EEEK...where am I going to put all this stuff?

I think I may have gotten a little carried away in the moment!?!



I have been building up my stockpile for the last few months and it is coming along well. But yesterday I had finished my 3 months planning sheet from www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net and was inspired :-)

My goal is to not have to go to the "big" shops for the next 5 weeks due to the World Cup. I actually think it's a little paranoid seeing that only 5 matches are being played in Cape Town and the rest at higher altitudes...but anyhow!

So besides for what I have bought over the last few months, this was the last push before Friday when it all starts.

I realized when we unpacked all this that there are so many things that we make ourselves, the biggest ones being our own dog food (raw materials rice-veg-meat) and clothes washing powder (raw materials: sunlight soap-borax-washing soda), bread, pasta, sauces, treats, puddings and more.

But I also looked at the pile filling my kitchen counter and thought that there must be more that we can do.

I used to make my own muesli, but got lazy...I did only buy the raw materials for that this time round.

The girls and I were making a list of the things we need to make on the weekend to process this, I think we have a busy couple of days ahead.

Weekends away and things to do

This weekend is Superman's birthday and we are going away for a bit or R & R with our children and family friends. Amber, the ailing chicken, is safely ensconced at the vet who will watch her for us for the weekend. She has sadly not improved, but she is not worse either.

We had rain last night so the garden is watered and our housesitter will care for the rest of the animals. There is always so much to see to when we go away but the time out is so worthwhile.



I am taking two projects to work on this weekend. Knitting for www.knit-a-square.com is coming along nicely with us having passed the 1/4 mark a week ago. My first pair of fingerless mittens is completed and needs to be sown up and the second pair has been started. I am also helping my youngest daughter get started on her kknitting project which is "Beanies For Babies" and I hope to have one completed myself this weekend. Being winter here there will be lots of time for fireside knitting in between walks and a mountain bike ride.

The other project is organizing my recipes....don't you think it needs to be done?




See you all on Monday!

The need for a TO-DO list

Either as a running list during the week or by taking a couple of minutes on Saturday I like to make a to do list before Sunday hits. Sunday is our big garden day and the kids and I always like to know how much work we have to do.



I allow them to put their initials next to the jobs to "book" the job, but they can't take all the easy jobs, they have to think about their younger siblings so that the workload is shared.

Today my elder son and Superman replaced all the fences that we used to stop Big White Dog from killing the lawn. BWD had learnt to now jump those fences and in the process had knocked over many.



This triangular bed houses our chillies, rhubarb (which has just been cut) and sweet potatoes. It is unfortunately in shade for most of the day in winter but we should get a decent crop in early summer.



Our asparagus is doing well and we have just repotted the oldest plants for their 3rd and final time. We will have to have decided on a spot for them by September. We have some ideas in mind but we cannot move on them right now.

We are still spending lots of garden time sweeping up the leaves which make such a mess in the garden, but I try to stay optimistic and remember what my mom said that they are good compost material...

It gives a person such a sense of achievement to walk around a cleaned tidy garden in the evening after all the work is done. I think that is one of the big motivations for getting through the to do list each week.

Seasons come and seasons go

Despite my plans for today, I woke up with a very sore back from my rock climbing this week. Because "Why I Went Rock Climbing" is a long story and not relevant to this blog I will not go into it, suffice to say that my back is sore!

That meant no heavy work in the garden and a rather reduced TO DO list for the day. As I was repondering my list I was thinking about seasons. We are heading into winter and autumn has left its mark. While I love the beauty of the autumn leaves, I find autum a very messy season. Then comes winter with all the rain...no snow and frost here, just days of wind and rain. Spring comes with promises and beauty and summer with heat and work.

If you will allow me a little analogy, I feel like I am in autumn right now. My life is a little unorganized and messy but not without hope. Busy-ness is really an enemy of organization but I know that I cannot continue to keep my fingers in all these pies if I don't get back into the organized state I was in a while back.

This is not a revelation, just a thought that has been running around my head for a few weeks. So today I decided that we would do a little organizing of cupboards. Yesterday I did a big grocery shop as I have eventually gotten my head around stockpiling and have a plan.

My mom was here this week and gave the vine a good prune.

As a tree has to shed leaves for winter dormancy I had to shed some clutter to make space for the new. I am not going to be adding shelves to my home to carry my stockpile just yet as all I want to do is have enough for three months and I feel we can make do with what shelves we have.

The three areas we organized were a little alcove that holds my sewing, scrapbooking, knitting and odds. Most of the odds were set aside to give away and the other things sorted. There will now be plenty of space for our toiletries and non perishable stockpile here as the floor is now clear of all items and has lots of space.



Then we sorted our grocery cupboard and got rid of anything that was too old to use. I hate wasting, but there were somethings that got hidden behind new things and forgotten.



Then we sorted the baking centre. As the girls bake they often hurriedly put things into this cupboard and it was a shocker. It still needs more decluttering but has to do for now.



Perhaps tomorrow we will truly sort this last area, but for now, I need to rest my back.