Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: July 3 ~ 9, 2022

Good Morning, All! It's a lovely morning here - the humidity is high, but it's a cool 60 degrees right now and clear as a bell, so I am enjoying having the kitchen door open open and listening to the birds chirping in the grape vine on the porch. Mama Wren especially has a lot to say this morning The stray kitty is busy eating breakfast right now, so maybe that is what has her dander up! I'm looking across the the road at the neighbor's soy bean field - there is a doe having breakfast fairly close to the road, maybe 4 rows in; and a Mama doe with what appears to be twin fawns a bit farther out. When I was out hanging the hummingbird feeders out, the garden appeared to be damp - it was dry enough for the cousins to come down to mow and spray the fields yesterday, so I went out to check to see if we'd gotten more rain, but it must have just been a heavy dew.

We did get a half inch of rain during the early morning hours on Saturday - I usually don't leave the unit on my 15 minute breaks but I was in a patient room and saw that it was raining, so told my co-workers I was leaving the unit on my break and snuck out and down to the main floor to go outside to stand under one of the door canopies to breathe in the cool, moist, fresh air - it felt so nice!!

I somehow managed to have three nights off work over the 4th of July weekend, which started yesterday morning - in spite of a co-worker testing positive (drug store test) for Covid on the last day of her 12 day vacation stretch, and thus getting another 5 days off work (more if she's symptomatic.) I guess I shouldn't have rolled my eyes when I took the call from the house supervisor on Tuesday morning - but I wasn't the only one after I repeated it out loud as I was writing it down for the boss. One of my day shift co-workers tried to get a pool going on if she'd be back on the 4th but I told him it was a sucker bet I didn't hear if they called her in for a test at work, so I'll be waiting for the Obi-wan call on Monday night.

I stopped by the Evil Empire after I got off work in hopes of finding chicken thighs and hit the jackpot as the chicken area was very well stocked - I was able to buy three 4 to 5 pound packages without making much of a dent in the stock that had been put out. The packages were frozen, and the chicken area had been nearly empty when I'd stopped to check on my way home from work the other mornings, so it made me wonder if they hadn't been holding some of the meat in freezers so they would have stock for the holiday weekend. The chicken is currently resting in a cooler full of ice - I knew I was too tired yesterday morning to safely do much of anything with them, and wasn't up to fridge re-arranging after I got home from work so packed two 22# bags of ice around them and called it good. I dug down in to the ice today and they are still frozen, so I have a bit more time to decide what I'll do with them, and when I'll do it. I've got enough cat chicken cooked for another day or two, so it isn't anything I need to rush to do.

I took a nap for a few hours after I got home from work and shopping yesterday; woke up to the sound of tractors, and then just spent most of the rest of the day resting and reading - Big Thank You to Pac and Kathy for the new chapters! I guess I'll need to be more productive today. Once it dries up a bit, I'm going to ask Hubby to put in the posts for the green pole beans in the back garden. I know I don't have enough cut pieces of re-wire to go the full width of the garden, but I do have a little bit still rolled up, so will have to see how far it will stretch - and then figure out what to use for the rest of it. I could probably start with the re-wire fencing on each side of the garden, then run clothesline wire or maybe a 2x4 to cover any open area in between, using baling twine tied at the top and bottom for the beans to climb - reckon I'll have to see...

After I get done getting the pole beans fixed up, I need to sort more canning jars from the shed - I'm not sure where Hubby found them - maybe the attic of the shed - but he did come up with more apple crates, so I will sort enough jars to fill them up. I need to staple an index card to the top crate in each stack with the type of jar - wide mouth or regular mouth. They are pretty much all quart jars, though I did see some half gallon jars scattered here and there - may be more as the boxes are stacked about 4 high. The half gallon jars I saw were all the older, narrow mouth type, so pretty much only good for juice, or storing things as I can't get my arm in the jar clear to the bottom, and they are too tall to fit my All American canner.

Well, Hubby is up and moving around, so I reckon I'll post this and then start a list of what all I want to get done today. You folks all take care out there - stay safe!!

