I'm here, yes I am!

Hmmm, what have I been up to?

Not a lot really and I guess that contributed to the lack of posting and then the less I posted the less motivated I was to do things. But after reading over at Johanna's about the Independence Days Challenge and how I had completely dropped off from doing that I felt it was time I refocused!

So with the Independence Days Challenge in mind, here are the categories.

* Plant Something
* Harvest Something
* Preserve Something
* Store Something
* Manage Reserves
* Cook Something New
* Prep Something
* Reduce Waste
* Learn a New Skill
* Work on Community Food Security
* Regenerate What Is Lost

Based on the above, here is where I am at...

I currently have two vege beds planted out in seedlings. I put some seeds in for onions but it seems that not many germinated. It's been pretty dry around here, so that didn't help!

Well, we finally had plenty of rain all day today. And it was really warm with it, so hopefully that will give the plants a good late autumn burst of growth.

The only veges that we're currently eating from our garden is a range of silverbeet, spinach and ruby chard, fresh herbs and my stored pumpkins.

I have random (and unplanned!) things growing in the patch of soil at the front of the house - I had swept run away dried peas and beans from my harvest into there when I was sweeping down the front porch and they've all grown lol. So in amongst the pansies there is a bunch of bean seedlings and in a couple of cracks in the concrete in unfortunate places I have peas growing!

We had a harvest of feijoas off our trees but they must be a skinny variety so not a lot of flesh and are pretty much all done now - I didn't preserve or store any.

The chickens are off the lay - they've been moulting for the past month or so, but fortunately haven't gone bald. Just thinned out, lost their tales and have naked feet. They have been disappearing on me though (I suspect they've been spooked by the neighbours cats a few tims as I've heard them being all staunch and squarking like mad) and I've had to hunt for them in the hendges, bamboo grove and overgrown weeds when it's been time to put them back in the coop. But they seem to be happy enough.

I have been working on my emergency supplies. A few weeks back I reassessed the get away bags which currently live in my car and restocked them on clothes that had been taken out for other reasons. I then moved on to the food stores and have replaced expired food. Hmmm, seems with this swine flu already making it's way around NZ (well, yet to be proven, but looking likely), it could prove useful in case of lock down at home!

We finally got around to getting the clothesline installed outside. For the past 6yrs I've been using clothing racks out on my deck that can be brought inside as needed. While this has worked well for me, I really did like the idea of having an easy access clothesline. So, we opted for putting it on our front lawn area where it will get a good dose of sun and wind as well as out of the way of other things (and can be folded down or just half up). Just need to build up my supply clothes pegs now.

We've only had a few really chilly nights, so only had 3-4 fires in the evening - going to see if I can get our 4m3 of wood to last the whole winter again like last year.

I'm looking into doing a course on Herbal Medicine so am busy trying to find the right course for me. My herb garden has been a bit neglected as well, but is looking reasonably established now (although a bit scraggly and unkempt).

Cooking new meals - well, I've been about that this year! We are still doing the GAPS diet, but over the past few weeks have reintroduced potatoes and the occasional gluten-free pizza. So for the most part we are still starch and sugar free as Nathan continues on with the steroids (another 2mths of them and then another 3mths until his immune system is fully functioning according to the paediatrician). So for now I am keeping the starches and sugars to a minimum to try and avoid his immune system being further assaulted as well as not allowing the starches to feed any fungi/bad bacteria in his gut that the steroids are prone to causing.

The kids had a joint birthday party last weekend and it was a really lovely day. It was a bit of a whole family occasion rather than just same aged kids and catering for 20 people had me slightly worried trying to keep to the GAPS diet yet provide food that looked interesting. I think we did well and the food all got eaten (and not a word that I heard of children not wanting to eat what was on offer). I had slowly weaned the kids back onto potatoes, GF pizza and chocolate for their party. But it was still mostly wholesome homemade food (aside from the bar of chocolate I broke up into pieces). My mum made both kids their own GAPS birthday cake using almond flour, pumpkin, carrot, eggs, butter and honey. I made icing for the cakes from cream cheese, honey and vanilla essense. It was really nice and went down well!

We went to a local sustainable fair a few weeks back that was great to get along to. It was neat to bump into so many friends and acquaintances who I usually only see at these sorts of events and had that lovely local community feel to it.

Well, there's the update for the past month or two!