2020 - JUNE - Prepping Updates for the Month

Sorry - got sidetracked doing stuff and didn't update the forum. So, new thread for June is now here.

I've been systematically cleaning out my sewing area, making space for other preps.

The garden is coming in very nice, we've had a lot of rain. Everything is growing. We plan to supplement some in advance though, just thinking ahead and working on being more prepared.

Got my first round of hay cut, raked, baled and stored last week. Started generators and topped them off with gas.

Rotated 20 gallon of gas and 20 gallon of diesel, cleaned solar panels and replaced one cable on the one. Cut a lot of grass here and at camp. Been going to camp every week for about 3 days or so.

Fishing has been good down at camp (smallmouth bass) but not in season yet.

The garden is only about average so far, may be time to put a half cow chip in a 5 gallon bucket of water and using it on the plants.

Husband and I weeded the garden (it needed it!). The beans we planted must be pole beans, they all fell over after the grass they were propped on was removed. We will put tomato cages over them. We thought we planted bush beans.

A friend made a ledge for my counter in the kitchen. Rather than stuff things on it, I cleaned, sorted and organized what would go there, which lead to having to clean, sort, and organize the rest of the space. I ended up deep cleaning most of the kitchen cabinets, tossing old, broken, or unused stuff, and stream-lined the look of the kitchen! Still have some things to do, but for the most part, it's done. One thing I did do - a lot of dry goods went into mason jars of various sizes, with screw on lids. Now I can see exactly what I have and can utilize more for recipes.

Husband has been mowing, it's that time of year.

He also took a trip out to the grocery store yesterday. About half the customers were wearing masks, all the employees were. Social distancing was still in place. The store was semi-stocked, he said the empty shelves were "random", stuff he expected to see was gone, but things like toilet paper and paper towels were well stocked.

Received the smaller 3.5 gallon buckets and gamma seal lids I ordered. I have some smaller amounts of boxed food that doesn't require that much room (mostly the fancy pasta noodles I use rarely). also some of the specialty flours. for those who also want smaller buckets, ULINE.com has them and the lids.

We got our Oomi Karu wood-fired, brick-lined pizza oven today. I asked for it on Mother's Day, since I've wanted a wood fired pizza oven for years. After a friend's awesome review and reading up on it for days, Husband ordered it for me. Now the learning curve begins.

I've been sewing down my stash, finishing projects and even making a quilt. More space for preps the more I get done.

Did the 1/2 cow chip in a 5 gallon pail of water (10 of them total) and the garden is doing alot better.

Even after the frosts and cold weather in late May, there are some apples and pears on the trees, surprises the heck out of me, the one morning it was only 22 degrees.

Did the normal maintenance on the solar panels (including camp) and ran the generators for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Been going down to camp every week for a couple or 3 days, been cutting, splitting and stacking firewood for fall hunting. Made another rocket stove out of an 8" X 12" flue liner for camp, people down there (mostly city slickers) are amazed how it cooks.

Field and sweet corn is doing real good this year, will have plenty, the extra sweet corn, I give away to friends and relatives.

We tried out the wood/lump coal fired pizza oven - it was awesome! I used their recipes - their sauce recipe is awesome but I made improvements. Their dough recipe...hmmm. It was OK, but not what I like.

Pizza Sauce:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 clove fresh garlic chopped fine or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Fresh chopped tomatoes - 5-7 made two 12 inch pizzas
3-4 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic clove in oil until fragrant. Add the other ingredients, bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes. Spoon on pizza dough and cook pizza as you generally would.

Other than that, I am still working on de-stashing the sewing room. It doesn't help that I find quilt patterns in my notebooks that I am organizing that I want to try, so I order more fabric. The good news is, I'm actually to the point that I am making Christmas presents to use up the little bit of older fabric I have left! YAY!

Been spending a lot of time at camp, cut grass, cut more firewood, cleaned solar panels, did some battery maintenance and ran the generator, OH and drank some  while telling lies around the fire.

At home, separate a few of the cows, the young ones, put them in a separate field to feed. Cut the grass, cleaned the solar panels and ran the generators. Going to watch the grandson play baseball tonight.

Have to take the wife, on Sunday, to get tested for coronavirus. She has outpatient surgery next Wednesday to take out her port from her having 6 months worth of chemo treatments.

The gardens at camp and here at home are doing ok, will pull the garlic and onions the 2nd week of July. The grandkids garlic seems to be doing better than mine, they always take 1st and 2nd place in their age groups at the local grange fair.

Dave58 wrote:Not bad for $3.00 worth of onion sets

(Photo deleted for OPSEC)

Don't know if the pic will show but we got 1 wheelbarrow load of onions

Good for you Dave. I won't pull mine until I pull my garlic about the 2nd week of July. The first week of July, I bend over the stocks on the onions so they set a little harder, that way they keep a little longer.