Thinking Outside The Box About Retirement- Five Ways to Prep for Retirement That Don't Include a Bank Account

 

Thinking Outside The Box About Retirement- Five Ways to Prep for Retirement That Don't Include a Bank Account -

When I am thinking about when I can "retire" I think about a lot of things besides money. When I saw this blog post, by one of my favorite bloggers, I knew I had to share it!!! Please read and let me know what you think? She sums it all up quite nicely. Thanks Wendy!!!  Five Ways to Prep for Retirement that Don't Include a Bank Account    (link fixed)

Waiting on Eggs, Spring Around The Corner? New Chairs! Happy Valentine's Day

 

Waiting on Eggs- 

My three lovely hens have been on strike since October or so. No eggs, nothing, nada. This is normal in the shorter months of the year and when they are molting. I decided that even though the days are longer to start turning on a regular light in the coop for an extra two/three hours a day. I'm also giving them some extra protein treats in hope that this will stimulate their hormones to start laying eggs. I told them the other day they need to start earning their keep! So far nothing, but I'm sure the eggs will start popping out soon!

 

Miss Sunny
 

 

Spring Around The Corner?

Spring is around the corner, and Dave has started doing a little pruning here and there. Then we got an inch or so of snow last night! Very icy drive to work, but pretty! All roads melted by the afternoon-

 

Our apple tree survived the winter snap we had in October!!! Happy dance!  We've seen a lot of trees that don't drop all their leaves die from this kind of thing. Food prices being what they are we are looking at adding some beds in the front yard for annual vegetables. We wanted to look nice so we will do some kind of integrated landscaping with it. We always try to remember that our neighbors have to look at our yard every day and curb appeal is a great part of being a good neighbor! Nobody wants to look at a junked front yard. I have seen some people who put gardens in their front yard that are pretty untidy and look just messy. We like to have things like natural but organized. Too early to plant the summer vegetables so I may start up my grow lights and start some other cool weather veggies. I bought a small windowsill planter to start some lettuces in...

 

 

 

 

 

Bonnie approved

 New Chairs! 

We decided to bite the bullet and buy two new chairs for our living room. We had had our two other overstuffed chairs for almost 15 years. I had re-stuffed them, added foam and bought new covers. They were just at the point though of really sagging, so it was time to replace. We wanted to buy two Flexsteel chairs but it was just way out of our budget. We love our Flexsteel couch, worht every penny! We opted for a brand that was a little below that but super durable frame, etc. We found a style that we liked, chose the fabric and ordered two of them. They were supposed to take up to about 3 months but only took about 5 weeks! Nice surprise. They're really super supportive and really like the slightly smaller footprint and clean lines. Great reading chairs. In a smaller house you don't want to have too much furniture in your living room. That can make it look even smaller. It's always nice to have some open space for the eye. We opted to spend extra money to have a fabric treatment done. We did that on our couch and it's really paid for itself. Even if you get something a little oily on the fabric a wet clean cold cloth will take it right off. Good investment! We are thinking about having our couch reupholstered at some point to update it a bit. For now we'll leave as is, but we will probably have to get new foam cores in the cushions since they are getting a little squishy. The store we bought the couch at recommended that and that makes sense after 10 years or so.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

 

 

 

September National Preparedness Month/Is This Redundant? Autumn's Almost Here

 

September National Preparedness Month/Is This Redundant?

