Extreme Makeover!!

Well, it has actually been a few years since we bought

this little basket at the Goodwill. It had broken hinges

and so the lid was never connected, if I took it anywhere,

I had to carry it under one arm......

And it remained quite a mess for some time.....
All it needed was the hinge to be fixed!
How hard is that?!?!?

I decided to use fabric....looped it through the
remaining wire that was left....

then through the whole for wire on the

lid to the basket.....

Tied a nice tight bow and there you have it!!
A basket makeover!!

Things fit well inside.....
even room for extra fabric for my project....

even room for some crocheting.....

and the yarn!

I usually keep more than one project in my

basket in case i get tired of working

on one .... I can change. :)

Boy, a basket makeover, a bucket makeover...

what will be next?!?!?

The weekend is here, so will not be around

for a couple days. Finishing up planting seeds

inside and going to finish some that

go outside. My wonderful hubby

put pvc hoops over my raised beds,

so I will be turning those into

little cold frames.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Spring, Canning, Organizing.....

This is our usual Spring/April weather here

on the High Desert........

This is exactly why gardening in the spring can

be very challenging here. But...know what?!?!?

My garden is surviving!! Yay!

But in the meantime, while we wait for warm

weather I keep doing some canning for my stockpile.

Bought a 25 pound bag of Navy Beans to can Navy Bean

Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Pork and Beans and

anything else I think of with Navy Beans.....

I found the recipes in the Ball Blue Book. The Pork

and Bean recipe uses tomatoe juice boiled with

onions and spices.....mmmmmm.....
That recipe only had you boil the beans for about

3 minutes, boil the juice and pour over beans

in jars and process.

The Boston Baked Beans had to cook 3 1/2 hours,

so I had those cooking in my roaster pan in the back

room while I canned the others. Then when they

were done, I processed them.

A pretty full day, but don't you just love the results

at the end of the day when you can sit back

and enjoy the fruits of your labor.....

Soooo, all this canning lead me to organize my

canning pantry which is outside in a shed. Something

that I probably should have done first. :D

So, how about a bit of sillyness....

Designer Buckets!! LOL.

Yep! Someone gave me some old wallpaper

books....I keep forgetting to use up any

of the wallpaper....

So, how about this, it only took minutes!
You need a small bucket, this is my dishwasher soap

bucket from Costco. (Once I have used up all this

store-bought stuff, I plan on making my own:)

I chose the wallpaper strips that are trims.......

how about apples for canning??
Cut it to fit around the bucket then slit it
up 3/4 of the way as the bucket is not
straight.......

and Voila!!
Designer Buckets!!

I put them in the bottom of my canning

pantry to keep my jar rings in......

What a great feeling to get an area organized. :D

Baby Blessings!!!

I cannot leave you today without sharing my

latest little Blessings!!!!

I am sooooo happy to have chickens again.

When we thought we were leaving the

country for a year, (by the way

that story is on our other blog

"Bendites in Cornwall" that you

can find by going to my profile)....

we got rid of many,

many things. I gave all my chickens to

a neighbor. So, sadly for some time

we have not had our own fresh eggs.

I love having eggs to

1) use for ourselves,

and 2) sell some to pay for ours and

3) give to others who may need them.

Just one of those little

things I can do to

help with the state of our household.

Garden Beginnings.......

I took a day awhile back

and layed out a calender

and planned my garden backwards!! I looked at when

I wanted things to be harvested and counted back to

when I would need to start them. I did this because

last summer we had a killing frost in August. (GRRRR)

It was actually an enjoyable

process, I had my seeds and

I had a couple of books to determine what things

were cold hardy and how long things took to

grow and I also threw in the idea of planting

some things together that help the growth of

the plants they are near.....

all with a cup oftea and "Pride & Prejudice"

soundtrack in the background.........

Very lovely time indeed :)

This year I want to work really hard for the couple

of months that we can garden and get the harvesting and

preserving done before we have frost. So, I have planned

what can get started inside now and what

could possibly go outside while it is still cold.