Renee, I've got a pair of extra long tongs that came with a now defunct BBQ grill --- they're what I use to clean out or reach into those extra tall jars. That might work for you as well.

We had a good time visiting with Mom, yesterday. We took her to the memorial garden where Dad and my sister are buried, and visited their gravesites. Mom had placed a really nice floral arrangement on Dad's site, and I paid her for it, since I forgot to do it Father's Day. She got a kick out of seeing my canned ground beef. She thought the pint jar was so cute, LOL! I think she wanted it, but made me bring it back home with me. She made fun of the "ugly" tomatoes I took her! I told her all of them were that way. She thinks something must be wrong with the plants, cause she had never seen tomatoes this ugly before. They are really deformed, but taste good.

The second planting of squash and cucumbers are up and doing really well! The volunteer tomatoes are, too. They should be blooming soon if they are going to. I told Cary this morning that we may have just found a nice spot in our yard to do the "back to Eden" gardening from now on. Everything there is so lush and green from all the brown water from the washing machine and dishwater. It's also in partial shade from the scalding sun. Years and years ago, this spot was the hog pen for the couple who owned the place, before we did. Of course, we cleared it all out and made it a nice part of our backyard. I'm hoping everything growing there does well. The poke salad, wild lettuce, and plantain does really well there.

No home fellowship, today. DS is in the process of putting up a security fence all along his property line. He has a 4 day weekend, and is trying to get it finished while he's off. They wanted to pass on coming over, so he could work on it. We cancelled it for this week.

Our plans are to go to small town on Wednesday to do regular grocery shopping, and on Thursday, go to big town for Sam's and other store shopping. We're limiting our in-store Sam's and big town shopping to once a month, unless we have doctor's appointments there.

Have a great week, Everyone!

I also wanted to add that we are going back into triple digit temps with no rain in our forecast all week! The humidity will also be a big factor in the heat. We need a small tropical system to come this way. We are already in a moderate drought according to our local weatherman.

Thank you, Marseydoats! I'll check the utensil box in the store room and see if I have a long pair of tongs otherwise I'll go buy a pair!


I found a recipe on line for Brown Sugar and gave it a try this morning - I did have to add a bit more white sugar than it called for, but it is pretty humid this morning:
Brown Sugar
2 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tablespoons molasses

I used a food processor to blend the two together, but I think if you make a well in the bowl of white sugar to put the molasses in and cover it with a bit more white sugar before you start stirring, it could be done easy enough by hand. I'd probably use a metal spoon over a wooden one.

I think we got 1/2 inch rain too. We needed it badly. It almost filled one of DH's ICB totes that runs off the house. He used that water to fill his water wagon tote, but unfortunately it had a leak and it all leaked out. The other ICB totes are looking kind of empty.

Hard to believe its July 3rd already. I got up hurting all over so I had to take a pain pill. I'm very careful of not taking them very often.

I may or may not go to wm today, it's probably going to be crowded. I've got a small list, but nothing that we really have to have.

Looks like I have a UTI, frequent and painful. Hopefully my primary care will mail me some meds for it. I've started taking the Manganese stuff and I have cranberry capsules too.

Marseydoats said:

Renee, I've got a pair of extra long tongs that came with a now defunct BBQ grill --- they're what I use to clean out or reach into those extra tall jars. That might work for you as well.

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You can also find a carboy cleaner brush at places that sell winemaking equipment ...

Summerthyme

Okay - on my “to do” for this week will be to buy two more 40 pound bags of dog food. I believe we have opened two since I last purchased, and so I’m only replacing not adding to the stash.

We had a thunderstorm yesterday morning and over 5 hrs we got 4 inches of rain. I swear the peas were covered in new blooms before the rain even stopped.

briches said:

Okay - on my “to do” for this week will be to buy two more 40 pound bags of dog food. I believe we have opened two since I last purchased, and so I’m only replacing not adding to the stash.

