A pretty good week here. We had rain which is the biggest help we could get. Rain and follow up rain. There is only one thing better and that is rain with sunny spells in between as this makes the grass grow!
I am still waiting for lambs. I need to plan something away from home to bring them on!
Some of the ways we got ahead, feathered our nest and built up the pantry include:
I made a big pot of pumpkin soup.
I made another big lot of baby food.
For Mother's Day I made cup cakes and I am practising using some piping tips to form roses. Not good enough for photos yet!
In the op shop I found a couple of meters of navy gingham and a few brand new reels of cotton for my sewing pantry.
An old ladder I found was cleaned up and now my scarves are hanging up. It looks really nice and with them out where I can see them I hope I will swap them around more often.
Every chance I got I was in the garden. This weather is great for planting things out. I am gradually adding things I started from cuttings or from digging them up. As soon as I am outside I have an audience.
I traded with my niece. She came over and cleaned out the gutters and the chimney. I will never start a fire until the chimney has been cleaned. The gutters were terrible but all the stuff that came out of them was good compost for the garden. Now I am able to light my fire. My side of the deal was I made her seven nights of dinners. She had roast lamb and veggies, chicken mini roasts and veggies, spaghetti sauce, pies and pasties and a turkey roast. We all had dinner together which was very nice as well. Another good trade I think!
My chickens have really grown. In the next week I need to move them to a bigger home. Also next week we are working on a run for the chickens in the main coop. Improvements and extensions!
I made up a heap more gift bags to give to Mum so she can avoid the dreaded wrapping.
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In the stash there are some Christmas themed ones so they have gone into the gift cupboard.
Using the method Cath posted in last Fridays comments I have planted up lots of Lavender cuttings. I have three trays like this:
The blanket I am working on for Thomas is almost finished.
It was a week in which we were surrounded by more good examples of why we keep a stocked pantry. We keep ahead with fuel and our eyes and ears open. Have you noticed how the ransomware and cyber attacks have grown bigger and more serious? They can shut down a whole pipeline so the mind boggles.
A friend in the US told me today she felt like she was in a war zone. Be watchful and be prudent! The wise women isn't afraid as she is well prepared for the winter! xxx
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What a busy week! We always clean the chimney. Wayne usually does it at the end of winter after the last fire, and he cleans all the inside and the tiles and glass and makes a dreadful mess. But we know it is safe to use - ours is roaring tonight and it looks amazing, it's a bit chilly here.
ReplyDeleteYour lavender looks good! I love lavender and some of the strikes I have at the moment will go to fill the front under our lounge windows and down the side of the driveway. I think I'll even put it down the bedroom side of the house - what would be more calming than the natural scent of lavender through bedroom windows :) Hopefully I'll be able to sell some or trade too.
I love your gift bags. You inspired me to recycle gift bags and shopping bags years ago and its one of my favourite things to do, they just look so pretty and are unique too.
I am looking at the world and making lists of things to add to our pantries. Between the USA and now Israel and the out of control you-know-what in India, and threats from the CCP - I don't think we can be over-prepared.
Wayne talked to me a few weeks ago and we now have a bigger solar panel, bigger batteries and a bigger inverter. They're all portable so if we ever need to evacuate they will come with us, and of course when we go away I can enjoy a little home comfort, maybe!
I am keeping all the cars full. Not letting any of them get under half-full. Petrol is expensive here, $170.9/l some places, so I've been making use of the fuel apps and checking for the cheapest in our area or close to. Today I found it for $129.9, a saving of up to 30c/litre! And all those petrol stations are within about 2.5km of each other!
This week I had some great wins shopping. A post on another group jogged my memory that I wanted mesh for the dehydrator, and another group reminded me that I was looking for a magnetic tray. Looked online and found Spotlight had 30% off and their mesh was cheapest near me. As Spotlight is next to Repco, I decided to combine trips. Repco had the magnetic trays -advertised at $10, scanned at $5, then a 5% discount for RACV membership, so I paid $4.75! Happy dance! Then Spotlight I found the mesh, but there was other mesh in bigger sheets, about 2.5 times the size, marked down to 50c - score! I cleared the shelf. When it scanned I made a mistake and called the woman over. She told me good thing, because they were on clearance and so they were half price - I thought the 50c was the clearance price, but she said no and charged me 25c each! Then today I raced into Aldi to get hot dog buns and they had 3 trays of steak marked down to $5 each! And each tray had 5 pieces of steak in them! People were picking them up and putting them down and choosing full-price at over $30 a tray! So I bought the lot, vac sealed them and they're in the freezer. I think if God puts things in front of me like that, I need to be grateful and make use of the blessing and the opportunity, especially in these tumultuous times. Have a lovely weekend. Cath xxxx.
