Pantry Challenge Day 29 Update

 OK...I ran out of solar a couple of times (my fault...too much internet surfing and youtubing on cloudy days) and with the home computer battery having crapped the bed a while back, it won't stay on unless plugged in and drawing power.  

Anyway, had some pantry triumphs over the xmas.

For dinner on the day, I made duck braised in cranberry sauce (which was supposed to be jelly made from no sugar cranberry juice bought on super sale with some buckwheat honey (the sweetener of the month) and some pomona brand pectin).  The jelly didn't set up and is quite tart, which I like.  So I braised a half pint of my home jarred duck in a bit of that failed delicious jelly. It was AMAZING.  Side dishes were roasted squash (a hybrid something random from my garden that looked like a pumpkin and had innards like a spaghetti squash..yes, I saved the seeds to roast later and to replant because it was a) delicious and b) ripened up in poor storage conditions) and a roasted onion.  Both roasted inside the woodstove.

I was SWEATING from keeping the stove hot enough all day to bake this cake...

It is a honey based cake with apple sauce (buckwheat honey, and a can of apple sauce from the pantry) and spices.  I had clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg all of which were called for. It was AMAZING.  I had dried figs that I forgot to stir in, and they were supposed to be raisins but I was out of raisins.  So, chopped up figs and threw them on top of the layer pans.   It was amazing.  I will be making it again but maybe 1/4 recipe.  this was a half and it was still a ton of cake.  It was pretty dense in the middle which might be due to the baking at a lower temp than I really wanted (see above...SWEATING) trying to keep the coleman stovetop camp oven thingy hot.  If I make a smaller version I can do it in the cast iron dutch oven and it will be easier.

I packed up a slice of cake for the neighbor because it was A LOT.  She returned a huge slice of pecan pie her daughter made and some penuche. I  had never had penuche. It was delicious and more dairy than I should have and I'm a bit snotty.

Anyway, over ate and it was excellent.  Made a coconut milk (powdered coconut milk in the pantry) mocha (cocoa in the pantry) and opened a buttload of treats from various relatives.

I am in town today, this is the office computer, office closed for the week! (we get crazy amounts of time off at full pay) to pick up yet another package.  As much as I love sugary treats, if there aren't any in there, that will be fine.

One Aunt sent a ton of good food for meals and snacks, and another sent chocolates.   Good people.  I got coffee and cookie packs from another friend, every more coffee and chocolate from yet another friend (people know me??), smoked duck from yet another.

I am rolling in good food.

Just did a formal inventory of the office pantry and will take inventory at home as well to restart January.

I won a 5$ coffee shop gift certificate on a radio show on Sunday, more to do with "exclusive listenership" than with my brains or speed dialing abilities, and hope to share that with a friend's grown kid on Sunday.  

I still have one xmas meal out to buy someone as planned, but otherwise, I think things are winding down.

I have 21" of snow, the bottom 1-2" is compacted ice so the total total that fell is more, on the ground at the homesite right now.  Bit sick of it, but it is super pretty.

It was cloudy 5 days running, zero solar gain on the batteries, and that is partly why I ran out of power.  Also, the batteries are getting old, and they are outside and the temp overnight was about 10F.  It will be colder tonight and tomorrow night, maybe also Friday night.  Then rewarming toward freezing during the day and 20s over night.  That is easier on the batteries.

OK, off to pick up that last box as the post office lady will be reopening post lunch now.

More, anon!

Pantry Challenge Day 22 Update

 As expected, holiday gifts and requisite dinners out are contributing to the ease of the project.

Friends are dropping off treats to the point I over eat massively.  Even fasted yesterday to correct a sugar binge from overindulgence in treats.  Too much sugary stuff!!!!  Delicious, but too sugary.

Then, another friend who is not aware of my experiment took me to lunch.  Not going would be rude so I went and said thank you and enjoyed my meal.  

An Aunt (THANKS!) sent a box with a few wrapped xmas gifts and a ton of really nice food!  Just had a bit of the pre-cooked basmati rice with breakfast.  So convenient, healthy and delicious.  

Perhaps the funnest thing in there is peppercorns!   We all know I was low on those when I started the experiment.  So those are especially welcome and will easily get me through January.

Honestly, so many calories of stuff have come in that I've shared some stuff back out to others.  Also, a few things were just too salty or made of dairy (not from the Aunt!  Her stuff is all still with me).   Another friend contributed peanuts and some almond butter from our trip to 2nd harvest.  How fun and delicious.  I could make fried rice with peanuts and the basmati.  I wonder if I can make like a peanut sauce with the almond butter.  I think some jarred chicken with peanut (almond) sauce w2ould be a reasonable flavor match for satay.   

Which points out my favorite part of a pantry challenge.  It spurs creativity.  I haven't even started my sprouts yet.  Jeez.  Must get on that.  Clearly I am not hurting for veggies.  During the restaurant trips I am trying to get lean burgers in lettuce wraps with side salads so I'm getting more of my veg at restaurants.

One jar of fermented carrots wasn't doing well so I refocused and froze them in portions.  Will add to soups later.  Or a pilaf.

It's SOLSTICE

 Woot Woot!

Here comes the sun.

The days will get longer now.  

Enjoy!

Day 17 and All Is Well with the Pantry Challenge...Except

 It gets boring especially when I forget to make something interesting in the evening for lunch the next day.

Hence, today's lunch:  A can of sardines with the last hot sauce packet, a can of pinto beans, NOT gelatin in a mason jar (I forgot to add vinegared berries or sugar and it tastes so bad I am giving it to the chickens...they can turn it into eggs and meat which will be edible), and a microwave spice bread (2 eggs, 1/2c flour and some spices...we'll see if that worked here shortly) and water.

If I'd remembered to make a pilaf or dumplings yesterday I would have had something delicious.

That said, Pantry Challenge has been going great.

Had Pantry lunch with a friend.  I made a variation of the pilaf from the last post, using home canned chicken.  She asked what broth I had used...water.  The elderly laying hen has lots of flavor even after being canned without bones.  Added some spices/herbs from the pantry too.  She brought a cobbler made from things in her pantry, though she is not doing a pantry challenge she was up for a pantry lunch.  And she's an excellent cook so that helps.  We split it with a coworker.  

This is all good practice for the potential situation calling for true pantry living with limited restock options.  I wonder if the folks who buy those sealed buckets of "SHTF" (the last 3 letters are for "hits the fan"), breakdown of society type scenarios actually try to eat what they get in there and live on it.  Last one I looked at gave each person 1000-1400 calories a day for 3 months for some ungodly price and was made mostly of corn/soy derivatives (textured veggie protein, sweetened junk food dehydrated to dust, super processed whatever).  Living under human power, even making the hot water for these icky meals in a solar cooker, would require more calories per day than they provide and the vitamins and fat were lacking.  Also....last time I had a dehydrated camp meal, a very expensive one, it tasted like crap. 

I'm learning to stock more fruit type things, that I have enough coffee in stock at current purchase rates, and that I rely a great deal on grains for my total daily calories.   Also noticing that it's easier to spread the various supplies out when I do not plan to replenish.  I'm only overconsuming dried fruit and sugars (sweet tooth be damned).  Also noting the quick ferments, like gingered carrots and small batches of sauerkraut are very nice to have.  Quick favor additions.   I'm eating more mustard and spices in an effort to make basically the same scrambled eggs a bit different each day.

I got the spiced bread out of the microwave.  It was fine! I put a bit of coconut oil on it and tried to pretend it was butter...it wasn't butter but it wasn't bad.  Noted!

Day 12 Pantry Challenge Update

Well, it turns out I should not be left alone with nuts (heh heh).  Ate the rest of the Dec. ration of walnuts.  Dang it!  AND broke into the Larabars which I meant to save until January. Didn't eat all of them, but more than I wanted to.  It's the deliciousness.  I'm a victim of deliciousness.

So, I did notice that I'm not going through the cocoa powder (baking, not icky instant gross "hot chocolate" mix...barf).   Had cocoa eggs this morning.  Less delicious, more anti-inflammatory.   And lots of coffee.  Have plenty.  Had tea yesterday and will try to keep up with that.

We're mid storm, actually ending in a few hours.  I shoveled the car out, parked by the highway, yesterday.  4 inches of light snow.  But then it was going to turn to drizzle so better to get ahead. NOW there is 6 inches of HEAVY snow. It was 32 degs and snowing so really big pretty flakes that make for sucky shoveling.  It's going to warm up in a bit so heading out soon for more shoveling.

Anyway, back to the pantry challenge.  

I think I achieved peak frugality yesterday.  I was reading (re-reading of course) a volume of the Tightwad Gazette, the thrifty/frugal bible...get it, while eating a pilaf I made with what I had on hand, using a recipe from the TG, a recipe I hadn't used before.   It was DELICIOUS.

Here is the recipe and how I did it:

2 T oil

1 small onion diced up

3 cloves garlic smashed or diced

1/2 C left over meat or cooked beans or canned meat/fish

1 C grain

2 C water or broth...liquid

1/2 C other vegetable

Seasonings as you like.

In a sauce pan that will fit the entire recipe with room to boil/simmer, heat the oil up on medium.

Put in the onion and garlic (if you don't have them, use dry powder or whatever like chives/leeks/shallots/onion flakes/garlic salt (easy on the salt though)

Fry that until it smells good.  Add meat (not canned tuna or other canned fish...ooo...I have smoked salmon at work...that would be delicious) and then the grain.

Fry a couple minutes, then add the liquid and "other vegetable" and if you are using canned fish, add it.  You can add the fish liquid or not, whatever you like.

Add seasonings.

Bring to a boil.  Turn down to a simmer.  Put the lid on.  It is done when the liquid is absorbed.   

Adjust salt/pepper as needed (protip:  if you put in too much salt and have a potato, slice up the WASHED potato and throw a few slices in for a minute or two and pull them out.  They will pick up some of the salt). 

I used an onion, garlic cloves, a can of tuna, rye berries, water, fermented ginger carrots (only other fresh-ish veg in the house, could used dried and add it with the liquid).  Did not add tuna water.   Added thyme and rosemary from my garden and an indoor potted plant at the office, and cracked pepper.  The tuna was salty enough and I'm watching sodium levels so didn't add any.

