Lady Henevere: Year in review

[snapshot]

I heard about your winds on the news. They are probably getting hit in Quartzsite too. I hope things work out well for your SIL. Glad to see you back!!! Where did you travel to? You probably said in earlier posts that I missed.

 

[Lady Henevere]

No, I didn't say. We traveled to the rockies to visit friends over Thanksgiving, which was fun. It was the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've ever had, since my friend and the friend's mom did all the cooking and wouldn't let anyone help. We went skiing and played in the snow while we were there too, which was great.

Some areas around here were pretty heavily damaged by the wind -- lots of trees down, lots of power outages, roads and schools closed, etc. We were lucky to not have had it too bad here; a few miles east it was much worse.

snapshot, I'm glad you posted on the RV thread, I was about to jump in there and recommend they take a look at your journal.

 

[snapshot]

Glad I did not miss reading about your traveling! I like the Rockies but I love the Smokey Mtns.!!!! I am so excited to stop traveling! Another turn in the road!!!!!! Glad you had a relaxing Thanksgiving!!!!

 

[Lady Henevere]

As the calendar year comes to a close, I decided to look back at what I have done this year with respect to my SS stuff. Here's what I found in my journal:

Edibles:
~I made a couple of batches of kombucha starting from a store-bought bottle
~I made ghee for the first time
~I made a lot of yogurt
~I made cottage cheese that wasn't very good
~I made and canned veggie broth

Garden:
~The peach tree produced a ton -- but they all got stolen
~The cinnamon spice apple tree produced two small apples; the others didn't produce...yet
~No grapes, plums, pluots, pears, or figs...yet. All fruit trees are still alive.
~Not many blueberries (the plants were moved mid year)
~The boysenberries flourished; the raspberries didn't
~I bought WAY too much hay for the chicken run/mulch (eight bales = too much) -- but now it's all composted down to almost nothing
~I chopped-and-dropped some nitrogen-fixing cover crops, but my soil still lacked nitrogen
~Only one zucchini plant thrived; none of the pumpkins grew
~Lost one artichoke to something that tunnels (gopher? mole? vole?); the other is still alive but hasn't produced...yet
~Lost one brussels sprouts plant to gray bugs (aphids?); the other is still alive
~Grew ginger, mint, and potatoes from farmers' market purchases

Other:
~I made blender soap for the first time
~I tried no-poo (no shampoo) by substituting baking soda and ACV, and decided it was too drying
~I made an olive oil lamp and learned that olive oil burns nicely without being a major fire hazard
~I raised an extra kid for half a year

Animals:
~I lost one chicken to a predator, and one rabbit to old age

That's it for me...for now.

I wish you all peace and happiness for 2012 and beyond.