It is so weird to read this...

 There is so much here I don't even remember doing. 

Sage Words

 This morning's harvest, going into the dehydrator.  It is not impressive, but there will be more!  

 I tried my hand at winter sowing in a couple of milk jugs and a greens container with a lid.  The plants started later than expected, but they did take off--I had some summer squash ready by the time I had the garden ready to plant, a couple sage plants, some spearmint, a couple strawberries, and some seeds good for containers--a few cherry tomato plants and a "pot-o-peno" jalapeño. I was disappointed by the number of plants that came up; however, I figure a couple of solid strawberry plants will spread (once I figure out where to put them). And, a couple sage plants will produce enough sage for us to use this year.  A packet of seeds is cheaper than a bottle of sage at the grocery, eh?

I may have to go back and read this blog, lol.  So much of what I was doing, I have forgotten, it seems. 

At one time, I may have envisioned trying to live a sustainable life, but my life, our life, here, has been fairly far from that.  My goal, now, is to simplify, utilize, maximize our resources. I don't expect to achieve a fully self-sustainable life, lol, but I hope to do a better job.  I don't need to mention that the world is a little scary, and my tendency, always, has been to hunker down and focus on what I can control, or at least try to do so.  I have wanted to put a garden in here since we moved, and I am really glad to be getting started growing (hopefully) at least some part of the food we eat. 

These aren't really "sage words," I know, but, anyway. 

Starting again...

 There's been a long, long break from blogging and from any semblance of remaking suburbia, lol. Facebook pretty well sucked the blogging right out of me, and when we moved in 2014, we left our garden beds behind for a manicured lawn with sprinkler system. I bought pots and had a few tomatoes in pots, but didn't get much further than that for various reasons.  When 2020 hit, I started seeds I bought in 2014, and had good success there.  But now, I am ready to begin this journey again. I am starting with a no-dig garden where there used to be a playset and sand.  The playset was re-homed a few years ago. This spot is a ways from the house, but gets good sun and is, for the most part, not involved in the sprinkler system. 

We got a late start on this, and I am not sure how much we will get from it. I stressed my tomatoes several times before I got them in, and they started looking blighty really early--and are still a ways from producing. The peppers are looking good. 

That aside, working here to streamline our very maximalist household, lol.  We have kids in various stages of working their ways out of our house--a grown son with a great job and his own apartment, our second son working a summer internship and ready to start his senior year of college, a daughter headed to her first year of college, and a daughter starting her sophomore year of high school.  This is a real shift in lifestyle for us as they launch, and even when they are still here, are spending less time at home and eating family meals, etc., especially after the shutdown days with everyone home 24/7.  It is a balance between figuring out how to run a household for 3 or 4 and holding space for when everyone is home! 

I am about to embark upon pressure canning, which I have not done before, but hoping to can a lot of meat from our freezer, freeing up space for more, lol. The idea of canned meals, especially when we are fewer in number and our kids tend to avoid leftovers, is appealing, so I am working on that, and figured I would chronicle that process.  I also hope to have things to put up from the garden.  

So far, my harvest for the year has been a quart of dehydrated chives and some mint simple syrup, lol.