It was delicious!  Better than a casserole because no oven needed and no thickener like cream of crap soup which I just don't like even in the vegan versions without the dairy.  If I could handle dairy and had butter, I think frying the stuff in that would be excellent.

There was also some walnut dust in it.  Since I'd just finished the walnuts in jar, I rinsed it with the water going into the pilaf to get the couple of tablespoons of walnut dust out of the jar and not waste it.

I'm going to try it with beans one of these days.  I think hot in a thermos it would be a good food for lunches when I am working outside.

Today I need to get out the week's ration of raisins but might do it right before bed so I don't just eat them all...hopefully!   I  have figs for January.  

Pantry Challenge Day 9 Update

 So, my cooking skillz...are adequate.  It's the rationing skills!  I lost an onion!  It rotted.  Must have had a damp spot. 

Now I am being more diligent on checking the fresh and just eating it.  I might dice up any onions that I haven't eaten and put them in the work freezer next week.  there are only 4 or 5 left.  3 squash. One is tiny.

And one fresh carrot.  I have just over 2quarts fermenting carrots which will stay crunchy and fresh-ish, though they are a tad salty an the rest of this experiment has lead to complete success in keeping my sodium intake at and below the target.  The target number is entirely personal and experimental so I am not going to share it.  Once you do that people have opinions in which I am not interested.

ANYWAY...found the ginger which ferments with the carrots and I'd bought extra so have that to spice up soups and tea and whatnot.  Maybe even try a honey based ginger bready/cake thingy with fresh ginger.

I had sorted out a week's worth of raisin ration as well.  Then I ate it all by Tuesday.  Maybe I will make it to Wednesday next week!  Overdid the walnuts too.  They are delicious.

I used the peruana beans from a previous trip to Santa Fe last evening, with one onion and a buttload of spices to make a bean stew.   REALLY nice, lacks salt (see above keeping sodium numbers low...) so I added a dash of vinegar and it perked up.  Will try more cayenne and cumin next time.  Still really good.  For a bit of heartiness beyond the beans I added in some keto bread that was not great.  It was much better as a fake soup cracker substance.  I have a bit of both left for dinner tonight.

The coffee and tea are holding up well.  I appear to be too lazy to do much with the honey so plenty of that!  I was planning on that as the main sweetener this month and saving the maple syrup for January.  Instead I appear to be eating the white sugar which is supposed to be for the kombucha.  Anyway, it isn't causing a lack of anything and the kombucha will survive either way.

Cooking in the evening when I have the woodstove on is alright.  Something to do.  Mostly soups and some of these experimental breads.  Tonight I'm thinking of trying some coconut oil and baking cocoa chocolates. I have 10 or 11oz of dark chocolate to make treats (like adding nuts and stuff....heh heh...nuts) but once I open it I am A) committed to using it up and 2) likely to eat it all in 2 days (or one).

The hens have put out 2 eggs a day for 3 days!!!  It was 1 egg a day.  I think Porky, the Barred Rock, is back on line.  It's a big light pinky beige egg and I am pretty sure that is her.  I think one of the 2 young hens is trying to start as well.  I've seen 3 TINY eggs.   The one I got before it broke or was pecked, had no yolk but a weird brown scab looking thing.  I picked that out. Anyway, I had done my meat/eggs ration intention based on 1 egg a day so this gives me a buffer if they suddenly stop.  Also have the dried egg.

Speaking of rationing what you've got and using basic ingredients to cook (that 2nd part was subtext, stick with me here), this youtube channel is very helpful:

Utility Jude's Wartime Cookery

It's is a little show the woman put out during covid explaining and re-enacting the rationing and some recipes in the UK during WWII.  I've done a couple of the recipes because they are just basic plans with the assumption that you will need to skimp and substitute on things.  Much better than the detailed "start with a cake mix" or "use top sirloin" type crap recipes.  Lots of the prepper and "survivalist" cooking youtubes work with unrealistic expectations and high priced freeze dried and other nonsense foods.

I've also nearly switched to 2 meals a day with maybe something small in the evening as I'm cooking, mostly tasting the recipe or eating what doesn't fit in the container I'm going to put on the porch-fridge (that's just the porch in winter...sometimes it is the porch freezer).

It's just easier when you are cooking from scratch for 1 and you don't have a regular kitchen and fridge.  Prep and dishes are more awkward and cooking takes time out of what little daylight I have here in the winter.  I'd been toying with intermittent fasting and this just seems to lead to it. I like to have breakfast, but today it was lunch first as I wasn't hungry and was running late to work (early for work, too late to bother cooking a breakfast in the micro or toaster oven, but I did have my coffee).  

Cooking once or twice a day means fewer decisions, less crap to snack on, and less calculating what is in stock and what is low or out.  

I have successfully planned lunches and invited a work colleague who is cash strapped, to a pantry lunch next week.  We'll each cook our own and just eat together at a conference room at work, or each make part of the meal to share.  I could do a pretty mean chicken soup.

Eating from the pantry also influenced my order for lunch at the dept xmas get-together.  I had a lettuce wrapped burger and a salad...I thought there would be pie.  Skipping the bun and fries kept the sodium levels in check, and getting lettuce wrap and salad maximized the fresh veg so I could skip eating my own fresh stuff that day.  I haven't dipped into the sprouting seeds yet.  Probably later this month.  I do like something fresh each day.   

I should do a post on what I am doing on the cheap/free to see if more chickens will lay in the winter.  If I get 3 eggs a day I will have plenty to share which is always nice.  Maybe with a picture of the sad new coop.

Pantry Challenge Day 6 Update

 Well, it's early in day 6 so I can only update really through day 5.  Whatever.

It was the weekend and I had errands including trips to stores that sell food because I'm giving candy bags at the office for xmas and I needed split peas and lentils for the chickens.  I didn't buy any groceries for me, no snack, no kombucha or coffee, nothing.

I brought bread I made (heavy heavy texture, great flavor though...more anon), a mix of walnuts and raisins, and coffee with extra hot water and grounds so I could make a 2nd cup in the travel french press (reusing the old grounds with juts a teaspoon of new ones to freshen it up a bit...it's not fabulous but it's drinkable and hot so good enough).  And water, of course.   Next time I will bring more snacks as I was pretty gnoshy by the time I got home.

The rough bit was heading to a christmas market to pick up something I'd pre-ordered from a vendor.  She was also selling honey, pickled garlic, jams, and other delicious tidbits.  As were many other vendors.  I got nothing.  Just what I ordered.   Which is extremely cute.

Then I bagged it.  I like the antique/thrift store in that town but it was PACKED and it is a county with one of the lowest vaccine rates in Idaho AND one of the lowest mask rates.  I have my vaccines and the booster.  Still.  It was crowded and I didn't see either thing on my list (thrift and antique store hand tools are better and cheaper than new often).  Hence, I bagged it and went home.  OH! I did stop at another place, a friend's house, to buy some chicken feed and drop off a holiday gift.

This exercise has me inspired to parcel out my food.  I got out the raisin ration for the week, and the walnuts for the rest of December, which I think I might go through a tad fast.  I need to put a few back for the holiday meals.  Nuts make bread better. Also pancakes.

I'm also remembering to cook in the evening.  Stuff doesn't last as long as I think.  I made some biscuits last night and boiled up some rye berries so I have the base for some meals this week.  BUT I ate all the biscuits for breakfast today.  I was hungry.  Oops!  I can make more.  Plenty of flour for the rest of the month though I will be putting some of the wheat flour back for the holiday and trying to eat more of the almond flour.  Learning to use the vital wheat gluten too.  First I learned NOT to overdo it...holy gas batman!  (TMI??)

I've been trying to cut sodium in take all of 2021 and like MOST THINGS I know that doing it myself is best.  Cook your own food and you  wont' have a sodium issue.  It works.  DAMMIT.  

Big successes...chicken soup from the home canned chicken with spaetzles.  I don't have much veg to I boosted the soup with just onions and herbs including thyme from my garden.  Really good.  Quickly put half outside on the porch fridge so I wouldn't eat it all at once.  The spaetzles came out pretty good with a bit of nutmeg in them.  Tasty.   The no-sodium baking powder and an egg for leavening and protein boost.  

The yeast bread I did like a refrigerator dough since it is chilly at my house.  And my flour is all whole what so I threw in a bit of vital wheat gluten.  Let it sit over night then backed some up in a little jerry-rigged oven on top of the woodstove.  The oven worked, but the bread was heavy.  I don't mind since I like heavy breads but it isn't what I was shooting for.  Added more flour to the remaining dough and kneaded a bit (all in a giant jar so there isn't flour in every cranny of the wee shed).  Let that sit overnight to rise.  I was still heavy but really tasty from the long rise.  

The biscuits for today where spiced heavily and just flour, gluten, and the no sodium baking powder (which I call "faking powder").  They rose OK, and were delicious with a tablespoon of the coconut yogurt I had on the porch fridge.  I brought that to work to have with breakfasts this week.  

Chickens still putting out an egg most days!  That's good.  I got 2 eggs one day including a TINY one so I think one of the new ladies is trying to start laying.  When I remember, I put a light on them in the morning.  If I was more consistent I might get Gertrude laying again.  For now, Helen is laying and someone else might be trying.  For the last several days I've cooked up the lentils with some cayenne.  They need the lentils for the protein boost, just a tablespoon or so per chicken, and the cayenne might help make them lay.  I'm only half trying on getting them to lay, just playing.  They earn the rest through the winter and with out 8hours of daylight right now, most chickens won't put out eggs.  Just not enough light to trigger them.  

I got 2 orders for mustard, delivered one Saturday, she met me at the market I needed to hit so that was handy, and one more that I am working on.  Should be able to deliver that later this week.  People are ordering by the quart!  Jeez.  The pending order was for red wine vinegar and yellow mustard seed.  I was 2 cups short on vinegar!  I have 4 gallons of vinegar but not that kind.  So, I picked up just a small bottle.  Will have a half cup or so left.  Darn.  I might combine it with some other scraps of vinegar and make something for me.  I do have some more seeds so I might as well mix up some mustard to eat on the meats and fish I have left.  It's all in the pantry so ...it's fair game.

