homestead update

With all this beautiful summer weather who has time to sit in front of a computer! Not I! But I thought I might take a moment and catch all my loyal readers (um, to date none) up on the happenings of us.

Weather has been hot hot and the garden is doing awesome. We have some japanese beetles and I am going to have to do something about that soon. Corn is tall, blueberrys are plentiful and everything else is trucking along nicely.

The waterbarrel has yet to be used for watering, as I am still nervous about what was in the barrel, but I have been using it to wash dirty hands and feet after gardening and that has worked out really well.

The yard is doing great, we have all of our wood for the winter now, just have to stack it all and fashion a better wall around the wood shed. We are currently on the hunt for some reinforced plastic, tarps just didnt cut it last winter.

Lastly, I've been doing a bunch around the house and things are looking great. New (to us) couch and love seat, lots of weeding out the old and re organizing. I've been repurposing tons of stuff. We also have drastically cut down on waste and expenses by making our own household cleaners and laundry detergent and using alot more rags and less papertowels. I have never been a paper plate person, so our new dishes from the wedding are being used all the time!

Lastly, our new food plan. I work 45 hours a week and commute 10. So when I get home, I want the high heels off, the wine in a glass and dinner to be quick. I love to cook, but by 6 I am done for the day. I've been finding myself running around in circles when I get home, especailly if I have not planned ahead. So we are trying a new way. I do big shopping every 10 days or so. Then I make a list of all of the meals we can make with what I bought and what we have on hand. If this works right, I have atleast 10 meals. I post this list on the fridge. Whomever gets home first, picks a dinner off of the list and starts it up. No fumbling for an idea, no "oh no we dont have that!". Its all there and its ready. And I am efficiently using what is in the cuboard- I buy less because I am putting my pantry to work. It has been a life saver and my husband loves it! He's made dinner 3 times now!

anyway, thats whats new. Hope all is well in your corner of the world!