2024 - APRIL - What Did You Do To Prep This Week?Month?

Starting the new thread.

Husband is working on getting the garden cage up. We have it framed, and he's put landscape cloth around the edges inside and outside to keep weeds at a minimum. We'll work on the chicken wire covering this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on his strength. Health-wise, he still remains stable. Docs lowered some of his meds, so he has a little more energy, but it gets spent fast. He's just happy to be able to work outside more. He tries very hard not to deplete the energy he does have, so we've judged that he's good for about 2-4 hours, and then he's done for the day. Considering a year ago a walk down our 5 stairs required a 2 hour nap, we'll take his new energy levels.

I sent two quilt tops to the long arm quilter and as soon as she is done, I'll do the binding and they'll be off to their new owners. I'm currently sewing some small things to put in the consignment shop - I did some keychain holders, a tote bag, and jar openers, but I want to do some other things, too. I found free patterns for lanyard pen holders, book pen holders, and a cell phone case, so I'll try them out to see if I like making them. I also have plans for more quilted denim tote bags - the one I made was duly admired and the shop owner thought it would sell quick, so she asked for me to do some more. I'm considering making a few more aprons, too.

Beyond doing chores around the acreage, we're just humming along, waiting for Spring.

Husband and I worked most of the day, with a few breaks, getting the wire mesh onto the garden cage. We had leftover cattle panels so he staked those around the cage for further strength. While it wasn't hard, it was time-consuming, but now we have a fully protected garden area. If this works to keep the wild critters out, we might buy more cages in the future to grow more veggies/fruits.

I started a mango plant - had to work a little with the seed to get it started, but there were excellent instructions online, and it rooted well. Here's hoping it grows, now. The kiwi seeds molded, so I'll try again later. The Hungarian peppers have been seeded, but don't seem to be thriving, no hint above soil yet.

I sewed 4 more aprons and some jar openers for the consignment shop and delivered them yesterday. While right now it is more of a hobby to get rid of my scrap fabric, it could progress to a small stream of income...we shall see. Things are selling slowly, so it's totally not dependable at this time.

We've been stocking up on canning supplies with each grocery run as we anticipate canning what we grow throughout summer and fall. I am trying out different sizes of jars, too, with the intent of giving away some of what we can.

The new dog has blended well with the family, he is excellent with other dogs and the cats. He is a sweet soul, and we are surprised that his previous owners ditched him, he is such a good boy!

I was making a quickie meal the other night, philly cheese steak, and didn't want to chop onions...well, I decided to use a couple tablespoons of my volunteer chives that I'd dehydrated...wow! It tasted fantastic. I had to put in a little more chives to get the flavor, but it was well worth it. The chive plant grows right outside the gate, no clue where it came from, but it is healthy and ready to be harvested again. I plan to continue harvesting and dehydrating as long as it is growing. I have no idea what the season for chives is, but we shall see.

Beyond that, we are in the garden almost every day right now, getting seedlings planted and keep weeds at bay.

We will be busy in the next few days with family. My Pa passed away yesterday morning after a long battle with heart disease. He was 79. He will be cremated and we will not have a conventional service per his request, as he wants to buried near his birthplace, deep in the woods, where he loved to be.

Husband planted the seed-started heirloom beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, potatoes and the onions in the ground.

The corn salad, which I am growing in a large pot, is producing small leaves.

We still have all the seed-started peppers (bell, Hungarian, and Anaheim), the mango tree, and lettuce started under the grow lights.

We moved all the tropical indoor plants outdoors for the year. The orange tree, lemon tree, olive tree, paw-paw, banana tree, dragonfruit plant, aloe vera, and the hoya carnosa are all either in the garden cage or by the front porch.

I have been experimenting with baking bread again. I made peasant bread yesterday and gave one loaf to Mom and my brother (they live next door).

We had a power spike sometime in the past, not sure when, that took out our HVAC's regular system. We weren't aware, until we got the bill, that the heating system, the few times we used it, was working on emergency heat because a contact had been melted by the surge. When we turned on the A/C since it's getting hot outside...we found the problem. The HVAC tech was able to repair it and not cost us a ton of money...

Other than garden and maintenance and prepping for summer for the next few weeks, we're doing good. Husband is still stable and is able to do more of what he loves, which is maintaining the garden and our outdoor spaces.

You all have a good Spring and get outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine!

Cinnamon wrote:We will be busy in the next few days with family. My Pa passed away yesterday morning after a long battle with heart disease. He was 79. He will be cremated and we will not have a conventional service per his request, as he wants to buried near his birthplace, deep in the woods, where he loved to be.

Husband planted the seed-started heirloom beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, potatoes and the onions in the ground.

The corn salad, which I am growing in a large pot, is producing small leaves.

We still have all the seed-started peppers (bell, Hungarian, and Anaheim), the mango tree, and lettuce started under the grow lights.

We moved all the tropical indoor plants outdoors for the year. The orange tree, lemon tree, olive tree, paw-paw, banana tree, dragonfruit plant, aloe vera, and the hoya carnosa are all either in the garden cage or by the front porch.  

I have been experimenting with baking bread again. I made peasant bread yesterday and gave one loaf to Mom and my brother (they live next door).

We had a power spike sometime in the past, not sure when, that took out our HVAC's regular system. We weren't aware, until we got the bill, that the heating system, the few times we used it, was working on emergency heat because a contact had been melted by the surge. When we turned on the A/C since it's getting hot outside...we found the problem. The HVAC tech was able to repair it and not cost us a ton of money...