I found my pectin and a good recipe for making cranberry jelly from bottled cranberry juice (which I have) and honey (which I have), so I'm hoping to get to that but the though of spilling cranberry juice or worse, hot honeyed/sticky cranberry juice in the wee shed has put me off..  Maybe if I tarp the entire floor??

Sorted the office food stock a bit today.  Had to bring in jars of stuff because the place might freeze hard this week while I'm at work.  Can't have busted jars for a) the mess and clean up hassle without indoor plumbing and 2) the food loss.

Per my sister's (Hi!) recommendation I am listening to "Moon of the Crusted Snow" by Waubgeshig Rice.  The reader has the right accent, the one the characters would have, so it's really fun to listen too.  The story centers around a complete break down of "supply chains" and "communication networks" so people are reliant on what they have and what they can do.   Really a fun listen and inspiring for the pantry challenge and trying to grow a bit in winter, e.g. the sprouts I will start and the carrot tops (parsley substitute) I'm regrowing from the top nubs of 2nd Harvest carrots.  Quite nice.

I'm also watching some youtubes about ration cooking in the UK during WWII.  The supplies are reasonably similar.  Heavy on wheat flour, light on meat and fresh eggs.  Since I have powdered egg, like they did, quite a few of the recipes work for me.  I'll throw links in a blog post maybe for the most useful videos/recipes.

Pantry Challenge So Far, and I Forgot a Thing...

 I forgot another person who will need a meal treat for the holiday/her birthday!  We've done it for 20 years so, I will make an attempt to combine that with the already noted 1 meal out, but unlikely I can pull that off. 

Day 1 of the pantry challenge went fine.

Sardines for lunch (right from the can!  ew but I was headed to the field and in a hurry).  Eggy whole wheat flour skillet bread for breakfast.  It was supposed to be pancakes but they got puffy so they were skillet breads.

I made a couple of other things that were even less creative and interesting.

I figured out about how to divide the stock between December and January so I have some meat and veg left later in the game.  And thought through holiday meal options.  The ones at home.  I have so much to work with that treats are no problem.  Clearly I overstocked on that sort of thing.

It does make it easier NOT to eat the canned/packaged stuff right away.  That will last.  The carrots will make it another week or two, but not likely through January since I have no root cellar.  Same with the onions.  The squash might.  But, I will be working to keep an eye on the fresh and eat it as it gets to the end of good.  Also will get sprouts going as the other fresh food runs low.

I discovered another jar of coconut oil, 15fl oz, and 2 jars of 100% cranberry juice that I had spaced.  Those will be handy for xmas.  I have maple syrup that should go well with the cranberry juice to make a nice sauce for duck.  I've fermented some of the carrots with ginger which is a good tart side as well.  Hopefully will have an onion to roast because those are delicious and cook inside the woodstove.  And I have a little tiny squash that I can stuff with raisins or figs and walnuts and roast up with a bit of maple syrup or honey.  And if I get on the stick, a fresh batch of kombucha will be ready to flavor up.  Also have makings for hot chocolate or a mocha with coconut milk (powdered coconut milk is the bomb to have around), as well as german style pancakes for breakfast.  I reviewed the menu so I remember not to eat up the things I need for that meal.

A friend gave me 2 bags of powdered egg a week ago and that really helps.  If the chickens stop laying, I can still make most things.  Fried egg is a loser from powdered, but baking and pancakes work fine.

I also have gelatine...maybe a cranberry jello mold?  Or a coconut milk based pudding.

Pantry Challenge December and January!

 I couldn't come up with a clever name for the pantry challenge so I tried to punch it up with an exclamation point.  My writing is not good today.

Anywho...I have a butt ton of food.  Lots of protein and carbs, some veg and fruit (especially dried fruit), a giant dark chocolate bar that I can dress up by melting in some nuts and maybe even coffee beans.  Enough coffee and tea to get me through the next apocalypse.

Hence...a pantry challenge.

I do need to take one person out for a holiday meal because that is what works for us.  Aside from that and when people randomly hand me stuff, like the lovely neighbor who dropped off turkey, potatoes and gravy Sunday afternoon, I shall eat from the pantry and the eggs the hens may or may not produce.   

A few of my go-to recipes, like banana eggs for breakfast, will run out, which will make me come up with some other options.  Always good.

I think making the coffee last will also motivate me to get back to tea rather than a 2nd cup of coffee.  (...ok, 3rd and 4th cups of coffee) (don't judge me).

Pantry challenges always improve my meals, cooking and health (like limiting sodium).  The only thing I might not have plenty of is peppercorns.  How incredibly bougie is that??  

I never did a total pantry inventory so maybe this will motivate me to do that.  Or not.  

I may well have enough TP to get through January if  I am clean but judicious with the use.

We'll see how it goes!  At least I should waste less food!  I'm already thinking of how to ration the squash and onions and carrots (the "Fresh") and when to start sprouting seeds for greens.  

Power Outage...but NOT at my place

 So I'm driving home, as one does when work is over AND the power keeps going on and off at the office.

The power was back on in the town where I work, but then, everything was dark.  A car was off the road and a tree or two down.  Of course, it's 5pm and pitch dark because we are having a wind storm with a bit of rain.  Clouds.  No moon or stars.  Then I notice, also only like one lighted window per house along the road, the occassional porch light, probably solar.

It took me a bit, but then I figured out the power was out.  Possibly due to the downed trees or car jammed against a power pole (brand new power pole....busted in half).

At my house, the solar panels are still up (knocking on wood now) and I have as much power as I ever do after a cloudy day.

My life didn't change. 

This makes me smirk.   All the preppers with crap in their giant a$$ freezers are now finding a bit crap in their pants.  I keep shelf stable things that can freeze and thaw a few times (dry beans, dry yeast, flour, pasta in jars).  With the wind there won't be a fire in my stove tonight, but it's still 50 degs outside so it's not a problem.  Sometimes it gets down to freezing in here on a windy night, but still, I might need to take a couple of frozen eggs and make pancakes instead of scrambled eggs.

Those with frozen meat and fridges are hoping that the massive power outage is over soon, or it freezes hard (well, those who realize they can put things outside if it's cold enough want it to freeze.  Those with pellet stoves or electric heat are not that much for it),

Yesterday it was windy, but also sunny enough that I ran a little space heater most of the day when I was inside so my toes were warm.  I didn't really need it, but, why not?  The batteries were full and everything past that isn't stored up anyway.

So, there you go.  Solar wins again.

What if I Stretched This Slow Fashion Thing a Bit Further?

 Like, I'm thinking I could NOT buy any clothes in 2022.   I've started looking at my clothing stock and what tends to come in to it regularly.

I have shortsleeve t shirts coming out my ears.  And I get some free now and then.

Could use a long sleeved t or two.  Easy to get at thrift I think.

Sweatshirts, enough, not too many but enough.

Enough undies for now, but aging.  3 new pairs kept in back stock should sort it out.

A good supply of warm sox, need to check into the summer weight sox stock.

Bras...could probably make it a year if I had 1 new good bra and kept it out of full rotation until needed.

Jeans/pants:  Numbers wise I have enough, but some are thin summer pants that I tear up fast so actually...1-2 decent pairs of all cotton jeans in backstock would get me through a year easily, especially if I do better at changing in to work pants before doing chores.

Sweaters....plenty.  I am actually wearing a really nice Dale of Norway sweater with pewter buttons as jammies.   I put a long sleeve t or hoodie over it, and a t-shirt under it.  Toasty.

Longjohns.  Supply is probably just enough to make it.  1 pair totally worn out, 3 pairs OK (1 is jammies).

Coats...don't get me started!

Rainpants...actually need a pair of these.   The ones I have are too big and in tatters.  Maybe 50% effective.

Workpants: I'm ok on these.  They don't all fit but who cares when you are shoveling sh*t?

Hats: I'm OK.

Gloves...hmmm...if I don't lose them I kind of have enough for warmth, but work gloves I should have 2 more pairs.   They get wet/bloody and I need a dry pair available when that happens.

Boots: peachy!  Tall rubber boots, insulated muck boots, and hiking boots (2 of 3 pairs bought by work), crappy old boots for hazmat work, 1 pair of steel toes, and....well, there are more.  Might need some repaired but not replaced.

Shoes: 3 old pairs but they will be fine.

Button down shirts...plenty.  I would like to wear a few out actually.

Undershirts/shells:  I could use a blue and a grey tank top.  

No formal wear to speak of but that almost never comes up and I can probably borrow a garment if I really need it.

I can work with this and come up with a list of things and double check backstock.   Get it all sorted by the time Jan 1 comes around and try for a no-clothes-buy 2022 if I feel like it.

Slow Fashion October OTD (outfit of the day)

 I started the day at the gym.

Shoes: ANCIENT and resoled shoes bought on sale.  Over 10 years use so far.  They are good leather and comfortable.   They got demoted to gym wear as the top is separating from the sole a bit and the glue doesn't hold as long when used outside.  

Socks:  Gift

Pants: bought for 1$ at thrift 2 or 3 years ago.  They just live in the gym bag.

Undies...old.

Foundation garment: See previous post. Same one.

Shirt: tank top purchased at thrift maybe a decade ago.  It's an eddie bauer or something and just will not wear out.

I also did yoga while there.

yoga bag: gift (actually, it was a gift bag but is a nice canvas shopping bag that now transports yoga stuff)

Blocks: bought on super sale during a 'rona closure of a local studio

Strap: I think I paid retail for this but it was like 15-20 years ago.

Mat: super cool FOLDING yoga mat bought at thrift for 2$ or so.  Used for several years now and shows no wear.  I like the flat fold better than the roll.  I can travel with it in a suitcase.  

Towel/blanket: Gramma got me this when I STARTED college so it is over 37 years into pretty well daily use.  It's thin but still soaks up liquids like water and sweat.  

Slow Fashion October: Another OTD (outfit of the day...see how I am all hip with the lingo if it is 1998)

 I WILL have a change of shoes here in a bit so I'll include both options:

Boots: bought by my job, warm insulated rubber boots.  Wore them home one day and back to work today to get them back to the office.  I wore them 5 times in the last week.

