The balance of life prepping for winter.

I found this little painting again this weekend.  I made it so many years ago, but I love it!  I have posted it at my selling spaces and other places.  I can't frame it easily because I hand drew the frame and didn't think to keep it straight.  It is lopsided.  

I just love it.  I don't care that it is lopsided.  :-)  

I will figure out how to protect it and display it somehow... even if just for me. 

💛

It is amazing how things work out.  And plans have to change.

The weekend didn't work out the way I hoped it would, so I am continuing my downsizing activities this week. 

And my winter preps.  

I hope to get the first load of donations delivered tomorrow.  The end of one project.  Plus miscellaneous household and personal stuff.  Four boxes so far.  

I replanted four baby trees to bring them in for the winter.  Two willow tree start efforts.  One that may be a lemon tree.  And one that is from somewhere nearby.  It is a mystery tree right now.  I don't know trees and their names, I just try to grow them.

My container garden is almost finished.  I still need to see if I can replant my rhubarb and blueberry plants into bigger containers.  It is going to be a challenge.  

The birds and squirrels keep destroying my container dirt.  I may cover the dirt for winter.  It worked nice on one of my experiments a few years back.  

I am also trying to prepare for winter cold and snow.  I have lost my plants to the freezing weather so many times.  I had an avocado tree that grew over six feet, then was killed by the snow.  A new tree grew back in the spring, probably from the roots, but it died in the next year's snow.  I hoped it would grow again this spring, but it didn't.  I wasn't able to save them by bringing them in until the freezing weather went away.

In my whole life I couldn't get avocado seeds to grow, but in my old age they seem to grow all the time.  Only that one tall one survived to become a good tree, then snow and freezing rain killed it.  It has been a lesson.  I remember movies where farmers had to go out in the fields with heat things to try to save their fragile fruit trees.  Some kind of wood or coal fire pots that would be set between four trees to try to keep the trees warm and safe.  

I still have one tree growing, but it is inside.  I'm not sure the small avocado tree I have outside right now will make it through this winter.  I'm going to try to make a small greenhouse around it with plastic if it gets too cold this year.

I found a baby tree frog last summer or the one before.  I couldn't catch it then.  I figured it died in the winter.  I don't know if I found the same frog this year, but it is alive.  I hope to figure out a way to help it through this winter.  I was searching online for info on what they eat and what they need to survive.  I'm not sure bringing it inside is the right answer.  I don't like to make wild animals into pets because they are wild.  They need to be in their own place.  So I will see if there's a way to improve its chances by making a habitat that might help it survive.  

Squirrels, Raccoons, Blue Jays, Owls, and other local wildlife are its enemies.  I'm debating if anything I do will help.  

Making my new food last is my new challenge.  I found some recipes to try and keep finding better ideas survival foods.  Pancake mix is next on my list to try.  I can package my mix into canning jars for using.  None of the recipes I have tell me how long it will last.  I will try one and then see how fast it goes... and how long it stays good enough to use.  Store pancake mixes last awhile, but I haven't really checked on the ingredients - how much, or what, is added to preserve it.

I make my bread recipe into separate batches by putting the dry ingredients into quart canning jars.  Right now I make six jars at one time, date them, and then see how long it takes until I have to do it again.  It can be one to two months until I have to make more.  I figure I can do that with pancakes too.  

I also make individual oatmeal ingredients into small canning jars.  It was the first food I tried this with.  It works so good, I kept making them.

I think I tried a dry soup mix recipe, but I didn't like the recipe.  I still want to figure one out, but not sure when.

Through September I am trying to make the new food I bought last week make it until October, when I can have more money in my food budget to spend.  I don't know how much I will be able to buy.  My cupboards are bare.  I have to make the food I buy last as long as possible.  

Instead of just buying my regular back-up foods, I am beginning to think about meals and what I need to make them.  This is a different way of shopping.

I hope to have staples that will last a long time, canned foods to add to the dry basics, and sauces/spices/etc. to make a variety of recipes.

Who knew prepping was such a hard thing to do.

Please make sure you have supplies for your family.