Savings and Goals Journal #45

We’ve been busy with gardens and projects and family stuff, and trying to save a little money in between! Here’s what we’ve been up to lately:

In the Kitchen

Our newest grandchild arrived in early September. He’s a handsome one! I’ve been able to visit him several times and get all the snuggles.

Before he was born, our daughter came and stayed with us for two days. As a family, we created a huge batch of freezer meals for her to take home. It was so fun to all work together in the kitchen, and we were quite efficient. I wish I’d taken photos of all the stuff we made, but we were working hard!

Our garden has provided some wonderful produce. We ate some fresh, shared some and put some in the freezer. Grampy is great in the kitchen, and while I worked on my she-shed, he chopped and shredded and diced extra produce. We love our little mini-chopper. It’s awesome for dicing peppers and onions and zucchini. I am still liking cucumber limeade, so I froze some cucumber juice for later batches.

Some of the zucchini got a little large, but they were fine for shredding to use in bread and zucchini-potato hashrowns. One of my favorite ways to use smaller zucchini is to chop them and roast them with a little oil and herbs.

I was inspired after making freezer meals for our daughter, so I made a bunch for our freezer as well. It is such a help to not have to worry about dinner on days that I work for my stepmom. I’ll be doing a blog post later sharing the recipes I used. I love this time of year because I can make lots of soups, stews and chilis.

In the Garden

We were saying the other day that we are very happy with the changes we made in our garden spot (not rototilling in the spring, putting down wood chips and using drip irrigation.) Our garden is pretty much done for the year. We’ve had a freeze warning, but it didn’t actually freeze yet. We’ve picked almost everything. I always feel a little sad at the end of the gardening season.

I tried a different product on the squash bugs. It’s an organic insecticidal soap. It seems to have worked. The squash bugs became more plentiful as I missed a few days checking the plants. I sprayed all the little squash bugs I could find and there are fewer now. Also, if I found a leaf with a lot of little squash bugs on it, I cut it off and put in on the ground and stomped on them. 🙂

We did harvest our Canada crookneck squash. We haven’t cooked one yet. Some of the squash split. I’m not sure if that was due to uneven moisture from when it was raining or if that just happens. But the squash bugs pretty much ignored the plants, so that was nice.

The other new thing we tried were the Ajvarski peppers. They are delicious. Grampy roasts them like he does his green chile and they have a great flavor and no heat. They also don’t get mushy when you roast them, which I think is a good thing. We will definitely be planting them again next year.

Home and Family

Although one of my goals for 2021 was to finish projects inside our house, I mentioned in my last post that I’ve started a different project: a she-shed. The first step for this project was a major declutter, which I am still working on. We have taken many loads of things to the thrift store, Grampy has shared lots of stuff with people he works with, and we’ve sold a few larger items.

My goal to do this project for no money has changed slightly. I did purchase some wood and insulation to insulate the doors of the shed. I also found the perfect chair on Facebook Marketplace. It was a bit of a drive to go get it, but Grampy and I turned it into a day date. And I bought some trim and paint.

I’m looking forward to having a pretty and peaceful space to spend time.

Another thing that has kept me busy is that I have started the seasonal work I do for the small business my dad and stepmom started. I will work quite a bit for a while, stocking up the inventory for the winter season. Then I will only need to replenish the inventory as it is sold. The nice thing is that I can walk to work, since it’s right next door! And I can make my own schedule. I will be happy to have the little bit of extra money to put toward my home improvement projects. I have big plans! 🙂