Shoes: Bought on deep sale 2 or 3 years ago.   Not thrift, I think they cost about 50 or 60$.  I wear them 3-5 days a week in fall and spring depending on weather.   They are good leather with good soles so will last a while. 

Socks: gift (thanks Chris!)

Jeans:  Ancient thrift jeans, this is day 1.  If I can keep them clean they will see several wearings this week.

Belt: Same as before.

Undies: Bought new, but worn weekly for about a year an a half.  They were part of the early 'rona underwear stock up that allowed me to go 2 weeks between laundry runs which saves $$.

Foundation garment:  Bought on super sale at Ross or TJMaxx.  Over a year ago.  Worn tons.  Protip: It is grey and grey bras don't look dingy like white ones after a year or so.  I don't generally use bleach and have touchy skin so whites get dingy looking.   Solution: avoid white clothes.

T-shirt: From a giveaway at work.

Button down (because I thought I had a meeting but now it is canceled):  Bought at thrift years ago.  I am pretty sure I paid 4-5$.  I usually stop at 2$ but this is a high quality shirt in orange (not a fave color but counts as "high visibility" on construction sites), it fits my line-backer shoulders and long monkey arms, AND has the coveted DOUBLE pit zips (vents for hot days) so I can wear it a lot all year.  Hence, it gets worn almost weekly.  I get compliments.  It is an REI or Eddie Bauer brand.  I'm not a brand rat but those two do tend to be high quality construction and fabric, along with a few other brands, so when I see them at thrift, I give them a 2nd look even if they are above the usual 2$ limit on shirt price.

Hair tie: Haven't picked one yet but all the ones with me are used.  I know this because they are around the bottom of my travel french press (thrift, obv) and it looks like it is wearing a fuzzy bracelet.  Tons of hair stuck in the ties.

Next time I buy some new garment, or maybe those carhartts mentioned in a previous post, I should put a dot or hash on the inside of the garment each time I wear it.  Then I can track the "cost per wear".  With some of my 2$ shirts I'm pretty confident we're approaching a penny a wearing.

Slow Fashion October Outfit of the Day

 Today...

Boots bought on deep sale (35$ usually 135$) and worn...80-100 times so far. 

Sox: none.  You don't need any with these boots unless it is cold out.  They are lined with cotton flannel

Jeans:  Thrift, worn 5 times so far this week.  Purchased many years ago.

Belt (I forgot this last time!):  Thrift, 3$ and I resented the cost, real leather sturdy belt with a brass buckle.  Worn almost everyday. Bought years ago.  could be 1000 wearings so far.  I reverse the direction it goes in the pants each time so it doesn't get that permanent dip in the back from always being worn the same direction.

Undies:  NEW!  but from thrift.  First wearing.  They are from that pack that was still sealed and the undies still taped to the cardboard insert that I found at thrift.  The pair I changed out of were in tatters. Clearly over 7 wearings.

T-shirt: Gift (thanks Chris) several years ago.  The collar is starting to get a bit wonky, but no holes yet.  Worn about once every 2 weeks for 2 years.  100ish wearings.

Foundation garment: It is on day 5 like the jeans.  I haven't sweat much this week and no one is going to be around me at work today (it's a holiday but I'm going in to make up some time rather than use vacation time for a day last week).  Bought new at deep discount at Ross Dress for Less. Probably 5-8$.  That's the price range I wait for for the high end foundation garments.  

Coat: Thrift, years ago.  

Hairties: dollar store.  Not sure how many times one hairtie gets worn.  Until it breaks.

Even Slower Fashion October

 Yeah, that's right.  Struggling with titles.  Leave it alone.

I talked to a couple of friends and they too were stunned at the thought of wearing something a few times and chucking it or donating it.  We were chatting and wearing clothes with visible wear and tear from age, wearings and work (and my tendency to run into barbed wire).

E.G. today's ensemble:

Shoes bought new and worn almost daily since I got them (on sale) (obviously) so over 100 times so far.

Sox:  Gift (Thanks Marcie!) and worn 2x so far this week.  I got them over a year ago and they are summer weight so probably over 100 wearings to dat.

Pants:  Jeans bought at thrift (hopefully after the original owner wore them more than a few times).  I've had them 2 years or more.  I put clean jeans on Mondays and wear them until they are stinky/dirty or it's the weekend.  So, day 2 this week.  And I wore them last week .   Right now I have 4 pairs of jeans in rotation and haven't put a new pair in the mix for over a year so...lots of wearings.

Undies: bought new in the box, but at thrift (and as it turns out a size too small but dammit I WILL get my money's worth out of these).  I've had them since the beginning of 'rona.  Many wearings...unlike jeans, they get worn once and washed, not for the week.

"Foundation Garment": ...ok, it's the bra.  BOUGHT NEW (at TJMaxx) over a year ago.  I have 4 in rotation so it must get 365/4 wearings per year...OK, true confessions, no bras on the weekend so more like 265/4 per year.  About 66 wearings per bra per year.   I do have one bra that is a frankenbra made from 2 others.  1 had the hooks all torn up and stabbing me but was otherwise fine, the other was so low cut in the front that the hams weren't staying in the sack unless I was just sitting at a desk all day.  So, hooks off both, good hooks sewn onto the better formatted bra, and voila...more life in that foundation garment.

Shirt: a tank top for under button downs.  I got it at thrift YEARS ago.  Like I can't remember how many years ago. It is a really good quality one and won't seem to wear out.  If I've had it 3 years (it's been longer), I wear the tank tops half the year under button downs and to yoga etc,, one wearing then washed.  So, about 20 wearings a year per tank which puts this at 60 wearings minimum and I'm thinking more.

Sweatshirt: like the jeans, put on on Monday (always with a t-shirt or tank under sweatshirts to keep them less sweaty), and wear it until soiled.  I wore it 3 days last week, 2 so far this week.  Had it a year, wear it half the year.  50+ wearings.  Bought at thrift and it has the design section of a previous sweatshirt applique'd on it (thanks Anne!).

Coat:  Bought at thrift over 5 years ago.  It is a letterman's jacket from the 1990s.  Super warm and sturdy.  Worn lots in the winter.  I'm going to say 50+, likely 100+ wearings.  

I did buy 3 more undies because I found them new in the box, and in the right size, at thrift.  Also got a new or nearly new pair of Carhartt work pants at thrift (10$!!!  so expensive but they fit and have no spandex.  We know how I feel about spandex).  They are at the bottom of the pile of 3 pairs of work pants.  As the ones above them wear out, these will come into rotation.  Or if I fall in the creek twice and get down to the third pair in a day.

R.I.P. Pearl

Pearl, ca. 2018-2021

 

One of the many free chickens, Pearl, has passed away.

Pearl lived a good life laying many eggs.  MANY eggs.  She was spent.  Her final days were passed in chicken hospice with full palliative care (food and water in reach without getting up and no other birds bugging her).  She took her time moving to the great beyond.  Her body was buried at sea, or will be once the creek starts running again.

Slow Fashion October

 OK, I know if my sister happens on this she will question the term "fashion" in anything I write.  I don't have any fashion sense at all.  Which, for slow fashion October, works perfect in reducing clothing waste.

I watched a youtube...which I do too much of late.  But then I fact checked this one and it was correct.  Dang it!

I had heard the term "fast fashion" but since I have no fashion interest and am of an age where "fast" is moot, I ignored it and filed it under run of the mill consumerist BS that was probably wasteful.

But...I had no idea HOW wasteful.  Wow.

Here's a link to the youtube:  https://youtu.be/F6R_WTDdx7I

And here's a link with some background on slow fashion October:

https://www.interweave.com/article/knitting/slow-fashion-karen-templer/

Interesting stuff.

I no clue how many clothes people in 1st world countries have!  Good lord.  Throwing out over 80lbs per year in the US????   I don't have 80lbs of clothes.  Probably 50 to 60lbs.  About 20lbs of that is boots.  I should count my garments.  It's not a small number.   But clearly I am behind most of the US population.

Anyway, according to various studies you can link through the above links, in the US in 1990 80-90% of the clothes Americans bought were made in America.  After NAFTA (which for the record I thought was BS when it was put in place...different rant) jobs in the textile industry moved to other countries where people are paid less.  Less than a living wage.  And human rights are violated in the sweat shops.  But it's cheap!!  

What percentage is now made in America???  2.5% roughly.  That's a loss.  Big loss. I have trouble finding clothes made in  the USA.  Even my hippie dippie zero drop shoes from a company based in Portland OR...the actual shoes are made in china.  The company claims they couldn't find a manufacturer in the US.  ONE of my pairs of boots IS made entirely in the US.  Actually, the leather may have been tanned overseas.  Apparently that's a thing we do.  Ship hides overseas for tanning and have them shipped back to make stuff out of the hides.  That is BONKERS.  Anyway, I traded a pair of boots with a friend.  The boots I got from him didn't fit me super well but better than the ones I gave him (which passed on to a dude who was fixing his roof and I think that dude is actually wearing them).  I traded that 2nd pair of boots to a neighbor who gave me a pair of used White's Boots!  Hand made in Spokane, WA.  So not only in the US, but in the same region as me.  Nice.  I'm working on learning to wear heavy boots again.  They are awesome.   

The other garment I have that I know was made in the US is a t-shirt I bought this year.  One of the first "new" items, like actually new from a retail store, I've purchased in ages (other than sox, undies and some shoes) at full price.  I paid a higher price because it is made in the USA.  Also, because the design on it is the bomb.

Of my used items, the vast majority are made elsewhere.

Now for another factoid...apparently we wear our clothes a few times and throw them out as "old".  The studies claim people in the 1st world chuck the clothes (or forget them but don't chuck them) after an AVERAGE of 7 WEARINGS!!!  WHAT!!!  I wore the aforementioned t-shirt 3 times the week I got it and 2 times the next week. It's already over 7 wearings.   The sweatshirt I have on was purchased used, then a couple of pieces of a previous sweatshirt (That I wore until it fell off me in shreds) are applique'd on it (thanks Anne!!).  My "good" black t-shirt with long sleeves that I wear under button downs and sweaters was purchased new but at a deep discount (5$) literally years ago.  Like 5 or 6 years ago.  In Portland at Powells Books.  It made its first outing of the season this week and I noticed that the cuffs are so worn they are splitting into two unrelated layers instead of a coherent folded over ribbed edge.  I will keep wearing it until it is in tatters. It won't even be demoted to non-office wear yet.

