Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
Just wanted so say a belated Hello and Welcome to the forum! 
DianeS - Listeria spreading, culling the rabbits
- Thread starter DianeS
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calendula
Lovin' The Homestead
What do you plan to do with your tomatoes?
- Thread starter
- #34
DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
Right now I'm eating them fresh, like apples. Once they get a little soft I think I'll dice the remaining ones and freeze them for use in soups over the winter. I love diced tomato in a bean and pork stew!calendula said:
- Thread starter
- #35
DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
This week's free stuff includes:
--30 cherry tomatoes from a neighbor who planted too many tomato plants. (Is there really such a thing as too many tomato plants???)
--A mated pair of small rabbits. About mini-rex size, but not rex fur. So I'm not sure what they are. The female gave birth about 10 days ago, and the litter died. The kids lost interest after that, so mom rehomed the pair to me for free - even with full disclosure that I breed rabbits for meat. The female is pregnant again, probably right after the prior birth. So I'll see what kind of mom she makes on this second try.
--15 vinyl records. I have seen really neat art made by melting the records (yes, I know the PVC cautions) and molding them into items. Thought I'd like to give it a try.
--A 1 year old Californian doe rabbit. Probably pregnant, since they are rehoming her because she is suddenly aggressive to their male rabbit. I explained that was the likely cause, and what I use rabbits for, and they thought about it and still called me back to tell me I can come get her tomorrow. It's nice when being truthful and forthcoming still works out well.
I had bred three of my rabbits the week of the 28th. Now I have two more rabbits due at about the same time. Guess I'll be making use of some cardboard nest boxes for births, and I can move litters that make it into the official nestboxes later. Too many babies is an issue I'll happily figure out how to deal with!
I've been wondering lately - could someone actually live only on freebies they got from Craigslist? I'm remembering that guy who started with a red paperclip and kept trading until he got a car, then a house. So many people give perfectly good things away that they just don't use anymore. Has anyone done a challenge to see if they could live off that? Like, get free records, make art, sell art, use the money for the house payment, etc. Might be interesting.
--30 cherry tomatoes from a neighbor who planted too many tomato plants. (Is there really such a thing as too many tomato plants???)
--A mated pair of small rabbits. About mini-rex size, but not rex fur. So I'm not sure what they are. The female gave birth about 10 days ago, and the litter died. The kids lost interest after that, so mom rehomed the pair to me for free - even with full disclosure that I breed rabbits for meat. The female is pregnant again, probably right after the prior birth. So I'll see what kind of mom she makes on this second try.
--15 vinyl records. I have seen really neat art made by melting the records (yes, I know the PVC cautions) and molding them into items. Thought I'd like to give it a try.
--A 1 year old Californian doe rabbit. Probably pregnant, since they are rehoming her because she is suddenly aggressive to their male rabbit. I explained that was the likely cause, and what I use rabbits for, and they thought about it and still called me back to tell me I can come get her tomorrow. It's nice when being truthful and forthcoming still works out well.
I had bred three of my rabbits the week of the 28th. Now I have two more rabbits due at about the same time. Guess I'll be making use of some cardboard nest boxes for births, and I can move litters that make it into the official nestboxes later. Too many babies is an issue I'll happily figure out how to deal with!
I've been wondering lately - could someone actually live only on freebies they got from Craigslist? I'm remembering that guy who started with a red paperclip and kept trading until he got a car, then a house. So many people give perfectly good things away that they just don't use anymore. Has anyone done a challenge to see if they could live off that? Like, get free records, make art, sell art, use the money for the house payment, etc. Might be interesting.
hwillm1977
Almost Self-Reliant
I would love to try something similar... I followed the red paperclip guy and thought that was amazing...DianeS said:
Our dream house is for sale just down the road from us... I don't think it will sell fast, it's a HUGE, very OLD house with 2 large barns and 48 acres of land... we need $150,000 to buy it. I need a way to get $150,000 in 6 months so we could buy it in the spring. No idea how I could possibly do that though
if only I had a red paperclip... lol
Icu4dzs
Super Self-Sufficient
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First, I'd like to sayhwillm1977 said:I would love to try something similar... I followed the red paperclip guy and thought that was amazing...DianeS said:
Our dream house is for sale just down the road from us... I don't think it will sell fast, it's a HUGE, very OLD house with 2 large barns and 48 acres of land... we need $150,000 to buy it. I need a way to get $150,000 in 6 months so we could buy it in the spring. No idea how I could possibly do that though
if only I had a red paperclip... lol
Then I'd like to have a clarification on why we shouldn't throw you off the bridge since you did at least consider the age of the swallow, etc. but failed to answer the question. re: question 35 in your first post. lol From reading all of your posts thus far, it is clear that maybe we should keep you and NOT throw you off the bridge just yet, cause you really do fit in here with the rest of us crazies! 
