and use it all up instead of having leftovers. We do freeze for lunches and those quick meals - I just end up with too many leftovers and some of them end up as chicken food.

We have tried canning meals like the chili. We just don't seem to like it as well as the fresh made stuff. I make do with canning chicken meat and other main ingredients, then I can just "assemble" a meal in under 30 minutes.

This all boils down to why you should plan around YOUR family. Some people grow vegetables in their garden that they don't even like. Grow what you like to eat. Then can or preserve like your family uses it. I even package my chicken in meal sized portions on butchering day!