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Okay, dog food ordered from chewy. Not sure why the “feeling” of the need to continue to put things together and in order, but I’m sticking with it.
I put the dog food on auto ship which saved 5% and will help be an automatic reminder to order two more bags in four weeks (which will help to build). My goal is to keep at least six months worth of food for the fur kids at all times.

I think my next goal this week is to learn about some easy hydroponic systems to try to grow lettuce. I saved a YouTube video on growing lettuce from gallon milk jugs.

Slow and steady ….

I see lots of canning in my future for the week ahead, but I'm so thankful for the bounty God has blessed us with!

I canned 6 pints of pork and 4 pints of stew beef. Put away a bunch of stuff that had been accumulating over the past months. Have a bunch of stuff to vacuum seal and put away--my project for later today. Filled up some empty gatorade bottles with water and stored them in the garage. Working on a Chewy's order to go out this week.

prudentwatcher said:

I canned 6 pints of pork and 4 pints of stew beef. Put away a bunch of stuff that had been accumulating over the past months. Have a bunch of stuff to vacuum seal and put away--my project for later today. Filled up some empty gatorade bottles with water and stored them in the garage. Working on a Chewy's order to go out this week.

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I use to buy bottled water from a company called Kentwood water, Their bottles are a heavier plastic than anything we buy now. I kept a large bag of them, Dh tried throwing them out in the past, but they are safely in my she shed. As much as I loathe the idea of drinking water from the faucet, also known as sink water. I may get that bag out and fill those bottles up. Now where to store them, absolutely no place in the house or really the she shed.

Even though rain wasn't in our forecast for today, we just got a really good shower! Rained hard for about 30 mins. Filled up all our buckets, tubs, barrels, and tank, again.........The humidity went so high, I think it couldn't help but rain. What a relief. Now, Cary can burn the paper garbage, without it causing a wildfire.......

Be careful ordering from Chewy. I received a box full of cat food. Opened it up an hour after it arrived. I was shocked to see that they had shorted me a box of 40 wet Friskies cat food cans. I called their customer service and was told that Chewy was out of it. I told them a) they charged me for all the boxes(3), b) all the emails said I was getting the food including the receipt in the box.

I asked them if they were experiencing fraud in their warehouses.
I also told the customer service person that previously when I ordered, it was not uncommon to be notified then that they were out of something. No problem, just order something else or cancel the order.

So, I was up graded to a supervisor.
Got the same song and dance. Asked about fraud since all the correspondence said I was getting the order I placed. I told him that was the first time Chewy had charged me for something they didn't send or notify me that they were out.
I asked about fraud again, and then he was promising me 4 replacement boxes at no charge. Now it remains to be seen if I get anything. However, the mention of fraud seemed to frazzle the Supervisor. Just saying??

Good to know. I have ordered from them in the past, but it’s been several years. I’ve heard they usually have good customer service. I normally order from Amazon, but they’ve been out for awhile now. Tractor supply has it, but it’s easier to order online. If it doesn’t come from chewy, I’ll get it this week from a tractor supply.

Have been invited to a cookout tomorrow - I'll see what I feel like. This weekend has been kinda rough - I'm very very tired and don't want to eat. Tuesday is my LAST radiation treatment, then Wednesday I have PT and speech. Everything else depends on how I feel.

moldy said:

Have been invited to a cookout tomorrow - I'll see what I feel like. This weekend has been kinda rough - I'm very very tired and don't want to eat. Tuesday is my LAST radiation treatment, then Wednesday I have PT and speech. Everything else depends on how I feel.

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Moldy - you continue to be in my prayers!

moldy said:

Have been invited to a cookout tomorrow - I'll see what I feel like. This weekend has been kinda rough - I'm very very tired and don't want to eat. Tuesday is my LAST radiation treatment, then Wednesday I have PT and speech. Everything else depends on how I feel.

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Praying for strength for you!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keBrqbuNzCI


Patriot Nurse. Nutrition on a budget, RT 24:48.

skwentnaflyer said:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keBrqbuNzCI


Patriot Nurse. Nutrition on a budget, RT 24:48.