On some level I almost don't feel like even posting this. But since it is National Preparedness Month I thought I'd add just a good few reminders and links... Ready.gov Be Informed   Redcross.org Emergency Preparedness Checklist  You can check out my previous posts on this topic under the "topics" tab on the right side. Don't forget to prep for your pets!!! Ready.gov Pets

If you've been watching the national and international news you know that there have been major catastrophic crop failures, livestock failures, floods, fires, fuel shut offs, war, it's the perfect storm. Everyone should be really preparing for food shortages, exorbitant fuel charges and/or shortages. This news is from this week, time to stock up and maybe buy a turkey for the holidays-

Ohio Egg Farm Euthanizes 3 Million Chickens

 I recently came into a small amount of money and instead of putting it into my retirement account I cashed it out to buy hard goods. I bought about 6 months worth of chicken feed (now $25 a bag up from $12.99 a while back) to get us all the way through the winter and more pine shavings for the coop. Ditto for the cat food. I also bought more things to stash like OTC meds.  I saw a really great deal for a Food Saver vacuum system at Costco for only $75! It came with a starter kit of bags, a really great deal! My old pressure bag system was on its way out, not a surprise since it was pretty cheap. It's good to invest in those kind of food preservation items. I have had ZERO freezer burn with those bags!!! I felt it was a better $ investment than sitting gathering little to no interest for a while. In some ways I feel like cashing it all out and doing something different but I am hopeful that I will still be able to retire someday. If you've seen anything lately about people's thermostats getting locked up by the utilities- I think this is a preview of things to come. I know our local power company asked us to voluntarily sign up to have our power lowered during the hottest part of the summer days. In return they would give us a little bit of money at the end of the summer. We passed. We try to be conscious of our energy and water use. We do a lot of mulching, planting trees on our lot, but we still use/need the AC.  Having said that fuel charges are looking really gruesome in Europe. I think this is also a preview of things to come in the states. I bought some flannel sheets to stash and we have tons of bedding, kerosene and propane heaters. Some people still think that nothing will change, they may have something called normalcy bias. Everything will be fine because it always has been. 

From Wiki- Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a cognitive bias which leads people to disbelieve or minimize threat warnings. Consequently, individuals underestimate the likelihood of a disaster, when it might affect them, and its potential adverse effects. The normalcy bias causes many people to not adequately prepare for natural disasters, market crashes, and calamities caused by human error. About 70% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster. The normalcy bias can manifest in response to warnings about disasters and actual catastrophes. Such disasters include market crashes, motor vehicle accidents, natural disasters like a tsunami, and war. Normalcy bias has also been called analysis paralysis, the ostrich effect, and by first responders, the negative panic. The opposite of normalcy bias is overreaction, or worst-case scenario bias, in which small deviations from normality are dealt with as signals of an impending catastrophe.

A classic example was Ukraine. People were warned to leave, Russia was surrounding the country for months and months, and most stayed. They really never thought Russia would invade, despite the obvious signs. The very wealthy never worry either. I heard this quote two days ago and it really stuck with me-

People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right- John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian Economist.

Autumn's Almost Here-

We have been under a Heat Dome like a lot of the West the last few months, with many many weeks and weeks of over 100° weather. It's been very smoky here the last week with multiple fires in Eastern Oregon and here in Idaho. We definitely had a much smaller crop of tomatoes, but green ones are still on the vine. Tomatoes won't set fruit when it's over 80 or 85°. I don't have enough to can this year but will freeze some. I already made some wonderful salsa. Not many apples at all, luckily I canned a lot and froze some last year! Lots of pears on the tree, probably ready to can next weekend. We hit our 43° morning yesterday! Finally getting down into the 80s this week and the 70s late next week. May be some rain, which we desperately need. We're fortunate we had plenty of water for crops and our animals, some are not so lucky. We'll be stashing some mulch and other gardening needs for next year. Those things are easy to store. I'm packing up the summer decor and almost ready to put out pumpkins! 

Costco Shortages/ Prepping Deals! Harvest Time, 2023 Winter Forecast?

Costco Shortages/ Prepping Deals!

We're still in the 100s/upper 90's and the heat dome will be moving on soon. It's been a cooker! I am very grateful that we have air conditioning and well air-conditioned workplaces. I feel sorry for some of my co-workers who don't have central air. I grew up in Southern California, never had air conditioning though and we survived. Just keeping everything well-watered has been a daily project. We have mulched even more this summer. The chickens are doing well but are not laying as much as usual. They just get over heated, nature's response. We're making sure they have plenty of water, cool treats, they have already lots of shade, and keep wetting things down. Was 55 this week which was a nice change and days getting shorter! I made a nice summer dinner this weekend, spicy fried chicken (great cold!), potato salad, fresh homegrown organic tomatoes and green onions. Yum! 