The shirt I wore with it, an orange button down REI fishing shirt with vented pits...love the vented pits, I bought at a thrift store a few years ago and wear about once a week 6 months of the year. 

I wear my jeans (which I get in the 100% cotton version because 1) better quality 2) don't stretch out and make it look like I crapped my pants, 3) without the plastic stretch crap in them I can use the scraps of wornout jeans in the garden as weed mat or tomato ties and it will just dissolve into the soil eventually) until they fall off of me in shreds.  Then they are diced up for the rag bag.  Then end up as kindling or in the garden.  I haven't bought jeans new in probably a decade or more.  I've tried to buy all cotton workpants new but I can't find any that fit because only a few brands do all cotton anymore, and then pretty much only in men's sizes and then they don't carry a long inseam with the waist size I need.  So, I comb the thrift stores and try to have 3 jeans and a few workpants in active rotation and a few in backstock for when something falls off me in shreds.

I wear my bras and undies until I can't figure out which hole is for a limb and which is for the torso.  Sox get mended (and are cotton or wool, but sadly rarely 100% cotton or wool because that is almost not a thing anymore...I keep looking) until there is more darn than sock.  Then they go in the rag bag.  Sock tops are great for lots of things and the feet make reasonable cleaning mitts.

More factoids...cost per wear.   With fast fashion, even a dress at 30$ that is worn the average 7 times, that's about $4.28 per wearing.  If you are a chump and buy one that says "dry clean only" (and extra chump points if you take that on faith rather than trying to wash it by hand and block it) then it will be "cheaper" to throw it out rather than clean it and wear it.   If you are me, you didn't pay $4.28 to start with!  I might pay 10$ for jeans if they are all cotton and fit really well and have lots of wear left and the pockets are actually deep enough to put sh*t in.  Then I wear them ...let's see....a pair lasts 1-2 years for me, and I have 3 pairs in rotation at a time.  So...1/3 of a year I'm wearing each pair.   That's 122 wearings (roughly) per year per pair...but I do wear chore pants on the weekend usually so we'll call it 100 wearings per pair per year.  Even if a pair only lasts the one year, that's 4cents a wearing.  Since I usually wear a pair of jeans for a week and then put them in the wash (they go in sooner if they get sweaty or grubby), I spend less on laundry than most.  Less washing makes clothes last longer and puts less microplastic waste in the water ways.

There are more horrifying factoids like how much fast fashion is thrown out before anyone even buys it!  It is produced, shipped, put up on display, and thrown out!  Wasted clothing, resources, effort.  And still the companies selling this crap make money hand over fist.  So how much is thrown out?  60%  MOST of it.  Cripes.  You can read 20 of the more horrifying factoids here:

https://goodonyou.eco/fast-fashion-facts/

How to reduce clothing waste at the consumer end:

-Inventory what you have.   You will be surprised.

-Don't buy crappy clothes.   They don't last.  Buy clothes that last.  You can do this new or used.  

-If possible, buy clothes produced in a first world nation.  

-If you can, buy local.  

-If you can, make your own!  (I can't sew clothes or knit or crochet.  I am hoping to learn to weave.)

-Buy natural fibers (thereby not contributing to microplastic waste AND enhancing recycling/reusing options)

-Wash judiciously.  I have written about doing laundry well, also do it infrequently.  A good airing is the old febreeze (don't use febreeze). 

-Use the dryer sparingly!  Line drying is better or hanging on hangers or a drying rack.  The sun kills germs for free.  Dryers are hard on clothes and all the "lint" is what used to be the fabric in your clothes.

-Wear what you already own.  Go shopping in the dresser, closet, wherever you keep clothes.  Try them all on.  If something feels good, fits right, looks decent and suits the tasks you expect to do in it, keep it.  If not, donate it or do a clothing swap with friends and neighbors.  Everyone brings clothes that are in good shape and fresh washed, but they don't want anymore.  Best to sort them by garment type and/or size.  Put the clothes around a room, then people can pick what they want.  Try it on, take it to a relative/friend it might fit or work for.   After that, check with a shelter or other social service agency to see if they an use any of it.  

-Try new combinations of what you own.   We get in ruts.

-Remember that people are so worried about themselves they really don't give a crap what you are wearing.  In 2014/2015 I blogged about wearing the same 5 sweaters to work everyday for a month.  It turned into a winter's worth of wearing those sweaters because it was comfy, easy, simplified my morning.  I had a few choices, but not dozens.   And, since I wore an undershirt with the sweater, I washed them once at the start of the season and once at the end of the season.  See above "launder judiciously."

-Borrow clothes if you need a specialty item.  Like a party or wedding or something.  See if you can borrow an item. 

-Thrift and redonate for a special occasion item if you can't borrow something or wear something you already own.  I've done this for the odd wedding.  Like one in the summer when it was SUPER hot and all my "formal" clothes (you know, the ones without holes) are for cooler weather.  So I ran to a thrift store and got a doable linen outfit and sandals for about 10$, wore it, washed it, and redonated it.  

-Change your clothes before you do dirty chores.   Change into older stuff that you are wearing out.  

-Learn to mend clothes.  Good brands of shirts with buttons give you a couple of spare buttons.  They are sewn to the inside of one of the side seams or hooked to the tag at the top along the neckline.  Keep those.  Really good quality clothes come with a bit of spare thread too.  Keep that as well.   Designate a box or drawer for mending thing and put the buttons in there.  When one pops off, watch a youtube and learn how to sew it back on.  (Get your sewing kit at thrift and get cotton, linen or silk thread...polyester and nylon thread are crap.)

-Pick styles and colors and things that YOU like, not what is in fashion at the moment.  Like broom skirts in shades of mustard and puce?  Knock yourself out.  No one really cares.  

-When shopping new or used, check the seams, washing instructions (only chumps buy "dry clean only"), and fabric content.  Pull on the fabric a bit and see if it is sturdy.   Anything weak, frayed or hard to wash isn't worth it. 

-Be willing to reformat a garment to get more wear.  I mentioned my tendency to wear through the cuffs on t-shirts above.  I also wearout the cuffs on sweatshirts.  By the time the cuffs are work to tatters, the shirt is generally too raggedy to wear to work anyway and is a chore shirt or pajamas.  So, cut the cuffs off.  You still have over 90% of the shirt and it is still wearable.  You can cut the sleeves off a hooded sweatshirt when they get too worn and frayed and wear it as a work smock (with cozy hood) for dirty chores like butchering.

There's more but this is a good spot to stop.  

Food Waste In America

 So, I thought the main issue with food waste in the US was at the production and processing phases.  I watched a documentary on the youtubes (forgot which one...it was running in the background while I was doing something) 40% happens at HOME after we pay for it and bring it to the house with the intention of eating it.  CRIPES!!!!  That means 40% of the average American grocery (the food bits, not the TP which is no longer wasted EVER) is wasted as well as the food.

Cutting food waste, any waste but today is the food waste rant, is cutting the budget so you have that $$ to spend on sh*t you enjoy.  Sh*t like not working forever because you have enough savings to retire early.

So, I am refocused on cutting food waste.  I don't waste a ton.  I even have started choosing squash not only for flavor but for meat to hide ratio...though I need some hide for the worm bin and the chickens.  

Actual methods to cut waste:

1) Know how to store food.   There are guides all over the internet.  Do a search and print out a couple.  Put them on the door of the fridge and/or pantry or wherever you will see it.  Maybe next to the toilet so you can grab it and read it when your phone runs out of batteries and you can't text people while you poo.  Also, if you write the date you opened something on the package, and do so BIG, you'll know at a glance what is getting to more than a week or two out and should be eaten ASAP.  Finally, smell stuff.  Learn what it smells like when it's good.  When it smells different (and is covered with what I like to call "advanced composting substance"), time to compost it.  

2) Know how to cook.  You don't have to be a chef, just learn that to make soup you start by chopping and frying an onion.  To make eggs, you start with eggs and a pan of water or a skillet.  To make a stir fry, start with hot oil and chopped ingredients...and remember to STIR.  One of my old roommates remembered the fry part, but not the STIR part and we had an almost-fire with the grease.  Stir it.   If you want a roast or a roasted something like chicken, turn on the oven and make sure the meat is thawed.  Know that hard veggies take longer to cook than floppy veggies.  Cut the big ones smaller or start them cooking earlier.  A good place to start is at the library with a SIMPLE cookbook.  Or some youtubes if you have free internet access.  

3) Buy what you actually eat, not aspirational things like "I WILL switch directly from cap'n crunch just berries to plain dry oats with bitter melon".  If you eat cap'n crunch, well, you're wasting money but at least you're not also wasting the nuclear power plant by-product I suspect is the main ingredient in that crap'n crunch (which is delicious).

4) Eat what you bought.  Go through the fridge and cupboard BEFORE you go shopping.  Figure out a few things you can make, that you will actually eat, from what you have.  Make at least one of them and put it in the front of the fridge or wherever it will be OK and you will see it.  If you see it, you will eat it. 

5) Use up as much of the meat/fruit/veg/whatever as you can.  Limit the amount you peel, scrap, cut and chuck, even into the compost.  

Have you noticed how you didn't have to  buy anything to do those things?  

Here are a few concrete ways to avoid food waste on specific items.

Let's start with squash and melons.  SAVE THE DAMN SEEDS.  I keep a few to plant but MOSTLY I toast and eat them.  If you run a wood stove, throw a handful on top and eat them.  Put them on salad, on soup, in that trail mix you made or the homemade granola/protein bars.  I don't bother shelling the seeds, eat the shell and all.  So far no digestive issues with that.  Once dry, they save for ages in a jar.