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I started to watch that but as usual utube buffers so much that I give up. What I did see was certainly healthy, but what the hay if you can't find the produce. I like her though and feel like shes right on track with what she's talking about.

We have nothing planned for today. I'm not looking forward to all the neighbors down the road shooting off fireworks all night. It really scares our dog, and I can't stand for him to be upset. We'll probably watch movies all night to try and drown out all the noise. I would grill something, but with triple digit heat, I don't think so.......We'll probably have leftovers from last night.

That rain we got yesterday sure did bring out the blooms on our beans! They are loaded in blooms this morning, and the things are going crazy with growth. They remind me of running kudzu! I told Cary this morning that we have found a great place to grow pole beans from now on. Thank you, Summerthyme! I'm still amazed at the little spot in our backyard with the volunteer tomatoes. The cukes and squash are amazing, too. We've been living here for 40 yrs. and just now finding out that this one spot in our backyard is ideal for "back to eden" gardening! Since this spot is in the far back corner, our fence is ideal for the cukes to run on.

We've changed our minds about going shopping, Wednesday. We're going tomorrow, instead. I'm completely out of yogurt, lettuce, and bread. Gotta have that bread and lettuce for the BLT's, and we're both addicted to yogurt, LOL.

Happy 4th, Everyone!

cooking ribs for today, I was going to make potato salad and baked beans. The beans are easy and there will probably be no potato salad.

Fortunately we are too isolated to hear any fireworks. I never like them. Natchitoches is probably having them along the river, but it would be something for me to avoid.

nomifyle said:

cooking ribs for today, I was going to make potato salad and baked beans. The beans are easy and there will probably be no potato salad.

Fortunately we are too isolated to hear any fireworks. I never like them. Natchitoches is probably having them along the river, but it would be something for me to avoid.

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All the people that live on our road are scattered far apart, and are older folks like us with no kids. One older couple that is nearest to us has grandkids that come over on holidays and shoot fireworks. No doubt, they will, tonight, too.

I made a big batch of Rotel Chicken for our supper last night. That's what we'll have again, tonight. It makes a huge pot for just me and Cary.

Middle grandson didn't want to get out of bed to go to the parade today, so it was just Papaw, youngest grandson and myself. Hot. Lord have Mercy - it was HOT! Heat index of 98*F. It was so hot and humid that grandson barely went after the candy that was thrown - he did like the pop-ice tubes though - I think he ate about 6 of them during the course of the parade Then we hit DQ on the way home to help us all cool down a little more.

We got a nice surprise when we picked up the grandson for the parade - oldest grandson and his fiance had driven home for a visit - 18 hour drive so he was still sleeping but I'm sure I'll see him with his eyes open sometime before they head back west.

After we got home, Hubby and I did a quick garden tour - quick because the thermometer still said 90* and the sun was blazing down. I'd hand weeded the garden yesterday, then gone into the machine shed and moved a few things around to get to the re-wire 'fences' that we use for the pole beans. For some unknown reason (lack of sleep?) I planted TWO rows of green pole beans instead of one, so had to drag out 6 pieces of fence instead of 3. The green pole beans aren't starting to vine yet, and it was so darned hot we didn't want to do anything outside, so we decided that we have a few days yet to get the poles in the ground.

Once back up to the house, I carried out the compost, gathered up trash and took it out, and had gone downstairs for a while to fold some laundry, move a load to the dryer, and then start another load. I was back upstairs and in the middle of washing up some dishes when I heard the grandson's dirt bike start up - no biggie; Hubby will sometimes hop on it and take it around the farm to see how things are doing... but a few minutes later, I heard another start up. Since all three grandsons were at daughter's still, I headed out to see what Hubby was up to - stepped out the porch door and caught a real nice, cool breeze out of the east - stopped me dead in my tracks, it felt so nice!! The temp had dropped down to 82*, and the sky is full of big puffy clouds with grey bottoms! I stood there enjoying the breeze until Hubby came out of the shed with his dirt bike - then I noticed he had the power washer set up - I told him "Heck, if I'd known all we needed to do to maybe get some rain was to wash the bikes, I'da done it yesterday!" If it does decide to rain, I do hope it gets over and done with before dusk so that they can still have the fireworks tonight.