We went to Costco recently and they were out of their famous apple pies. NO APPLE PIES! Staff told us they were out of apples. Dave mentioned that this last spring a huge apple storage facility in Washington state was hit with ants. They lost their entire facility. Good reminder to not assume anything nowadays with perfect storm of supply issues. The good news is they had bags of unbleached bread flour $9 for 25 lbs. Since I've started making homemade bread regularly, I bought one bag and then went back and bought two more. It's Turkey Brand from Lehi Mills in Utah-

           25 Lbs for $8.99!

 

I also bought more local honey, a bottle of vanilla, raisins, not only for winter baking but just food in general. Our summer garden has finally kicked in! 

The "before" picture-

After-

Cukes, kale and collard green

Tomatoes

Peppers and tomatoes

Strawberries still alive!

A pot of color on the deck

As far as harvesting we're getting a regular supply of blackberries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, Kale and Collard greens. We also harvested all of our peaches! I canned about 12 quarts, froze about five and we have more in the kitchen that are ripening. Most of those I will probably bake with soon or eat fresh. If that's too many I will freeze the rest. I love the Red Haven variety, amazing color and flavor-

Liquid sunshine! 

Ready for winter

Rack ready for canned pears soon!

Ripening in the kitchen, or squirrels will eat!

Nice pears soon and lots of them! 

From Farmersalmanac.com

2023 Winter Forecast?

Interesting forecast! Any signs of Autumn in your next of the woods???

Homesteading Thrifting Finds/Pressure Canning, Veggie Garden Growing! My Eton Mess, RIP Rosie

Homesteading Thrifting Finds/Pressure Canning-

Here's an update of some things that we've been doing here! My thrift store radar was pinging the other day, I went to Goodwill, came around the corner and saw something I have been thinking about buying new. With the price of wheat going up and up and no end in sight in the future, I had thought about buying a bread machine. Since I work full time I thought it would be nice to buy a machine where I could just dump everything in and have a loaf of bread! You can also use it to make a lot of different kinds of doughs for other purposes as well. I really just didn't want to spend the money on it. So I went thrifting and what did I find? A Breadman Ultimate bread making machine! For a whopping $10.00! I love the fact that loaf goes sideways and is not shaped like a square- 

I plugged it in at the thrift store, the power came on, looks like it's been very well taken care of and hardly used. It even came with the owner's manual and the recipe book! I wiped it down, washed it and it almost looks brand new. Will give it a test run this weekend. While I love Dave's Killer Bread, and a few of the other whole grain breads, it's just getting too expensive. I really loaded up on flours the last eight months, as well as wheat berries. So I can definitely make bread a lot cheaper than I can buy it. And fresher too!  I also found a really nice big heavy class Anchor Hocking storage jar. Like new as well! $4.00. 

I did some research on how to dehydrate eggs, since we have our own, and turn into egg powder. Egg powder will take up a lot less space than freezing eggs in our freezer. I'm also trying to move away from relying on our freezer in case we have brown outs/blackouts in the next 6 months and ongoing. After doing research I realized that I could use my existing dehydrator I just needed to buy some food grade silicone liner trays. I found a good deal on Amazon, $14.00 for four, and they fit perfect! I may also make some fruit leathers for the grandkids- 

Basically you do about 8 to 10 eggs at a time, blended, and dehydrate at 140° until completely dry. I think I read that can take about 10 to 12 hours or more. I will be doing that shortly since we have almost six dozen eggs! Will fire it up this weekend and post results. 

