Independance Day - Oct 25

1. Plant something – nothing.

2. Harvest something – Nothing.

3. Preserve something – Drying banana chips as we speak. Will soon be making banana bread with the pieces pretty enough to eat but not to dry. Have local turnips that need drying as well.

4. Reduce waste – Regular recycling and eating of leftovers. Still playing heater-chicken, made much easier by the fact we just had a week of 70's and it hasn't gone below 50's during the day yet. I guess being in an apartment helps; thermostat say's it's 70's in here.

5. Preparation and Storage – re-did most of the craft stash storage. I now know where things are LOL.

6. Build Community Food Systems – went to farmers market.

7. Eat the Food – Regular eating from pantry. Using the farmer market as primary store. Still trying to figure out how to store 4 months of food for when they're closed for winter. Fresh broccoli for dinner. Eating one chicken a week and looking for leftover recipes. Eating egg salad sandwiches for lunch - eggs are local, lunch meat isn't.

8. Crafting – First sock for class is just past the heel. I haven't done other crafts this week.

Autumn Quiet ?

There is so much I want to do this fall, and I’ve no idea how I’ll find the time.

I want to preserve more for winter – root vegetables dried to chunks and flakes for cooking; making dried soup recipes for slow-cooking on lazy winter days. I want to knit socks, and a comfy sweater with that wonderful wool I found; I want to knit the sontag with the yarn I will spin from the wool roving I have. I want to stitch up some of the clothes I’ve thought of, and crochet snuggle-beds for the kitties. I want to become familiar with my loom and learn it’s song.

I want to work on the cross-stitch projects I have, and embroider pillows for us; I want to make an “Irish Maple Leaf” quilt for our bed; to make another fabric lunch sack and more fabric napkins.

I want to reduce the Pile of stuff that I have stored (and it is me, not him, that has all of this stuff). And I want to do it this winter, as we get into the storage for winter decorations, and we’re digging through it anyway – I want to pull it all out and have half as much, if that, going back in. Some of the items we already know are leaving and it’s just a matter of getting to them, so that they can be given away (including two of the largest!).

Hopefully this weekend we can start to get into the Pile and start filtering. The sock-knitting class starts soon, too. And once I get the drop spindle, I can start spinning the roving for the sontag.

Fall is here, winter is coming. Time for drawing close to the hearth, and working winter’s crafts while we talk and enjoy the company of those we love.

Independance Day Update, Week 4

1. Plant something – nothing

2. Harvest something – nothing.

3. Preserve something – Canned Bread & Butter pickles. Finished drying red bell peppers, still working on a full stock of green peppers.

4. Reduce waste – Regular saved fabric scraps & recycled.

5. Preparation and Storage – found another clamp-shut glass storage container at the thrift store.

6. Build Community Food Systems – Visited newest farmers market, bought flowers, meat, & veggies.

7. Eat the Food – Steamed squash for dinner, homemade applesauce, homemade blueberry breakfast bars.

8. Crafting – Cross-stitch. Finished a bit of spinning, knitted it up into a swatch to see what it would look like, and now I'm planning what to use it for when I do finish spinning it.

Welcome!

I'm starting this blog because I have not seen much, if any, information about homesteading in an apartment - there are a lot of great sites out there, but everyone seems to have yards or livestock. I have a shady balcony - great for catching breezes, not so much for catching sun with tomato plants.

I do a lot of crafting as well as cooking from scratch and using natural cleaners. Right now I'm learning to can food and knit. My guideline is "what would I do without electric?" or "what would I do if I couldn't drive to X?" It does lead to creativity!

I'm new at blogging, so comments and feed back are always welcome.

Thanks for stopping by!