I need to go out tomorrow if it's not too muddy and get the spots marked for the posts for the pole beans so Hubby can get them put in the ground for me, but that, feeding the cats, and a little laundry is likely all I'll get done since I have to work 3 - 12.5 hour shifts in a row this week starting tomorrow - I'll be toast by the time I get home Friday morning.

Well, Hubby's finally back in, so I guess I'd better go pay attention to him

You folks all take care out there - stay safe!

nomifyle said:

cooking ribs for today, I was going to make potato salad and baked beans. The beans are easy and there will probably be no potato salad.

Fortunately we are too isolated to hear any fireworks. I never like them. Natchitoches is probably having them along the river, but it would be something for me to avoid.

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We have something that started during one of the oilfield busts about 30 years ago.
We had no potatoes and DD made what she called potato salad surprise, using shell pasta instead. She was 10 years old and has been thru the many boom and bust but this is a 4th of July tradition for our families.

Feeling better today - managed to do a load of laundry and fill the freezedryer. Just wish I could eat easier.

moldy said:

Feeling better today - managed to do a load of laundry and fill the freezedryer. Just wish I could eat easier.

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Best news today! I hope you gain strength every day

Praying for you Moldy.

You are in our prayers, Moldy - this too shall pass.

The neighbor's fireworks were really subdued last night. We had no complaints, and they finished early. Now, we're back to the nice, quiet, peaceful life, LOL. Other than the occasional car or truck going down our country road, on a very still night, you can hear the train going through a little town 8 miles away. That's how quiet it is out here where we are. We love it!

I'm getting ready to go shopping. Mostly what I'll be buying today will be vitamins, supplements, and OTC meds. I've really let my vitamin and supplement stash get down lower than what I like. I don't need to add anything to storage or pantry this time. Just what we need for 2 weeks. I'm emptying out the oldest freezer, so I don't need to buy more meat, until that is done. I really don't like the idea of having an empty freezer with times the way they are, but I'm afraid to rely on it with being full in case it goes out. Cary won't let me buy another one, until this one actually stops, so..........It may run another 20 yrs, but who knows? I still plan to use it, but not for meat. I'll store cornmeal, flour, butter, and cheese in it. The newer freezer will be for meat only.

Heat index hit 109, yesterday. We were sweltering. No rain, so everything got watered again this morning. It's going to be the same, today. Rinse and repeat for the next week, maybe longer. The only chance of rain are those afternoon popcorn showers that can pop up once the humidity gets too high. That's about a 15%-20% chance each day. This is normal July weather for us, though. July and August are the two hottest and dryest months for us. I don't like those 115-120 degree heat index at all. Those are coming.

Another very hot day yesterday and more of that today. It didn't get out of the 80's until about 3:00 am. No rain in sight.

No Particular plans today, just the usual trying to get things done.

Well, no rain again last night; and the temp is supposed to get up to 97, so I went out around 7am and got the sprinkler started in the front garden and set my timer for 30 minutes. I have to move it a total of 5 times to cover the whole front garden + raised beds, then 4 times for the back garden, and then the strawberry/herb beds area - which meant I couldn't get my laundry started for a while. No, we aren't on a well, but the rural water doesn't have enough pressure to do both - it's also why I don't have a bigger sprinkler. Laundry isn't a big deal - I've got enough clean scrubs to get me through my three inna row shifts, so will probably just throw a load of towels in the washer right before I go down for my pre-work nap, and throw them in the dryer when I get up - they probably wouldn't be dry on the line by the time I needed to leave for work as I have to run a couple of errands on the way in - my co-workers informed me that my locker is out of chocolate