I've been doing some research for a while and decided to start doing pressure canning. For a long time there was a lot in the media about NOT being able to use a glass top stove. After I did a lot of research I realized that you can, however you have to make sure about the weight, the size of the burner, and the canner. After doing research I decided to buy a Presto 16 quart pressure canner. It will be a good smaller size for us. I did research on my stove top and how big the canner would be. I was really excited to see that the thick round part of the canner bottom fits exactly my large burner, perfect-

This was something that I saw lots of places is really mandatory. There's also weight limit on most glass top stove of about 50 lbs so I didn't want to get a huge canner. I was really excited when it arrived it fits perfect! I will not be dragging across the glass either, and was advised to only have the one pot on the stove at a time. Best be careful! Looking forward to canning meat, beans, soups and veggies! Will post more of that over time. 

Veggie Garden Growing!

After all the crazy weather we finally got our vegetable garden planted and cleared off our deck! There were so many pots and plants on the deck for so many weeks I couldn't even see what the deck look like underneath it all! 4th of July weekend we made a push on Sunday and Dave and I laid out all the veggies and strawberries. He planted all of that while I was able to plant up all the herbs, flowers and some of the perennials. I can finally see my deck again! 

Sorry about that thumb

We have a really nice mix of vegetables this year and we're very fortunate found some really good deals. With my job change and other craziness I was never able to start any seeds in our grow light plant rack. We have planted several kinds of tomatoes, two kinds of cucumbers, collard greens, curly kale , three or four kinds of peppers, some small refrigerator size watermelon, yellow squash, and something else I'm probably forgetting! 

Mound garden this year, gorgeous from all the rain! 

flowers near the veggie gate

lots of veggies! 

New strawberry row, will add more next year

Luna peeking out behind the gate

Lots of thornless blackberries! 

Lavender to harvest, I leave 30% or more for the bees

White lavender

Small watermelon, my 1st!

We mulched everything really well and my herbs really took off in this hot weather! Now we're finally into the part of just watering and keeping an eye on everything. We're finally in the mid-90s and this will probably be the norm for a while. I think the rain is finally over! Need to mulch the strawberries a lot more, taking a beating in the heat! 

My Eton Mess-

I read about a traditional Eton Mess, a British dessert and decided to try it! Jamie Oliver did something pretty similar. Eton Mess is a traditional British summertime dessert of gooey meringue, sweet strawberries and rich cream in a generous sticky mess. Here's what I did- crushed about 3/4 cup fresh strawberries and 1/2 cup fresh blueberries. I used a potato masher, added a few Tbl of sugar and left on the counter to get the juices going. I bought some Trader Joe's meringue cookies (not baking a huge one for two people) then whipped some heavy whipping cream. I used our medium drinking glasses. I started with the slushy juicy berries, then add the cookies (cut in 1/2), then the whipping cream. Keep layering. Last fresh plain berries on top, added a cookie on top. That's it! I loved it!!! 

RIP Rosie-

Rosie was our wonderful Rhode Island Red hen that we had for about almost 10 years. She'd been through her trials and tribulations over the years. Several months ago she started limping really badly and had to use one of her wings on one side to be able to walk. She kept doing pretty well was eating, drinking and hanging out with the rest of the flock. I couldn't really tell what had happened. I did read chickens can have strokes, maybe that was it? I examined her but couldn't figure anything out. Over time she started eating less and less and resting more. I couldn't bring myself to euthanize her because I'd had her for so long. So I kept her comfortable. I made sure she always got treats 2xs a day, water, was clean and would take her from the nesting box at night where she slept, down into the main part of the garden. Depending on the weather would be in, or out, of the coop. She enjoyed being with her pals. Finally last week I could tell she was ready to go. I brought her in, she sat next to me in a nice laundry basket on a big fluffy towel-

It was nice and cool. She only lasted about an hour after I brought her in. She had a really good life, she ate lots of bugs and weeds and laid wonderful eggs. I like to think that she's on the other side now with her chicken friends who preceded her. We'll miss you Rosie! She was a real trooper and the mother/protector of her flock. She had quite the personality! RIP my sweet girl. Last summer with her flock-