We're assuming that you can obtain a Shrubbery which will vindicate you and keep the knights who say Ni from throwing you off the bridge. isn't that right I_am2bz and WZ?Then I'd love to know more about that 48 acres with house and barns. $150K is a steal in most markets. If your DH has a job, you'd qualify for a mortgage on that with no problem unless there are "confounding factors".
I'd do that deal myself, sight unseen. 48 acres and barns is really a nice place. An old house is probably somewhat livable until you can build your own. Fixing up an old house is often more difficult and a lot more expensive than building a new one. If you build a new, small one and want to fix up the old one, you could do it on your own time and not have to be in a hurry unless your first litter is triplets!
At any rate, we are glad to see you have joined us because you have really got that SS spirit!
PRIORITY:ROUTINE
Trim sends
//BT//
Gypsi
Almost Self-Reliant
I guess I should investigate Craigslist, so far I've confined my internet "time-wasting" (which is not a waste) to BYC, SS and Beesource.
I do like that list of questions at the beginning.
I had something useful to say but my brain says it's past my bed time and it is rebooting. So I guess I'll settle for hi!
Oh, I remember. I think tomatoes can be dried and used for soups? I'm hoping so, I picked up a dehydrator at Goodwill for $7 last week, doesn't look like it has been used yet. Mine are still green, I'm covering for freezes hoping to have enough to try that out. Maybe that will help with your tomato surplus.
Gypsi
I do like that list of questions at the beginning.
I had something useful to say but my brain says it's past my bed time and it is rebooting. So I guess I'll settle for hi!
Oh, I remember. I think tomatoes can be dried and used for soups? I'm hoping so, I picked up a dehydrator at Goodwill for $7 last week, doesn't look like it has been used yet. Mine are still green, I'm covering for freezes hoping to have enough to try that out. Maybe that will help with your tomato surplus.
Gypsi
- Thread starter
- #39
DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
We went through those tomatoes pretty quickly.Gypsi said:Oh, I remember. I think tomatoes can be dried and used for soups? I'm hoping so, I picked up a dehydrator at Goodwill for $7 last week, doesn't look like it has been used yet. Mine are still green, I'm covering for freezes hoping to have enough to try that out. Maybe that will help with your tomato surplus.
Gypsi
But yes, tomatoes can be dehydrated and used in soups. I see "dehydrated tomato" as an ingredient in dried soups all the time. Yummy! Hope they turn out well.
- Thread starter
- #40
DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
And before I forget, this weeks' freebies from Craigslist includes ~60 lbs of Walnuts.
I picked them up from the ground, after dark, with a flashlight, and with the homeowner who I'd never met before. It was a riot. Ever played hide-and-seek in the dark as a kid? It felt like that. The grass was long, the leaves had fallen, and the walnuts were hard to find. But it didn't take long to realize if we used our FEET to find the walnuts, then we'd leave half the hull on the ground because it broke off when we stepped on it. Bonus! So that ~60 lbs needs shelled still, but only about half of them need hulled.
And in last week's list I forgot to include the 15 lbs of rabbit food that came with two of the free rabbits. Gotta keep my list up to date!
I picked them up from the ground, after dark, with a flashlight, and with the homeowner who I'd never met before. It was a riot. Ever played hide-and-seek in the dark as a kid? It felt like that. The grass was long, the leaves had fallen, and the walnuts were hard to find. But it didn't take long to realize if we used our FEET to find the walnuts, then we'd leave half the hull on the ground because it broke off when we stepped on it. Bonus! So that ~60 lbs needs shelled still, but only about half of them need hulled.
And in last week's list I forgot to include the 15 lbs of rabbit food that came with two of the free rabbits. Gotta keep my list up to date!