I finally managed to get the spots marked for the back garden pole bean fence posts, but I'll either have to wait for Hubby to put them in or carry a ladder out to the garden - if he hasn't put them in by Friday evening, I'll drag out the ladder. I can lean a post to slide the driver on it, get it standing up straight where I want them to go, and get it put in the ground, but then I can't get the driver back off the post without a ladder since the posts are a foot taller than me once they are in the ground and the driver is 34" tall. I'm not a fan of ladders, so I'm hoping that Hubby does it for me while I'm at work the next three nights. Then - since I planted that extra row of green pole beans - I need to figure out if I want to can them in pints or quarts. I think I've got plenty of jars in the house for what all I want to can, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. I can always drag in some from the shed - but I'd rather do that on a day that I'm NOT canning rather than have to hurry and scrub them up on an as needed basis.

Hubby took two of the 24 oz bottles of home-made sports drink to work with him today since it is supposed to get so hot, I decided I should probably make more so dumped what was left in the pitcher into a pint jar for me to sip on as I knew I'd be in and out dealing with the sprinkler, then made up a new batch. I need to ask the store to order me some full boxes of the Kool-Aid powder in our favorite flavors as that is something I don't want to run out of - I already have some sealed in vacuum sealer bags, but want more. If our diet ever comes down to what we have the most stored of, the different flavors can help with food fatigue, I hope. And, the Kool-Aid packets, along with the other items to make it a rehydration beverage can help if we have no options for cooling

I swiped a little of the stray cat's chicken and broth from the crock pot as I was portioning it out for the cat this morning and made up one of the Knorr's Chicken Alfredo packets in between moving the sprinkler around. I divvied it up between three plastic containers, then nuked a frozen bagged seasoned potato, green and yellow bean mix for the veggies. I had some raspberries in the fridge that the grandson forgot to eat, so I made a batch of lemon pudding to go with them. I've got some bananas that I should have used up in pudding, but I think I'll just squish 'em and put them in a freezer bag for later - middle grandson likes to make banana bread, so that will work!

Well, it's pushing toward my pre-work nap time so I guess I'd better grab a bite to eat, finish up in the kitchen, make sure all my work junk is in my bag, and do whatever other chores that look necessary.

You folks all stay safe out there...

ReneeT said:

You are in our prayers, Moldy - this too shall pass.

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.....passing not quite like a kidney stone, but close! Last treatment today, then back tomorrow for speech and PT.

Walgreen's and Walmart were completely stocked, today. I saw no shortages anywhere in any section at either place. I restocked my OTC med's and some of my vitamins/supplements. The rest I'll get at Sam's. I bought nothing extra for the pantry or for storage. I only bought what I needed to replace what I used over the last 2 weeks, plus fresh produce. I did pick up another case of pint Ball canning jars, along with another 2 boxes of sealing lids. Cary paid for those, along with some gardening stuff, so that didn't come out of my grocery budget money. With Cary helping out, I managed to stay within my budget. Hopefully, I can do the same at Sam's.

96 degrees right now with the heat index of 110. I'm glad to be back home with the ac going!

Ugh - 98* and 108* heat index. Lows down to 80*F around 4am tomorrow (Weds), but then it shoots back up into the 90's. Stray thunderstorms possible tonight; then isolated thunderstorms tomorrow night. Bleah. I don't have time to water again until Friday morning; hope the plants got enough water today to hold them until then. Stray kitty came up on the porch and was panting, so I dumped some water in a spot in the shade and went back in to bring her a fresh bowl of cool water, she was belly down and splayed out on the wet area, so I just sat the water close by. I grabbed a hummingbird feeder to re-fill and it had a little bit of sugar water in it - that water was HOT! I may need to put cooler sugar water in more of them...

I'm trying to nap but it isn't going anywhere; looks like it's going to be another B-12 night

A friend come over today, she lives in a smaller big town, they have a camp here where she grew up. I always love to visit with her, we were little girls together. We always share whatever bounty we have with her. And she and her husband invited us out to eat. And then another friend stopped by. Sad to say that's almost it as far a women I'm actually friends with here. There are other women that I'm friendly with and enjoy visiting with from time to time, but I don't really consider them close friends. I don't make friends with easily, but that's on me. Both of the women today are somewhat preppers and there is one other lady that I knew when I was a child that has headed my warnings about having extra food.