Since my husband still does not have much work,

I cannot just go get little starting pots, so have

been making several different types

with whatever I have on hand......

Newspaper pots.....

and below I was blessed to find in my shed these
starting pots.....and I had these plastic lids from
some pans I bought at an Outlet store. The pans
were for taking meals to the Shepherd's House, but
I did not use the lids, I did however save them!!
as well as these little starter pellets........

I also used some toilet paper rolls......

This is what I rigged up for the seeds that needed

higher temperatures to germinate. I used my roaster

oven as a container only (not turned on) and put

our heating pad in the bottom of that. Then I

used some baking cooling racks first to hold

the bottom layer up off the heating pad, then

to hold the second layer up off the first pots.

I also used egg cartons......

I lined the lids with a bit of plastic to hold the

water. At night I put the lid on the roaster,

but kept it off during the day when it was

warmer so the plants would get some light.

Did not take long and there were

baby sprouts everywhere!!!

and they just kept growing and growing!!!

Now they are ready to be

transplanted into a little

bit bigger pots. All I have to do is plant the whole

thing into a bigger pot. All of my starts are this

way so as not to disturb the roots.

Some of what I started has to stay inside until

the beginning of June, then I can put them out

but still have to watch and cover at night.

The cabbage and the broccoli I started inside

because the germination temperature was a bit

warmer than outside is right now, but as soon

as they are growing well and established

I can put them outside as they are both cold

hardy. I will probably put out one little

plant first to be sure. Wouldnt

want to kill them all at once. :)

How is your garden coming???

Springtime happenings....

Well, when life keeps going on, it sure is hard

to think a about blogging. Or rather, sit down

and do it.....I do think about it. :D

I had planted some cold hardy seeds outside

and am happy to say most came up. Here

in the High Desert, that is a big

accomplishment. I also have several seeds

that came up in my back room.

So far inside: Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant,

Roman Chamomile, St. Johns Wort, Broccolli,

Cabbage, Squashes, and maybe a couple

more things.

Outside things that came up are: Kale, onions, radishes,

lettuce, beets, maybe I see some

carrots and spinach. Our nights are in the

low 30's sometimes high 20's, so I am

pretty excited about these things working.

I am just trying to figure out now, with small

sprouts, do I keep covering them with plastic

or just straw or what?? Much experimenting

going on here. I knew from the beginning that

this is an experiment, so that if I do have

to replant anything I will not be too disappointed.

Today I am going to plant turnips and peas, these

could have already been planted and hubby is

going to make me potatoe boxes, so Iwill

plant potatoes today.

I have also been canning some more. I canned

Boston Baked Beans and Pork and Beans the

other day. Grama Belle where we crochet

on Tuesdays gave me alot of jars from her

shed, so I have been pretty busy just

running jars through the dishwasher

Very few real canning jars and lots of

odd ball jars. But I used to can with mayo

jars, so will try it again for fruit and applesauce.

Also, there are alot of jars with lids just

right for freezer jam, since I am always

short of plastic containers and plastic

lids can easily crack.

As I started canning and cleaning jars, it was hard

to get into my shed where the canning goes.

So, I decided to clean that first and get

it organized and hubby put in the extra

shelves I needed!! Happy day.

I had planned on doing something else and my daughter

said, Mum, do what you are passionate about

today, you will get more done that way.

And, she was right!! I made wonderful

progress on the shed.

I am sad to say that I do not have the pics of

all these doings yet. Something happened

awhile back and I cannot load my pics like

I used to, so I do not know how to do

it anymore and have to always wait

for someone to do it for me.

That is why my posts get so far apart.

It is my hope and prayer that wherever you

are and whatever stage of life you are in

you are enjoying peace and contentment.

Living life as shared above gives me a true sense

of contentment and inner joy and peace.

Knowing that with God's help I am doing all

I can do to make our home a shelter and

restful place for my family.