Dear Cath,
DeleteSo far the Lavenders are looking good! Some of the store gift bags are really good ones. The best ones are quite luxurious and thick. Once I saw someone had a whole bag of bags put out on the side of the road and I ended up with about 20! I added pictures from magazines and each one was unique as you say. Nice boxes are the same. Often perfume gift sets and things come in beautiful boxes... with a little makeover these are good for storage or gift boxes too.
Your fuel is worse than ours. That is a lot. Australia being the land of so many long haul trips and food miles... well we can see where this is going.
Well done on the mesh for the dehydrator! I didn't know about magnetic trays either! You really got some good deals. Maybe the steak was the best of all! Steak is like gold now lets face it. I agree. I thank God for the opportunity. It is pretty exciting when you have an "I cant believe my eyes" moment like that.
It is really good about your solar panel too. You had a very good week and advanced your preparedness and pantry a lot! Hope the new week will be another good one! With love Annabel.xxx
Annabel your paddock babies are gorgeous. They would make a lovely audience. I can actually hear you having a chat with them as you go about your gardening.
ReplyDeleteI have been heavily involved in helping Katie get what she needs sorted out for the arrival up her bub. Jared's Mum is going over tomorrow to get all the baby bits washed and dry and the Nursery a little more organised. Katie took me through all the new and shared from friends, baby clothing. There are no gaps that I can see. What I did see was how much of the new bubs clothing is Granny made. This warmed my Granny heart. We did work out that the cradle could use one more fitted flannelette sheet and one more fleece blanket. I will get these made over the weekend. I am doing these last jobs using up what I already have.
Bluey and I have been working out ways we can keep the chooks corralled into the one area to eat out the bugs, scratch the ground up and clean up the weeds. We have some old security mesh doors that we move around as our temporary fencing. This is keeping them out of the vegie garden, yet giving them time out of their yard each day.
I have the last of the rosella fruit to pick. This is going to be dried off, along with some lemon balm, for tea. I might even add some mint to the mix as well. I will also be keeping some of the fruit to dry off for next season seeds. The basil seeds have dried off enough on the bushes so these will be collected for storage till next Spring. Parsley and tomato weedlings are popping up all through the lawn. I will be transplanting these to garden beds over the weekend.
I was gifted a large bag of cotton fabric by a friend. Her neighbour was cleaning out her sewing room and asked if she knew anyone who would use the fabric. I am feeling blessed with the wonderful gift of this fabric.
I hope everyone has a lovely week. With the bub almost here this Granny is getting quite excited. Life is good.
Dear Jane,
DeleteYou have done a wonderful job helping Katie. My tip which Im sure you covered is to sort clothes into sizes and keep out the first ones and the rest are organised in sizes to pull out as needed. Also as she gets more gifts they go in with the right size. Then it is all on hand as baby grows. How exciting!
I am seeing some good set ups for day grazing for chickens. I saw someone had a tunnel that they directed right between their rows of veggies and they moved this everyday. I am trying to work on something for some of my chickens. Worrying about foxes is my main problem though. The mesh doors sound a good set up.
Your seed saving is great. You will have so much next season!
