Independence Days Update

I participate in Sharon Astyk's Independence Days Challenge. The following is the update for this week. I'm afraid that my update for this week is pretty limited. I'm drinking in all of the baby love I can from my new sweet nephew, and the garden is the last thing on my mind right now.

Plant Something--I didn't get a single seed or plant in the ground.

Harvest Something--zucchini, cucumbers, various herbs, beets, green onions, yellow onions, the last of the lettuce, peas that we dried for seeds

Preserve Something--I had a grand plan to pickle beets all day on Saturday, but I do not suppose that counts. Luckily I had not pulled the beets yet. They will hold until next week.

Reduce Waste--Other than the usual composting, recycling, using leftovers and such, there isn't much exciting happening in this area either.

Prep and Storage--Instead of yanking the pea vines, we cut them back. I read in Mother Earth News that this was a preferred practice, and I'll be doing it this way from now on. I'll be helping my sister to have meals for the next few weeks in her fridge and freezer.

Building Community Food Systems--Made purchases for the food pantry at our church which I help to organize. Began posting on my blog stockpiling suggestions based on the sales from that week in hopes of encouraging more people to build their food security at home. We gave our neighbor some green onions we thinned from the garden.

Eat the food--We made Swiss chard using brown sugar this week, and I believe we finally have our preferred method of its preparation. We get it every week with our CSA basket, and up until this point we had not found a recipe that was a hit. I sauteed it in a little olive oil, added salt, and then hit it with a tablespoon or so of brown sugar. Yummy!