How to save the damn squash/melon seeds:

Gut the squash (pumpkin, butternut, zucchini, cantaloupe, whatever) using your favorite method.  Put the guts in a bowl that will hold twice the volume of the guts (approximately, use the bowl you have, pans count as bowls).  Put water in until the guts are covered.  Do whatever you're doing with the squash/melon.  Come back a while later, same day, next day...not much more than that.  Stick your hands in there and squeeze the seeds to separate them from the guts, not to break the seeds.   Pull out the guts and seeds separately.  The guts go to chickens or compost.  The seeds to out on paper or a kitchen towel to dry.  I like a towel because the seeds don't have to be turned to avoid paper stickage.

Let them get SUPER dry.  Takes a day or two.  If you have a garden area, save a couple of seeds to plant.  The rest, you can put in a jar as is if they are really dry.  Or, toast right away, let them cool, and then put in a jar with a tight lid.  If you put them in hot, there will be condensation and mold.  Eat.

You can toast them in an oven, on top of a woodstove, in a dry skillet over low heat.  You'll know they are toasted when they look a bit brownish and smell good.  And a few will pop open.

People pay a mint for pumpkin seeds at the store.  Pumpkins are squash.  It's all seeds.  All are delicious and nutritious.

Perhaps potatoes, carrots, apples and other peelable things with edible peels are next.  DO NOT PEEL THEM.  Wash them.  Use a veggie scrubber. This is the same as your dish scrubber but new.  When it won't work on veggies anymore, then it's a dish scrubber.  (when it won't work on dishes...floor, then toilet, then trash).  Or, use a clean dish cloth.  or the edge of a spoon, back of a knife...or...wait for it...YOUR HANDS.  Yes, you can rub the dirt off potatoes with your hands.  Carrots don't have skin so you're just peeling off perfectly good carrot.  I scrub them and if they are pretty grubby, use the back of a knife to scrape off the dirty bit with minimal carrot loss.  I do this outside (because carrot bits go all over) and the chickens think it's raining treats.  Apples...the peels do not interfere with apple enjoyment.  Same with pears.  If you making apple sauce or butter (or pear sauce/butter), you can dice small and enjoy the red or green flecks in the final product, or use a stick blender if you already own it and do the dicing later.  Obviously any cores/seeds go in compost or to the chickens or out for birds to eat.  If you insist on peeling apples, sprinkle the inside of the peel bits with cinnamon and bake them along with the pie or whatever it is you peeled the apples for.  Or add them to a squash soup that you are going to blenderize with the blender you already own (stick, regular, food processor).  If you really really MUST peel that damn potato, at least put some seasoning on the peel and bake it like chips.  People pay good money for potato skins at restaurants.

And now, meat stuff.  Buy the right meat.  You can't use stew meat in a fast cooked dish because stew meat is tough.  Yes, it is cheap, but it needs long slow wet cooking to be decent.  If you insist on it for a non-stew dish, you'll need to chop it to a pulp, at which point, just buy the burger.  Buy only what you need.  Freeze it, fridge it, or cook it asap.  If you cook it and don't eat it, chop it up and freeze it in the soup container (see below).  Or freeze it in single portions and LABEL IT.  Put the purchase date and the freeze/fridge/cook date on it.  Labeling is your friend.   When you cut the fat off pork, that's good for frying stuff.  If you don't like the fat, don't bring it home.  Buy a leaner cut.  When you fry meat, save the grease.  You can cook in bacon grease, duck fat, beef grease, almost any grease.  If you don't want to eat it, and it's not tooooo salty, there are recipes for suet type bird food blocks you can make with it.  If you still don't want to do that, rethink how much grease and fat you are bringing into the house.    Save the bones!  Bird carcasses like chicken and turkey are great for soup base.  Put those either in water and boil up right away, or in the freezer to flavor up the scrap soup you're going to have in a bit.  To save waste on a bird carcass:  eat the skin.  If you hate the skin, why did you bring it home?  If you must have the skin and not eat it, dice it up and bake it hard as pet treats.  OK, back to the carcass:  wash your hands and use them to pick off every bit of meat from those bones.  Save that separate from the bones.   Use the bones to make a simple broth by boiling them up.  If you have something in the oven, put the bones in a pan, with a bit of that skin you don't want to eat, that can go in the oven, cover with water and let it go for as long as you can.  You can do it on top of the stove, in a crock pot, pressure cooker whatever.  The basic thing is bones + water + heat + time.  People pay good money for bone broth.  It is the juice from boiling bones.  Don't be frightened when you take it out, let it cool, remove the bones (you can compost them now or even....throw them out if you must...burying them in the garden provides years of minerals to your plants so maybe do that) and chill the broth.  It will thicken.  That's the collagen people are paying money for in powders and bone broths.  It's good for you.  You may not have to buy all that glucosamine anymore if you use this in your scrap soup.

What's this soup container and scrap soup we've been reading so much about lately (in this very blog post)?  It's what you think it is.  If you have a fridge and/or freezer, then get a container...one that you already own.  Perhaps a margarine tub or ice cream bucket or peanut butter jar.  If you have a family of 20, a big container or a few containers is good.  If you live alone, then a container that holds a few cups (I was going to say a pint but do non-canners even know what that is outside hipster beer bars?)   Make sure the container is clean, still has structural integrity, and a tight fitting lid.  If you are a canner, a large mouth pint or quart jar will work.  I avoid metal as some things going in will be acidic but you do you. Find an obvious spot in the fridge or freezer to put the container.  Easy to access daily.  

How to use it:  put food scraps in it after meals.  Have a bit more chopped onion than you need? Put it in the soup container.  Find one lone garlic clove starting to get soft?  Take the paper skin off and put the clove in the container.  Bit of left over salad with no dressing?  Into the container.  Bit of left over salad with dressing?  Rinse the dressing off (in the collander you already own or just in the bowl and then drain by holding the salad in the bowl with your hand) and put it into the container. You rinse off the dressing because ranch does not go with everything.  If it's a vinaigrette, you might leave it.  Don't worry, even lettuce is fine in soup.  Don't put cheese or big hunks of pure fat or egg in the container.  These don't freeze well and interfere with soup texture. Bits of bacon, that last pork chop no one ate...dice those up and put them in the container. Three pieces of salami?  Go ahead, put it in the container.  Zucchini boat to far?  Chop and put in the container.  Did you make spaghetti and there is like a half serving of sauce and 10 noodles left?  Those go in the container.  Apples and pears do ok in most soups.  So a slice or two of those will be fine.  Left over rice and other grains...same thing.  When the container is full, look at it.  If there is no onion or garlic or chives or other oniony/garlicy/chive thing in there, you MIGHT want to fry a bit of one of those in the soup pan before you dump the container contents in.  Or not.  Just dump the container contents into a pan big enough to hold them, about an hour before you want to eat.  Add water ...or some of that delicious bone broth you made...or both.  And that last tablespoon of tomato paste you just noticed in a can at the back of the fridge.  Bring to a boil, lower the temp to a simmer.  Put a lid on it.  Let it simmer until it is time to eat.  It will work great in a crock pot or in a pan in the oven if you are making biscuits to go with it. 

Taste it.  If it is bland, put some in a bowl and try a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice if you have it.  It will perk up anything.  Add salt, pepper, spices to taste. Usually whatever you threw in the container has enough seasoning to see you through.

Once you sort the seasonings out, put it in bowls and enjoy. 

101 Dishes I Can Cook Entirely From Ingredients On-Hand

 This is an exercise for me.   Partly because I usually do this in the notes app on the discarded phone from my sister (thanks!) that I took a simcard out of and use as a glorified notebook and wifi device.  But then I butt-deleted the entire notes app.  CRIPES!!!!  Still, you have to admit I have a talented butt to do such a complex operation.

And I've gotten in the habit of grabbing things to eat when I'm out and about.  That isn't frugal and isn't appreciating what I have already!   Most of what I have will store for ages, but not forever (the honey being a major exception) and what is the point of a garden if I don't eat/share/use the produce?

Anywhoooo, here are things I can make entirely from my current pantry stock and crap that is around the property waiting to be picked, or in the case of eggs...waiting to be laid (heh heh..aren't we all).

1  Garbanzo soup with onion, garlic, greens and wheat berries

2 Pinto bean soup

3 Lentil Soup

4 Peruana Soup (some of those beans I grew myself!)

5 Random Bean Soup (from beans I grew from a free bean soup mix...chucked the salty-ass yucky spice pack.

6 Lentil Soup.   Lots of soup. To go in these I have tarragon, chives, garlic, greens, lovage, 2 kinds of thyme, 2 kinds of sage, wormwood, greens (3 or 4 kinds), squash, and eggs all from the property.  (if I can find the lentils I KNOW I bought...probably in the bin I didn't check yet)

7 Pumpkin Soup.  Made this yesterday with a random type of winter squash from a friend.

8 Walnut squash loaf

9 Fancy salad with greens and nuts

10 Sprout salad (have sprouting seeds to save and use in the winter when fresh produce is at a premium)

11 Bread.  I have whole wheat flour as well as a grinder and rye berries and wheat berries.

12 Coconut Milk hot chocolate!  I have 2 bags of dehydrated coconut milk.  And cocoa powder.

13 Walnut clusters.  Walnuts and dark chocolate from the pantry.

14 Breakfast wheat berry porridge with walnuts and raisins.

15 Keto-ish raisin bread with almond and coconut flour

16 Apple pannekoeken (which is my pretend german-ish pancake using any of the above noted flours and eggs)

17 Raised yeast bread.

18 Bannock bread with my new and just tested no-salt baking powder!  LOW SODIUM bread...yay.  Also have no-sodium baking soda that I haven't tested yet.   They are calcium and magnesium based so they also up the mineral intake.  

19 Chicken soup...those baby roosters and the elderly non-layers with some onion from the pantry and various seasonings from the garden and maybe some egg noodles.