Fabric is a great gift. So is yarn! You will put it to good use! Here we are about to start a new week! Hope it is a good one for us all! With love Annabel.xxx
Dear Annabel, I love your cuttings of lavender. How beautiful! I love you make baby food for your grandsons, what a huge help for your family. Plus it is homemade with love! Nothing better. I really like your term sewing pantry. I must continue to further develop mine. I like the trade you had with your niece, she sounds like such a great worker, very inspiring. I have worked on my plants this week, although I found the chickens in some beds, that I thought were chicken proof, seems they aren't! They were having a lovely time. I potted up some cuttings of aloe vera, planted chilli and some flowers. I might be able to take them to a swap soon. Our chickens are finally laying again. We have to find out if they regularly go off the lay over Summer- I hope not. I have been working on my children's clothing cupboards, and making sure I am completely covered for at least the next size up, beginning two sizes up as well as shoes. I bought sale item including swimmers all for around $5, then at the op shop I found school shoes, a hat, and two pairs of water-wearing shoes for all a $1 each. I have cleaned them all up and they are as good as new. I feel a lot better knowing they are clothed, so no matter what happens we have that on hand. I also made a double batch of yogurt. I bought a hot chicken today, but this is cheaper then some deli meats, like salami etc, for sandwiches. Lots of love, Lily P.S. I really feel the need to be prepared; there is so much going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteDear Lily, Patsy on A Working Pantry taught me that the pantry is more than the food pantry. So I adopted what she taught and consider my animal pantry, my laundry pantry etc. They are all important areas too.
DeleteAllie is a great worker and so capable. I am lucky to have her not to far away!
It is really good to be ahead with the children's clothing. Mum and I try to help do that for the girls and now the baby boys.
I agree that you can get a lot of meat from a roast chicken and I think roast meat is nicer than deli meat anyway. Im glad to roast any meat I find on a good deal and slice it up. Deli meats freak me out as the seem slimy to me!
Lily I feel the same. Never ignore a feeling. With much love Annabel.xxx
Dear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing the animals. The gift bags are very pretty and have inspired me to get busy making more for my gift pantry. I too copied down Cath's lavender instructions and will have some ready to go this week. I also watched some youtube videos on how to make envelope boxes to put cards in that will be gifted and a very interesting idea of making envelopes out of fabric that gets stiffened with Mod Podge so that it cuts like paper.
How I feathered my nest and got ahead this week. I emptied out the freezer of saved bones and made 7 quarts of bone broth. 5 I left as plain bone broth and 2 quarts got made into butternut squash soup, some of which was enjoyed on a cool day and the rest frozen. I added to the pile of cauliflower cores and asparagus ends that are cooked and pureed to become cream of cauliflower soup and cream of asparagus soup at a later time. I have one of those little round single waffle makers and made a dozen waffles for the freezer that can be reheated in the toaster for a quick breakfast. They are gluten free. One dozen crepes got made and frozen for future dinners. I made 4 dozen gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I baked raisen bread for my husband. We cleaned out the closet in the master bedroom and had 3 boxes of clothes and shoes to donate . We also went through books and had a box to donate as well. We emptied all of our garden containers, cloroxed them, sifted the soil to reuse, amended the soil with compost and fertilizer and refilled all the containers . They're now ready for planting.
I added to my containers with 6 new grow bags for potatoes and sweet potatoes. This will free up garden space in our raised bed for more vegetables. Today we'll be working on trellises to make even more space by growing things up, like squashes and cucumbers. I added to my cardmaking pantry with several new dies and stamps. Wishing all of the Bluebirds a safe and productive week ahead. Blessings, Cookie
Hi Annabel and everyone,
DeleteAnnabel, you did so well this week! I love your lavender cuttings and I am going to go right back and read that post to see if I can do the same with my big lavender plant. I also love seeing the animals!
It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. One big thing we have been working on is deep cleaning and clearing out the garage in preparation for a new workbench and cabinets - it is looking so much better already! I have the shelves organized and used containers we already had; my husband tackled his current workbench area (a big table that was once his desk when he was in school) and the materials for the building part arrived. Very exciting! I comparison shopped for materials and saved us $500 by finding a different supplier. This will make it a lot easier to find things when we need them and also give us more storage.
I spent a bunch of time in the garden and planted sunflowers, more zinnia, and yarrow seeds. Tomato, cucumber, melon, basil, and parsley seedlings are doing really well in their peat pots and I think will be ready to plant in the beds in another week or so. The roses that I cut back (kind of aggressively!) are doing great and I love seeing them blooming this spring. Did some knitting and finished another pair of house socks, and a small spring-y cross stitch pattern. I keep feeling nudged to put aside extras of things when we can, so purchased some more cotton towels on a good sale price and put them in my linen closet, and some soap. Saturday was also a baking day: sandwich bread, pumpkin bread, apple crisp, waffles, challah bread - with extras for the freezer - and I cooked a rack of lamb and a chocolate pie for our wedding anniversary last weekend. My crockpot was used to bake/steam potatoes and when I told him I got the idea from your blog, my husband said "That Annabel has good ideas!" :) I totally agree!