Other than garden and maintenance and prepping for summer for the next few weeks, we're doing good. Husband is still stable and is able to do more of what he loves, which is maintaining the garden and our outdoor spaces.

You all have a good Spring and get outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine!

Sorry to hear about your Pa

Sorry to hear about your Dad Cin.

Thank you all. We've been anticipating it since 2 1/2 years ago when he went on hospice...still hard when it happens though. Mom has dementia, sometimes she remembers, and sometimes she doesn't. And each time it's fresh grief all over for her again.

The good news is, a grand child is moving here to help care for her and the property, and he's bringing his family. They loved visiting here and were already considering moving here, so this spurred them to make it sooner, rather than later. Everyone is happy with their decision. They have 3 kids, so we're all looking forward to having kids around, too.

Caring for a loved one with memory issues is one of the hardest things to deal with. My wife retired so she could deal with her mother's challenges post stroke, but having mom move in with us after we got the house prepped was so much better for my wife and her mom. Hopefully you're able to keep your mom in a space she's used to. And it's got to be a great relief to have family coming to help.

As to what I've done lately for prepping - it's mainly been keeping stocking levels up religiously. But I did some more reading on bird flu and immune support for viral diseases, so I've been stocking up on Zinc. Strangely our wholesale club only has 50 mg Zinc tablets which is higher than recommended for long term use, so I'll be saving those for if someone starts showing signs of infection. I have some 30 mg Zinc tablets on order and I found that our multivitamins have 11 mg of zinc so we have something in place while waiting on the better dosage tablets.

And I've been checking our comfort foods and adding little treats in case we're forced to hunker down for another epidemic / pandemic. Every week I get something extra. Just waiting for M&Ms to go on sale so I can buy a bunch and package them up in mylar for better storage....but if we see H2H transmission of bird flu then I'll pull the trigger early.

Hope everyone stays as safe as they can in these troubled times.

Sorry to hear about your mother in law DM, hope everything works out for you, your wife and MIL.

DM - It's sounds like us - making things as comfortable for Mom without changing too much so she has a steady routine. She's doing well...a little sad, but some days, she's not sure why. We just roll with the punches and try to keep her comfortable and happy.

The lavender, and the other peppers we planted are showing their little sprouts. I planted another mango, too. May give it to my sister for her birthday.

Spring is still springing, a little cool, but warming up in the days to come. We had a late frost 3 days ago, most of the stuff we put in the ground doesn't seem affected, but we shall see.

Husband canned 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce and we put three storage bowls of sauce in the fridge for fast meals on those days we're working outside.

All our appliances are the same age because we bought most when we built the house. We've had a few issues here and there lately, but thanks to YouTube and http://repairclinic.com we've been able to fix things - surprising, really, since most of the appliances are over 15 years old!

We called in an electrician to fix the stove, as Husband doesn't like to deal with electricity, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong - it was a frayed wire, probably from a power spike. However, the ice maker just broke off a $10 part, so I ordered it, and we spent the day not only fixing it, but rearranging the freezer, since I had everything out anyway. It is a bottom freezer, so I decided all the dog chicken and dog trees will go in there. I had way more than I thought! Dogs are set up for a month or so.

I'm sewing small items to sell in the consignment shop - not to concerned about selling them, it's just to get rid of more scrap fabric. We shall see how it goes.

Other than that, we've just been re-stocking at the grocery store, and getting a little each time because of the troubling times right now.

Hope you all are doing well.

Husband has been reading and watching YouTube videos on stealth gardens. He's ordered some seeds to plant native plants that can be used as food in our woods. The native plants do grow around here, but most are on private property, none where we are. Hence, he had to order some seeds. We shall see how it goes.

I baked sourdough bread again today. I know it seems like a trivial thing to mention, but I am working hard to get back into the groove of baking and cooking from scratch as much as possible. Over the last few years with all the medical issues with family, I got out of the good habits.

We re-stocked up on Thursday at the grocery store because we were anticipating bad thunderstorms in our area. They actually came in the middle of the night, with marble sized hail battering the roof. Still, it was nice to have a day at home when I'm usually gone. Got some chores done, anyway.

In other news, we sold the Honda Pilot to a friend, so we're back down to 2 vehicles. Now I don't have to worry about hail damage anymore - the 2 vehicles can be parked side by side in the carport.

We're expecting severe storms tonight and since we had a 2 hour power outage a week ago, I just hope the wind doesn't do anymore damage.

I dropped more stuff off at the consignment shop today and got a tiny check for past sales.

Husband and I went to the butcher, sourced some locally grown meat, and he will be smoking it in about 10 days, after he cuts and marinates it for that length of time.

My brother, who lives next door with Mom, has been out and about (he takes her with him) and has started doing lawn care hereabouts. Already has 2 weekly jobs, with the promise of more. Mom seems to be enjoying each day as she and Pa used to go for "Sunday drives" every day...so the routine seems to have calmed her some.

We've had lots of thunderstorms in our area, lots of flooding in some areas, and some roads are impassible, but not in our area. However, more storms are coming this evening, although the weather map shows that we'll only get the trailing edges of it.

The garden doesn't seem to have suffered a lot, and most of it is rebounding today.

Finally got my little tractor running. I had to rewire it and I suck at wiring lol. Going to till the garden today and hopefully plant some taters..