I have been watching a lot of homesteading videos. I’ve never been one to sit and watch YouTube, but in an effort to stop doom scrolling on my lunch break, I looked up the videos of More Than Farmers, an Ohio family I follow on Instagram. I have since watched quite a few of their videos, which tend to be long, detailed, and soothing. Now I’ll put one on while I do the dishes or cook. I’ve also watched a couple from other creators about living off the grid.
I like More Than Farmers because Michelle, the wife and mom, explains how they plant staple crops that everyone in the family likes and rely on those for most of their food: white potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, onions and tomatoes. That makes sense. They grow other things too, but they grow a lot of those main crops. She also freely admits that she doesn’t like cooking or being stuck in the kitchen, which I identify with.
More Than Farmers inspired me to make homemade granola bars the other night. I actually printed out their recipe and then made them while watching a video of people who built their house using mud. Unfortunately I can’t figure out how to get back to the recipe, or I’d link to it. It’s somewhere in a comment on their channel. It allowed me to use up some oats and cereal that had been sitting here forever.
They were tasty, and everyone here liked them! It also reminded me how simple it would be to make my own loose granola, and customize it just how I want.
In seed saving news, I’ve gotten the first batch of tomato seeds to the final stage, drying.
I also have saved a few more green bean seeds, and am letting more pods dry out on the vine.
The big question in the garden now is when to rip out the tomatoes, so I have room to plant garlic. I don’t think I’m going to get much more good fruit off them, but I still feel bad to kill a thriving plant. Maybe next weekend. Just now I picked off a lot of the suckers, flowers and tiny tomatoes, in an effort to force the remaining large green tomatoes to redden (although I don’t believe that really works).
Can’t wait to pick this pumpkin! Although the main root is dead, from powdery mildew, I guess, it rerooted itself elsewhere along the vine.
This random zinnia sprouted in a far corner of the front garden, giving it a little pop of pink. Kind of surprising that I didn’t have more volunteers there, with all the zinnias that were there last year. Also, the transplanted mums are doing well.
Here is my planter that I bought off of Facebook Marketplace last Sunday, for $50. It is sturdy, made of wood and cast iron. Appears handmade? I got rid of the existing dirt and the plastic liner and washed it out with the hose. I’m going to consult with Tom on adding a new liner and drilling drainage holes, and maybe repairing the few small places where the wood is a bit damaged.
As a reminder, I am looking to expand the garden but keep any plantings safe from othe dog, so this fits the bill (the top part, at least).
Yesterday F. and I hit a neighborhood yard sale in Cherry Hill, bright and early. The sales skewed heavily toward kid and baby stuff, but we still scored some finds. F. got a brand new pair of slippers, and I got tea lights, eight cloth napkins and a matching tablecloth, and a set of six small glass containers with locking lids. Total spent: $12.
Back home, I roasted what might be the last of the tomatoes. The smell of them roasting, with garlic, basil, oregano and olive oil, makes the house smell like a pizzeria.
Later in the day we headed to my sister’s house for my nephew’s birthday. The weather Saturday was gorgeous, with a high of 82.
Spending time in Cherry Hill and Medford once again makes me want to move someplace like that … someplace that feels a little rural and rustic but is not actually that far from Philly, restaurants and things to do. As opposed to the truly rural living that most of the homesteader influencers seem to be doing. I could definitely see us ending up in Cherry Hill. I was in a part of Barclay Farms yesterday that was hilly and had really tall trees… you could definitely pretend you were not in NJ. And Cherry Hill allows chickens!
Meals this week:
Sunday: leftover parslied potatoes with sour cream; Tom and F had homemade cheesesteaks
Monday: more leftover parslied potatoes with sour cream (determined not to waste them); Tom had spaghetti; F had Wawa.
Tuesday: Rigatoni Bolognese with cheesy garlic bread. I used fresh tomatoes along with canned paste and sauce to make the gravy (on Monday night).
Wednesday: quesadillas
Thursday: takeout from Finizio’s
Friday: Taco Bell (Tom is a bad influence…)
Saturday: grilled burgers and hot dogs at my sister’s
Lunches: turkey on pretzel slider buns; leftover rigatoni; homemade granola bars, yogurt and applesauce. That’s right, three packed lunches baby! (But I bought lunch at Wawa on Thursday while WFH.)
Little wins:
- Wawa emailed me back and said they would give me those points I missed as a courtesy. Thank you, Wawa! I heart you. Cashed in points for free mozzarella sticks for F’s lunch on Thursday
- Parked twice in the free lot at the train station instead of paying a dollar
- Almost fell for the scam of “you have to renew your dog’s microchip!” No, I don’t. That was a one-time cost. The “renewal” was for extra services that I don’t need. Sneaky!
Today’s agenda: food shop, take F. to get a haircut, clean, figure out dinner. I got my garden/yard time done early since it’s going up to 85 today.
Garden State of Mind 
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