This spring I am getting so many reminders of how important it is to have a pantry and be ready for things, so that unexpected happenings aren't catastrophic or burdensome. Last weekend there was a problem with construction and our town's water getting contaminated with bacteria - we have lots of hand sanitizer and bottled water, so we could just use that. All is well now and no one became ill, but I can just imagine what the stores were like over the weekend!
I hope everyone has a good weekend.
<3
Kathy
Dear Cookie, You did a lot! I love all that bone broth and now you made room in the freezer too. I love making the waffles and having them frozen and ready.
DeleteYour post is full of tips too. Saving the cauli and broccoli ends/hearts is a great way to make soup. These are the ways to really make things go further. Soup is filling delicious and nutritious too. It is exciting now you have the growing season ahead of you and you are ready to go! Have a very good new week. With love Annabel.xxx
Also dear Kathy,
Your garage project sounds fantastic. We should consider tools a pantry of their own too. All important. I am so glad you got through that water incident ok! It is always very important to have a way to boil water. Some basic way can be a lifesaver. Having bottled water stored was really well done! In a criss we saw bottles of water for unbelievable prices because people were desperate and it was terrible.
That is really nice that your husband knows what we get up to over here! It is great you are coming into your garden season. Here we are going into quiet times with a couple of weeks till winter. I really like the seasons! We have to work with the season we are in.
You stocked up a lot and made your wedding anniversary special too. What a good week! With love, Annabel.xxx
Thank you for the wonderful photos of your animals ;). And as a commenter above said, I imagine you chat with them a lot as you garden. As you noted, it is the time to make sure we have what we need in our homes, times seem very turbulent. I had made some big additions to my pantry two weeks ago, last week, we took extra gas cans and will store some gas. My husband put chemicals in it to keep it usable longer but gas has a short life, so we will rotate it into our vehicles.
ReplyDeleteDear Travelling Oltmans,
DeleteI am glad you were able to add lots to the pantry! We have full tins... we call gas petrol or diesel, depending. For the petrol we number the cans. To rotate it we fill the car with it and then re fill the cans within 6 months. And so our spare cans are rotated and we keep filling them. In a crisis in South Australia one of the first thing to sell out was fuel cans. So lots of people went out to buy cans to transport fuel and there were just none! This is an example of where we need to have thought it through before it happens. I am so glad you are on top of this. Yes things were very turbulent last week and this week is looking similar. I am seeing a lot about big price rises in food. I did a stock up shop today myself! With much love Annabel.xxx
I love reading your posts along with the replies from the other ladies! So many great ideas here and I always learn something new. :)
ReplyDeleteDear Debbie, Thank you so much. I have also been learning a lot from many of the ladies in the comments and various blogs I follow. I love it! I think of how far Ive come in recent years. I love that we can help each other! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteWow, thank you, Cath! I absolutely love the smell of lavender and scent my drawers with it. I've loved it ever since reading L.M. Montgomery's "Anne" books as a young girl.
ReplyDeleteDear Annabel,
How sweet that the farm furbabies watch what you are doing outside.
This week I plated out the potatoes in the garden as well as the new strawberry plants. We've had snaps of late cold and rain this spring, so I found it prudent to wait a little bit longer. I have my
tomatoes and squash out to harden off. I also have my four o'clock flowers from last years seeds a couple of inches tall and ready to go in the garden this week.
Still going through my old magazines looking for new recipes to make with what I have and ideas for gifts when needed.
A store trip yielded some good sales as well. The frozen broccoli was back in stock on sale and the Greek yogurt was as well. I cleared the shelf. I used to feel guilty doing that, but I now she others doing the same thing with other items. The week also had a lot of sunshine which is wonderful.
Dear Laura,
DeleteYou have your garden coming along very well! Good thing you waited a little bit more on the planting.
I love old magazines and I tear out ideas and recipes and stick them in a book. Over the years I have so many good recipes and ideas! Now and then I get the books out and I love them!