20 Salmon burgers from canned salmon, fresh eggs, and a flour and psyllium husk as binder

21 Gelatine desserts from the last of the pound of gelatine (protein supplement) I bought a few years ago.

22 Tuna on toast from the canned tuna in the stash.

23 Sardines on homemade crackers from the pantry stash.

24 Tea

25 Coffee

26 Almond milk from the almond flour

27 Peanut butter sandwiches

28 Peanut sauce for a nice curry type dish over rye berries

29 Sauerkraut on Sardine Sandwich (hobo rueben?)

30 Skillet pizza with crust from one of the flours, sauce of the salsa I made from farmers market produce, topped with tuna (no cheese because I don't do that...I made this for lunch and it was super good)

31 Tuna burgers

32 Tuna casserole with a can of tuna, some wheat berries, homemade white sauce (non-dairy) as a binder, a few dried mushrooms, some garlic, spices, and a few dried mushrooms

33 Atole (a cornmeal mush type drink)

34 Cornbread

35 Chocolate pudding from coconut milk, gelatine and cocoa powder.  I think I'm out of cornstarch

36 Camelina seed pudding (I grew the camelina seeds!!  Yay.)

37 Chicos and beans.   Chicos are a roasted corn that is then dried.  It is delicious.  I have some New Mexico chili powder to season it.

38 Vinaigrette...this should be like 20 entries because I have 7 or 8 types of vinegar (malt, apple cider, kombucha (2 kinds of that), pineapple (made that myself), red wine, white wine, and vinegars infused with berries of various sorts.  

39 Mustard vinaigrette...because I make my own mustard.

40 Chicken casserole from the bland canned chicken and rice soup.  I'll thicken it a bit with a white sauce and add dried mushrooms and some seasonings for flavor (which the soup lacks).

41 Sardines in red sauce over zucchini noodles.  I have a zucc or two left in the garden. I've been trying to let them get super ripe so I can keep the seeds.  Plenty of garlic makes the sardines a bit more anchovy-ish and tasty.

42  Scrambled eggs with greens in them.

43  Eggs and salsa

44 Egg drop soup from salsa and extra onions and spices in the "broth"...which I plan to make for lunch

45 Anti-inflammatory egg thing.  I've been making this.  I made a spice mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric.  A tablespoon of that and a beaten egg kind of makes a curry flavored pancake.

46 Pancakes and Maple Syrup!  I got some maple syrup free for attending a conference (along with some other amazing gifts)

47 Pancakes and honey

48 Apple stuffed mini pumpkin with local buckwheat honey.  I got the apples off a tree on my property and the mini pumpkin from the garden.

49 Cinderella squash soup.  I bought a GIANT Cinderella Squash at the farmers market.  It had the shortest growing season...like 85 days.  So plan to save the seeds.  I will add apples or pears and onion to it and blenderize the soup.   I suspect there will be too much so...

50 Cinderella squash bread 

51 Squash muffins

52 Squash pancakes

53 Biscuits

54 Bannock bread

55 Rye berry tabouli

56 Wheat berry and lentil hot dish

57 Chocolate Wacky cake using honey or maple syrup as sweetener and vinegar and the no-salt baking soda as leavening.

58 Whole wheat crackers in a skillet...might turn into flat bread if it won't crisp up.

59 Popped wheat berries by toasting in a skillet

60 Kombucha (I have a mother and a bit of white sugar at the office and black tea so I can make this all winter and flavor with various dried or vinegar preserved berries and whatever else)

61 Fennel hash because I got fennel at a farmers market

62 Tomato soup from canned tomato paste

63 Veggie Soup from my low sodium veggie broth cubes and the carrots, onions, garlic and greens.

64 Apple sauce from my apples with cinnamon, nutmeg and the raspberry honey

65 Honey cake...I have 3 or 4 kinds of honey.

66 Olive oil spice cake from the olive oil I got from that above mentioned conference.

67 Walnut loaf with the walnuts and grain berries, camelina seeds, and maybe eggs as a binder.  As long as one of the blenders holds up!

68 Pasta and pine nuts if I make pasta from the flour.

69 Toasted pine nuts (more realistic...because they are untoasted in the shell which makes them basically rocks)

70 Peanut butter muffins

71 Peanut soup with chicken (from one of those little roosters or non-layers)

72 Beet hash with beets out of the kvass I have brewing...unless that blew up.

73 Zucchini pickles.  I fermented a zucchini in  brine a few weeks ago and LOVE it.  Good sour pickles so I plan to make more.

74 Celery with peanut butter and raisins.  Still have celery from the farmers market.

75 Tuna loaf.

76 Eggs on toast

77 Toad in the hole...if I make bread from the flour and then manage not to just eat the whole loaf.

78 Wheatberry salad with beets and greens and fennel-turnip-cabbage-kraut (which I made last week and is DELICIOUS)

79 Tuna Noodle casserole if I make egg noodles from the flour and some of my eggs.

80 Ever more muffins

81 Scrambled eggs with kraut

82 Coffee cake...from actual left over coffee.  It's like a mocha flavor

83 Spice cake like a wacky cake but spices instead of cocoa powder

84 Almonds with greens, beans and rye berries. Cook the berries, toss into frying greens and beans, then put the almonds on for the last few minutes.  Hearty and good.

85 Tomato bread with the canned tomato paste

86 Wasabi toasted garbanzos...because I have dried garbanzos.  Cook those up.  Drain well, and put in a dry skillet to toast, then toss with a bit of wasabi powder and keep as a snack or to-go lunch protein

87 Coconut cake!  With the coconut flour

88 Fancy chocolates with nuts and raisins by melting coconut oil, mixing in baking cocoa, and adding the fancies then pouring in the silicon mold my sister sent years ago.  This is a winter thing when I can use the porch as a fridge to chill the mix in the mold.   They are really good.  Don't need sweetener but I have the various things including stevia and a bit of erythritol (which I must use super sparingly)

89 Chocolate chip cookies if I crunch up one of the dark chocolate bars.

90 Peanut butter honey cookies (yum...really must do this one...might be a good way to use up the powdered egg or egg substitute that needs to be used up)

91 Spice cookies

92 Breakfast cookies with some of the various proteins like nuts and gelatine in with the whole wheat flour and powdered egg with no or little sweetener

93 Bean burgers

94 Bean loaf

95 Pinto bean brownies (I love bean brownies but have to limit their production because cocoa kicks up the gas factor to weaponizable levels)

96 Egg sandwich.  Dang!  Why was this not higher on the list...an egg sandwich with my homemade bread, homemade mustard, homemade kraut on the side, and eggs from my chickens.  How has this not been a staple?  If I add some of my tarragon and thyme or pair it with the fennel kraut...yum!

97 Almond and coconut flour pancakes.  These are so hearty and with the anti-inflammatory spice mix they make a good sweet or savory side dish to most anything especially homemade apple sauce or soup

98 Savory stuffed pumpkin with wheat or rye berries, seasonings, and maybe beans.

99 Leftovers in eggs...this is a frequent meal.  So far almost everything is good fried in an egg.

100 Leftover soup...which is left overs in a pan with a broth cube (my low sodium veggie broth cubes are my go to) if you have it, or fry an onion or garlic or chives if you don't.  Or just add water or tomato sauce or whatever you have.  Even a can of cheap veggies with the juice.  Or grind up some flax/camelina type seeds for a thicker texture and a bit of umami in the broth.  Other nuts or seeds toasted do wonders for adding flavor.  Also, those magical dried mushrooms...not to be confused with dried magic mushrooms!  Just dried mushrooms add amazing flavor.  Must tell Mom I'm low on dried goods.

101  Breakfast/Protein bars from the various flours, cooked beans or ground and toasted nuts, the raisins, and whatever comes to hand to use as a binder...eggs, peanut butter, bit of the gelatine powder.

I could go on...and on.

I have been watching and listening to various frugal youtubes and reading frugal tips.   

Attitude is key and this is to reset my attitude that I want to eat grab-n-go food.  It's NUTS with the amount of food I have in the house and on the land.   CRAZY amounts of food.  I didn't scratch the surface of sandwiches...I mean all of those beans can make sandwich spreads and then add some kraut or sprouts or both for a crunchy veggie element and it's really good.  

I also have that beet kvass at the office.   It's my first try at that and fermented really nicely.  I have seen recipes that throw it in soups at the end to perk them up and add probiotics.  I wonder if beet kvass and kraut in a soup cancel each other out?

And then there are the options for making more vinegars from the apple scraps when I add those to things.  I usually leave the peels on, but the cores come out.   And of course once it has vinegared I give the fruit mush to the chickens.

I'm also expecting canned and smoked chicken and duck meat coming in during October so...perhaps I need to STOP stockpiling the proteins.

What was I saying about going on and on?

Thrifty Mistake and "What would you do?" response

 Firstly, I am having a disorganized day.   Went to the mondo hardware this morning (local owner, not big box), and FORGOT to load half my prepaid order because I got over excited about the 6' long "scraps" in the free bin (which I scouted before I placed and paid for the lumber package up front so I could save $$).   The dude at the exit gate who checks what you got asked if I wanted to go back in and get the rest of the order.  DOH!   Yes please.   He had just cut off a finger joint so I don't think he judged me for being a tad stupid.  The finger was all bandaged up.  I told him if the attempt to sew it back on didn't take, he'd look like a shop teacher.  Fortunately, he laughed.

Second.  I've been watching the "what would you do" frugal vids on the youtubes.

The game is that there are a few ingredients and no money, no resources to go get food.   Then, make meals for 1-7 days for 1 person or a family.   Basically a food is running out scenario.

I've had those days.  Talking to a cousin  I found out that when the family of siblings were all kids, our gramma stopped by to find that the only food in the house was bread with mouse holes in it.  Gramma got mad and told the mom to always let Gram know when the kids were hungry.  The dad at the time was in the hospital with pneumonia so out of work for a few weeks or more.   

I had some lean times in college grad school.  I don't remember any food insecure times as a kid but I remember going to the town where both gramma's were once when my father was on strike for a while.  Mom gardened, froze food, and shopped well.   My father fished and hunted and occasionally an animal may or may not have been butchered in the basement at night (lived in town). I don't think you can prosecute the deceased for poaching or bogarting roadkill.

What I did in college/grad school when money was so low I couldn't get more food...and I thought I had no right to the public food pantry (I did, I was genuinely broke) was stretch what I had.

By my senior year I was getting better at it.  I had learned to make sourdough starter and bread.  At one point I was down to a few dollars, and 2 new jobs so 6 weeks to eat before a paycheck showed up (2 week pay period but pay delayed a month after the end of the pay period...the 80s were not a peak time for the low paid worker).

