Challenge update #2

Well, here we at the end of another week.

1. Plant something. No new plantings, but I've been keeping an eye on my seedlings. Moving them off my bedroom cabinet in the mornings and putting them on my bed in the sun. They're sprouting well. I'm still deciding whether to put them in tubs on my porch or to put them in my garden (which my chickens seem to be wiping out - cauliflower seems to be particularly tasty to them)

2. Harvest something. Mostly silverbeet and it gets added to all sorts of dishes for the "green" nutrients. I did harvest one small cauliflower as well and a few off shoots of brocolli that keep producing even though the main head has been taken.

3. Preserve something. I finished bottling up my ginger beer and gave half a dozen to my parents.

4. Prep something. I did a little bit more decluttering and taken them down to the hospice shop; I had an empty 3 litre juice bottle that we'd be given, so instead of recycling it as I usually would have I filled it with water and set it aside in the laundry as emergency water;

5. Cook something new. Tonight I will be making Gypsy's Pea soup. My parents came over during the weekend and I served them up some left over Borscht soup - so introduced them to a new recipe and my mum was so impressed she's now making plans for her own beetroots in her garden.

6. Manage your reserves. I checked my pumpkins that are sitting out on my sheltered porch. We have cut back on eating pumpkins (I've kind of had enough!), so is nice to know there is a good little reserve sitting there as well that should take us through to summer providing they last ok. If not I will make up some pumpkin soup and freeze it if I need to use them up. I went through my deep freeze and checked out meat supplies - I haven't needed to buy any from the supermarket for ages and what we have should last a good 2-3mths since we are only eating it a couple of times a week.

7. Work on local food systems. Well, I'm always talking about my garden and compost and hopefully inspiring people to work on their own (I don't realise it till I might get questioned a month or so later about "how" I do what I do). I also went along to a meeting yesterday with our local Transition Towns group. It was the first time I've been along despite the group starting up last November. The main focus for now from what I gather will be helping get people to have individual gardens.