I am glad you found some good deals and stocked up. Also happy you have sunshine. Because we have rain now and it is wet when the sun comes out it is so nice. It makes everything grow. I saw the first lambs born on the surrounding farms and they lay in the sun soaking up the warmth, just lovely.
Hope you will find some more good deals this week.
With love,
Annabel.xxx
We have had a lovely productive week and so many blessings came our way, too.
ReplyDeleteI have been making it a priority to replace any sheet that happens to tear due to wear. I do make repairs but sometimes the cotton is just worn so thin that there's no way to make it better. I ordered a new fitted sheet this week. John needed some wire covering to stop our dog from digging out the foundation of his shed. We happened to be cleaning at my daughter's this week and were offered two rolls of chicken wire and hardware cloth, so now we've plenty to tend to his shed. My daughter in law had ordered some new shirts which all proved to be too big. They were perfect, just my size. I was pleased when I noted that I three new blouses that were HER size in my closet that I'd planned to give away anyway and so I offered those to her. Today she brought me whey, which I use when I' make my bread and in turn I offered her two jars of cat treats my cat won't eat.
We heard about the gas shortage but have always made it our habit to fill our cars when they are half empty. We decided to just keep that habit. Fortunately our gas shortage here was short lived and no one seems to be really out here at the end of the week.
I found it necessary to raise my grocery budget slightly this month. I checked our government guidelines and we were well below their thrifty meal plan allotment. I talked it over with my husband and we decided to try new means to insure saving what we can on groceries.
I recovered the dining room chairs and asked my daughter's boy friend to weld a break on one of them (they are metal). He and John cut limbs at our house and theirs this week.
I cut flowers from my garden to bring indoors today. Those are the first of the season and I am hopeful they are only the first of many more to come.
I also harvested oregano today.
It's been a good week!
Dear Terri,
DeleteTrue cotton can become so thin that mending is a waste of time. You had good value by then though. I love new linen and nice linen so it is a kind of investment.
You did a great trade with-your daughter in law! That turned out rather well!
I think your fuel habit is a really good one. It can be so easy to avoid filling up as it is a bit of a pain but really we should keep the car filled up. I try to. I have been caught out and learned the hard way!
Well done on the dining chairs. And also on reviewing the food budget. So nice to have fresh oregano. One of my very favourite herbs I just love it! With much love, Annabel.xxx
What a lovely week you had. Your bags are so pretty. Do you use a stiffener and do you make square corners? Your ladder for your scares is such a clever idea! I am sure all the food you make for others is greatly appreciated! You have been busy potting up lavender. I want to try it also but have not got that far yet but trying to get my little courtyard planted. You will be super busy once those little lambs start arriving but oh how sweet and fun they are! The puppy we are getting will soon be 8 weeks old and we will go to pick her up May 28th. I will get even less done then but I will enjoy. Hope your next week is just as lovely for you. Nancy
ReplyDeleteDear Nancy,
DeleteHow exciting! Scout was 8 weeks old when we got her too. And best thing I ever did! I cannot say how wonderful it has been having her. The gift bags are just plain ones I buy in a bundle and pretty up. Otherwise I recycle store ones. You can make them using a light card and something like a cereal box to shape this around. I like the luxury store ones that you get when you buy something and everyone saves those for me too. I just cover the logo etc and make them over. I hope your new week is going well too. With love Annabel.xxx
Your gift bags came out darling ❤️❤️❤️
ReplyDeleteThank you Jes! xxx
DeleteYou had a great week Annabel! Especially with all that rain, what a wonderful blessing for you. God is good!
ReplyDeleteLove the lavender cuttings, I am going to try this when I find someone with lavender. I presume that this is the perfect time of year to do it, so I better get scouting.
Your bags look lovely and will make great gifts for someone special.
Love the front on pic of Laffy, she is so gorgeous!
I am just pottering along with not a real lot happening because Mum is so sick. My baby grand daughter {Tyra Anne} arrived a week ago today and everything went well with the birth. She is such a cutie and has brought some much needed joy into our lives.
Other than that, I have been helping out with meals for my parents and babysitting when needed for my daughter. I really must try and get back to making lists and plans because I am getting so far behind with things here.