I assessed what I had.  Then went to the store.  I remember getting a big bag of flour and another of sugar, and some tomato sauce or paste in cans.  I could get more calories per dollar that way.  I managed a pound or two of ground beef.  Took it home.  Started the sourdough.  Divided the meat into small baggies to spread the protein out.  I had some condiments and spices and baking cocoa.  And no doubt pasta and spaghetti sauce (I didn't know how to make it myself yet...DOH!)

I remember the landlord coming in to fix something and seeing me eat pasta sauce by dipping bread in it (delicious fresh baked bread at least...)

I could make a "sauce" of baking cocoa and sugar as well.  More bread dipping.

The meat was fried in crumbles and I could make 1-2 sandwiches with one little baggie.  The next day I would fry bread in the left over burger grease (probably supplemented with cheap veg oil from the cupboard).  

NOT the most nutritious but I made it.  I knew it was short term and fortunately that turned out to be true.  One major injury and it could have been permanent.

So, that's what I'd do.

During 'Rona Round 1, i.e. 2020, I would take a few things out of pantry stock and eat on them for however long to use them up.  Handy.  Sort of the marathon version of 'what would you do.'

Key to that is taking a pantry inventory which I need to do. I started one the other day, but I fell asleep. 

Happy Birthday Lily!

 Lily Tomlin turns 82 today.  I want to be her someday.

I'm Baaaa_aaaack!

 The radio show is going to be IN THE STUDIO tomorrow!!!  Woot woot!

We've been zooming from 3 locations into the station where the intrepid station manager then beamed us out to the universe and the greater Moscow Idaho metropolitan area.   Since...um...like a really long time ago.  The before times.   

I looked it up:  Sunday March 29, 2020.   Re-opening to many in person shows June 21, 2020  

Peace Radio, the show I am on with friends, was the last live show other than 3 people who kept the station going and were the only ones in the station for those many months.  

Tomorrow, Peace Radio may be the first live DJ show, again, other than the three who kept the station going for many months...the first of the regular mortals...back on the air.

The official semi-reopening will be Monday but I begged for the dispensation to come in a day early and got it.

Very grateful to the station manager and others who worked through this and helped our show and others zoom in live, helped some develop and record shows remotely and send them in as sound files, and just simply kept the poop in a group.

I may miss doing the show from the shed and I know people will miss all the cocks...I mean my roosters crowing (there have been 3 over the 'rona times) in the back ground.   Today the wild roses are in full bloom and the breeze out of the south is blowing it through my windows.  That would be nice during the show, but the motorcycles and semi trucks blasting down the highway and blowing horns and blaring music won't be nice. Hence I end up shutting the windows anyway.

During 'rona I picked up an accidental side gig, got another phase of the house built, learned to combing yoga and jenga and twister (yengster?  twonga?  jisga?) in order to do yoga in the wee shed over zoom or off recorded sessions from the Moscow Yoga Center, off youtube or out of my head.   I realized again JUST HOW CRAMPED it is here for yoga with a 34" inseam and seriously long arms, when I visited an aunt and really loved the boiler room for yoga.  I could spread my arms out and not burn them on a stove or bust a knuckle of the loft ladder.  In July, I can go back to the yoga studio once a week or so.  That should be amazing too.  I wonder if I can even DO yoga while suppressing toots anymore.  When one yogas at home, one farts proudly.  The class will be simulcast to those who prefer to stay home or need to, so the toots could be broadcast.  

Things are open again here.  I am aware they are not so open elsewhere.  I hope this too shall pass for us all.

The King Is Dead...Long Live the King

 Fabio, the rooster with the big blond mane, is dead.  He attacked me one too many times and had been  hard on the hens.   I got a new rooster from a local farm...though...he may not be entirely rooster.  We'll see.  NO ONE crowed this morning.  I actually overslept.  I have alarms but also listen for poultry discontent. There wasn't any.   Noted.  We'll see if Houdini cocks-up (like "mans up" but for chickens).  He, they?, are not terribly masculine.  Reminds me a bit of Cogburn who turned out to be hermaphroditic, and was a fine flock organizer, guard and provider (shared snakes he caught).  Anyway, Fabio.

He gave his life to science.  A colleague and I butchered him out with stone tools as an experiment for work.   It was interesting, and respectful.

The actual kill moment went..uh...not perfect.  Fabio's neck was hard to cut, couldn't be broken.  It took a couple of minutes for us to do the kill.  That sucked.  I prefer a quick, clean, lower trauma system.   Cutting with OBSIDIAN...couldn't get through.   Tried the head anchored to the ground and pulling up to break the neck and sever the spine!!!! I COULD'T DO IT!!!  I was pulling with my legs.  I have done 20 hens and roosters and ducks in a row this way but could not get this guy.   FINALLY, found one spot on the neck that a harders stone knife could get.   Next time we will have another back up method in place.   Before the kill I thanked him and said we'd do our best.   During and after, we thanked and apologized.

His hide was also tough.  Inflating it with a garden hose with 40psi+ and couldn't get him to fully inflate. I have not had that happen.   Still, even partial inflation helped the skinning and saved the hide.

Trying to break the joints...my colleague is a fit 6'3" dude in his 30s and HE couldn't twist the leg joint!  Good lord Fabio!  You were a beast!  Hybrid vigor I guess.  So, when you can't snap and stretch the joint, it is hard to cut the tendons and break up the carcass.  It would have been a faster butcher with a less tough bird.  But, a wild bird could be this tough as well...turkeys.  I know there are wild chickens locally.

The colleague and I did the hide by cutting up the back, peeling the skin which came off well.  Forgot to cut around the legs and wings (also hard to bust the shoulder joint to get those off).  Noted.  The hide is staked out with borax on it.  I will freshen up the borax today and see if the feathers are clean enough to offer to local craft people.

The guts went to the hens because they are gross.  I must say, there were some giant rooster balls in there!  Cripes.   The gizzard was smallish.  About the same size as his balls.   Big liver too.   The hens went right for the soft bits.

Cutting up the back between the spine and the ribs was a non-starter.  The colleague cut through the thin part of the ribs.  This left a meaty back and neck portion.  This also went to the hens and wildlife.  The breast was good sized and the legs were almost turkey legs.  These went home with the colleague. Because we hadn't prepped a 2nd table and there were tiny rock shards on the main table, we butchered on the ground on cardboard and the carcass wasn't super clean.

A friend taking photos for work records told us to wipe the carcass down with vinegar for better grippage.  He was right!  It was like magic!  Noted.

I'm not sharing a photo because we only used the work camera and I set the rule that we don't use any of those for personal things.

The whole thing, setup area, tables, etc, sharpen the stone knives, photograph them, kill the bird, cut him up, and basic clean up (it's outside...critters do much of the clean up) and get the equipment loaded back on the pick up...90 min.   We could have done an assembly line and had 3 or 4 going at a time even with 2 people and done those in 2 hours.   With practice and a less tough bird, or not trying to save the feathers, even faster.

Thar She Blows!!!!

 So, I like me some berry infused vinegar AND I like to store berries in vinegar for the winter and then eat them.  Kismet because storing berries in vinegar automatically makes berry infused vinegar.

I have several quarts still from last fall.  All is well with the big mason jars of berries in vinegar.  

Once I eat all the berries from a jar, I move the vinegar into flip-top or screw top sturdy bottles. 

Since I was going to be gone for a while in March and the weather would be cold, I brought all glass containers of liquids to the office for storage.  At home, they might freeze and bust and make a big mess.

After I was home and the weather warmed up a bit, I brought a couple bottles of the vinegar home again.  This would be last Friday.   I get home, after carrying the vinegar bottles and some other food products in a cooler...because we don't want that to spill.   I bring it in, take the stuff out and put it on the table that is my kitchen.  Take cooler outside...add it to the pile on the porch because I don't have room for that nonsense inside the house.

I look at the huckleberry vinegar.  It is deep deep purple.  I was wondering if it was still fizzy like before I left when I burped it to let the pressure off.  (Reminder:  we're in the house, it's purple vinegar that just made a 30minute ride in a bumpy pick up and was hauled up the hill in a cooler balanced on my waist).   

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!

Yes, it was still fizzy.

It was (past tense) in a flip top bottle which can take lots of pressure.  However, when you release the fliptop said pressure releases.  Lots of vinegar came along for the ride.  DEEP PURPLE VINEGAR.

Like this but a higher geyser and more purple:

Fortunately, I did suppress the urge to stick my hand over the geyser of purple vinegar foam.   Hence just one big blotchy line of splatters on the floor, kitchen table, rugs, everything on the kitchen table, some adjacent items like a brand new teal baseball cap and a yoga mat.   

I made it outside where it continued to geyse while I mopped up with old dish towels and some new TP.  No paper towels in my house.

I got to spend my evening dealing with the kitchen area and bare unfinished wood floor, and much of the weekend trying to get stains out of the hat and the worst hit rug.  The rugs will eventually go to  the laundromat.  I don't really care if they have some stains.  They are old and not my good rugs.   The hat...I wanted to call Gram...mistress of all things laundry but she's dead and I couldn't find my  ouija board.  Damn.   I seem to be the laundry headmistress now so I faked it.   Water... stain spray and laundry detergent were what I had.  Soaked up the worst of it with some baking soda because it is super dry and pulls stains out of stuff.  That helped.   Then the hat gets spot cleaned with the various detergents and into a soak bucket for a day...then a day and a half.   Finally, rubbing alcohol on a q-tip.  It's pretty good.  I can see slightly dark blotches where the purple vinegar hit, but otherwise, pretty damn good.  Spot cleaned the worst hit rug and put it in the left over hat water for a day.  It will go to the laundry with the other two lesser rugs.   

The bare wood floor...just soaked up what I could with the white cotton old (that makes them more absorbent) towels and TP.   Can't really see where the stuff hit.

Got to spend lots of Saturday doing dishes outside.   It was warm anyway.   I figured if I had to do the whole kitchen table including stuff that is more storage than utensil, might as well do everything.   That took a couple hours.

As a result, about half my place is spring cleaned.  That's fine.  Not what I planned to achieve over the weekend but it's done now.  And I got a bit of a tan by wearing a tank top while dish washing and hand laundering outside.