2023 - JULY - What Did You Do To Prep This Week/Month?

Started the thread late, as usual.

We've been very busy around the homestead.

No rain, so I've been watering my small garden morning and evening. Next year, I'll need to set up some kind of automatic watering system. This is the garden I planted in milk crates (and some pots) and put inside a 10 X 10 X 6 dog kennel. So far, the critters are leaving it alone. I've harvested some cukes, tomatoes, and peppers.

Our neighbors planted more than we did, so they are all sharing with us - we've received tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini in abundance. Husband made his famous spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes (which we froze for our family reunion this year), we ate the cukes, and I turned a lot of the squash into zucchini flour. I added some zucchini flour to my home canned pizza sauce, turned out great. I canned 40 half pints of pizza sauce for the family reunion.

Husband has taken down the electric fence around the big garden. We need to to take apart the concrete block raised beds, and re-do the whole garden area. That plan is on hold for next year.

We cleaned out under our back deck, an area that we used to store stuff. Since most of it has never been used again or repaired, we decided it was time to clear it out. This resulted in cleaning under the front deck, too.

I've been doing some big batch cooking and freezing of foods for the family reunion. In between, I've been doing a lot of sewing. Hemmed up pants for my Dad and myself, repaired some shirts, and I am currently using denim patches to make new porch swing cushion covers.

With all the cleaning/decluttering that has been progressing, I've cleared out cupboards and cabinets, and we've filled the car twice with stuff that went to the thrift shop. My sister is building a tiny home for herself, and she will be taking some of the furniture we no longer use, too.

Our thoughts are to stay here as long as possible and the less we have to take care of, the easier that will be. So the decluttering is two-fold - keep things simple if we stay, and have less to get rid of if we have to move on. If Husband's health turns into an issue, we may have to move closer to the kids and easier-to-access medical facilities.

That said, Husband's health has remained very stable, although some of the meds make him very tired. The doctor has said if he remains stable at the next visit (in September), they may cut back on some of the meds.

My parents are doing good with my brother living with them. He is cleaning up their property, which had deteriorated when my Dad's health went downhill. Brother has been clearing brush, mowing, and hauling off the junk my Dad had collected for various projects he's not able to finish now. Their homestead is looking as it once did.

We still have a few big projects in the next week but after that, the homestead outside chores are pretty much done for the year. Now, to get the inside under control!

Got all our garlic pulled and cleaned up. Already gave most of it away, have enough for us until next year.

2 of the grandkids pulled theirs and picked the 2 nicest ones for the grange fair, I trimmed them up for them.

Sweet corn will be ready to pick in another week or so. The grandkids pick it and sell it down the road. I load up one of my hay wagons and run it down to the main road. They get to keep the money, except for what I pay for the seeds. They make good money from it.

My tomatoes are doing good, but my bell peppers don't look good. They have a few peppers on them and a bunch of blossoms but just don't look healthy.

I'm having to chase or shoot the squirrels out of my apple trees, they're climbing the trees and eating the apples.

Did a big stock up run to the warehouse club taking advantage of their coupon deals to stock up on shelf-stable supplies (kitty litter, flushable wipes, Red Bull, two packs of batteries and another flat of 0.5 liter water bottles) and bought some non-electric toys to give away next Christmas since they were on clearance (65-90% off.) In an earlier trip I had gotten another sack of flour since I knew that once Wagner mutinied (or whatever it was called) that Putin would have to show strength and Ukraine's grain output was a likely target.

Otherwise it's been a quiet month for prepping just dealing with nasty heat and humidity when it's not raining like a monsoon. Only real prepping activity was swapping out all the flashlight batteries and cleaning up any flashlights that had leaking batteries. Just wanted to make sure everything is ready in case a hurricane comes this way.

Here's hoping August is less interesting all the way around....

Got the 2nd cutting of hay all done, I'm good for another winter. There may be a 3rd cutting, but I'll turn the cows loose on it, they can cut it down themselves.

Sweet corn will be ready this week, grandkids are all lined up for picking and selling. As the one granddaughter says, "it's like money in the bank", for them.

One of the younger grandkids brought me over some chicory she dug up for me, all dried and ready to grind.

I charged up all my stored batteries, they held a 75% charge from last July when I charged them last. I swear by those eneloop batteries.

Gas has jumped 20 cents a gallon in the last 10 days, ya know, Bidenomics.