I've tried and tried to get my young friend in New Orleans to at least have extra food, but so far she has resisted, LOL. As for my sons, they might be better than they once were, but on the other hand maybe not. My youngest son said he has extra rice, he blonde, typical blonde.

Yesterday afternoon I looked out my office window and saw lots of goats in the chicken yard. Our big billy probably knocked the gate open. So today he locked up the chicken mash and let the goats in there to eat an area that has grown up a lot. Too bad the chickens won't eat those greens. Our youngest little girl, little bit, kind of stays to herself, and yesterday she was over near the goat platform all by herself. She let me pick her up and love on her and today she let me pet her. I need to spend a little bit more time with the goats, I mostly admire them from my office window.

I spent the morning watering the garden, taking care of the animals and climbing up to put the tarps on the RV. I put the tarps up first, because usually by the time I finish in the garden I'm kinda shakey.

Putting the tarps up didn't seem to help much.....about 3PM I thought I had died and was in Hades!! The forecast was for 96 today......got up to 101 with a heat index of 111. I really don't know how much longer I can hack this. I am falling into a state of lethargy. I have found some answers though, got out the kiddy pool and DAN-DAN and I cooled off in there for a bit......made everything MUCH better!!

I think things are working out better in the. Garden too. I am now watering daily and letting the water run slowly every night on the grapes and elderberry bushes. Grapes are having problems with Japanese beetles, like they do every year. Will spray with some soap tomorrow.

Cukes are taking off like gang busters now, tomatoes still slow, but the cantaloupes are running everywhere.

Also going to plant squash....yellow and zukes away from the main garden so as not to cross pollinate my cantaloupes.....probably should pull out the 3 cukes up there too, as they are probably too close to the melons. I guess I will try to transplant them up by the squash!

Peppers are VERY SLOW. None of my Jalapeno peppers even came up this year!!

Sweet taters are starting to run every where too. Never got my potatoes planted....guess I will plant now for a fall crop.

STILL working on getting my onions "put up" and ready for the freezer......it is taking FOREVER!!

Just pooped from long term heat!!

Chewy order arrived today - all good. I have two more bags coming in four weeks and will then maintain that amount.

I ran into dollar general today to pick up a card. I always check our their dollar spot. I was able to get a few “itch creams“ (4) for $1.00 each. I’ve noticed they still have otc pain meds in their dollar section, but many of the stores have shrinkflation with them (a lot fewer in the bottle than what used to be there). Still not a bad deal though in comparison to drug stores.

I continue to make it a point to pick up a pasta and sauce each time I go in a store. I noticed that the shelf price of the pasta and sauce was still $1.00 so decided to get three of each. When I got to the register, they rang up for more ($1.35 and $1.45) but the manager did honor the shelf price which I was thankful for. It impressed upon me how much more everything continues to climb!

I have enjoyed picking up the pasta / sauce each time in a store and leaving with at least five items towards my pantry/preps. I’m close to switching it to something else each time in a store. I’ll have to think on that.

Slow and steady ….

briches said:

I have enjoyed picking up the pasta / sauce each time in a store and leaving with at least five items towards my pantry/preps. I’m close to switching it to something else each time in a store. I’ll have to think on that.

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Briches, that is the way I built my pantry over time. Each time I went grocery shopping (back then it was once a week), I picked up 2 flats of a different canned veggie and a 5lb sack of either cornmeal or flour. I did that over time, until I had a good stock. I didn't concentrate on stocking canned or frozen meat, cause I always figured Cary could hunt to provide what we needed. I had the basics covered, a veggie, bread, and the meat Cary provided. Then, like you, I moved on to something else for a while, then something else, etc. It was a slow but steady process, and it built up over time.