I crocheted four more hats for Mum, and also some little face wipes for my daughter. Planted out baby spinach and beetroot seedlings. Potted up a passionfruit plant and placed in a good position. My garlic is poking up through the soil. Dug up Jerusalem artichokes and a huge sweet potato, harvested capsicum and rhubarb. I have been tidying up out in the veggie patch and preparing the beds for winter and spring. I have beetroot ready to pickle this coming week. Today I baked two loaves of sourdough bread, first time in ages.
As for rain, we have not had any...it is so dry here.
Blessings to you dear Annabel,
Love Tania xxx
Dear Tania,
DeleteYou have a green thumb so the Lavender should do well for you!
Congratulations on your new Grand daughter. It is wonderful she is here to add happiness and also that your Mum gets to welcome a new Great Grand Daughter.
You are doing well... dont be too hard on yourself. It is a lot helping both parents and children!
I really hope you get some rain. We have had some now but it was so late and slow to come we were quite desperate. Also the outlook became depressing. So I really hope you get it as it is a miracle when it comes, the difference it makes.
Praying for you Tania. with love Annabel.xxx
Yum! I love pumpkin soup! Your gift bags are adorable, and ready to go - I think I might start making them.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about this world, every day gets more unsettled.
Dear Kathy, Get everyone to save the store bags for you as you can cover the store brand logo and many of these are really good bags. I gave Mum a heap yesterday and now she is off the hook with some wrapping! She was pleased.
DeleteHave a very good new week. I am keeping my eye on things and trying to be productive. It makes me feel better! With love Annabel.xxx
Those precious, beautiful critters....they know their Mama.
ReplyDeleteLove your upcycled ladder idea for your scarves. The gift bags you've been making are just darling.
Yes, you will be busy when those lambs come :).
xxMary
Dear Mary, The first lambs have been born in surrounding farms. They look so beautiful. But not mine yet! I copied the ladder idea from a store where they looked so nice on a display. I hope your new week will be lovely. With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteLove the animals ❤️I appreciate seeing the beautiful gift bags too. No gas has been concerning.
ReplyDeleteDear Diana, Thank you so much. I hope you have gas in your area. Our news reported tonight some areas are good and some still have shortages. Hope all is ok where you are. With love, Annabel.xxx
DeleteThe pictures are beautiful. I love the gifts bags too, I am one that doesn’t like to wrap either.
ReplyDeleteLast year I had a small garden bed that did not do well. I had never worked that ground before. I put chickens in there and had wood shavings for their bedding. I planted some flowers around to draw in the bees. It worked , the plants are huge this time and I have so many veggies all ready.
We keep adding to our prep. I have a full freezer, but added a Butcher Box Subscription as well. Supply chains will be disrupted by all sorts of things this summer and I believe we will be on lockdown again soon as Flu season hits.
We have gas at home as well, but are looking into a tank to store it for our generator and vehicles.
Anything you can buy now will save you money later as many financial advisers expect Stagflation.
Lynd
Dear Lynd, Gift bags and gift boxes are your friend if you dont like wrapping. And they look nice too.
DeleteIt sounds like your chickens did a great job working the ground for you (and fertilising it!) so that is fantastic.
Tanks and fuel storage items became hard to get here. We ordered a fuel tank for the generator and have that now though. I never imagined a day when these kind of things could be in short supply! Mum had issues getting 4 tyres! In the end two came from different parts of Australia and one was the last available. It is not like she drives any kind of special or rare car either.
I think the Butcher subscription is a good idea. I have not heard of that but it is great. This will keep the freezer topped up. You are thinking ahead. Good job! With love Annabel.xxx
The pictures are beautiful. I love the gifts bags too, I am one that doesn’t like to wrap either.
ReplyDeleteLast year I had a small garden bed that did not do well. I had never worked that ground before. I put chickens in there and had wood shavings for their bedding. I planted some flowers around to draw in the bees. It worked , the plants are huge this time and I have so many veggies all ready.
We keep adding to our prep. I have a full freezer, but added a Butcher Box Subscription as well. Supply chains will be disrupted by all sorts of things this summer and I believe we will be on lockdown again soon as Flu season hits.
We have gas at home as well, but are looking into a tank to store it for our generator and vehicles.
Anything you can buy now will save you money later as many financial advisers expect Stagflation.
Lynd