New Toys!!

Ok, I'm just bursting to share & who better to share these things with than YOU?   I've been so busy that I am SO far behind on my blogging!  

Last weekend I got a used Chest Freezer off Craiglist for agood price, it's almost liek new & works great!  It's about 4 ft wide, I think it's about 14 cubic ft...?  Anyhoo, it works GREAT!  I was so excited to transfer everything to it from my small stand up freezer & the tiny one in the house!  It looked very nice & organized for about 5 minutes! Naw, just kidding, it's still looking pretty good, I just REALLY need to get a 'working inventory list' going & stick with it so I always know what's in it!  See in the top left corner?  That's the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment I just got last week (WHAT???  I had a gift card!)  So far I've tried an all RAW creamy Peach Ice Cream, Peach Sorbet & Strawberry Sorbet, I love that I can use honey in them!  Now I just need a source for raw goat's milk & I can give Laloo's a run for their money!  EIGHT DOLLARS a pint at Whole Foods (and ya can't get it anywhere else locally!) I don't think so! 

On Wednesday I received my Kitchen Mill!  I already used it! ;)

On Friday I noticed sprouts in my garden that I just seeded in the last 2 weeks!  YIPEE!

Today I received my dehyrator!   You can buy from Excalibur directly, I got a Refurbished model, because they come with a 10 yr warranty & the lower price on it allowed me to get the bigger, better model.  It has 9 trays!   I also got some of those Paraflexx sheets for it, so I will working on some Fruit leathers & stuff like that! 

I knew it was coming so I had wheat berries ready for it!

The Garden Update

Goodness how things have changed!  I planted tomatoes before the trip, and while I was away, Tami & Terrie (good garden fairies) came over & planted some cucumber & other seedlings in that same box. (See above)  So that was fun to come home to! ;)

Since being home, I've been VERY busy trying implement the rest of the plan.   I had to fill & seed the Right box & we are still working on the watering & timer set up...for now we have to do it manually each evening...ugh...

Today I working on building mounds in front of the smaller boxes along my wall.   It was a beautiful morning!  But man was I sweaty!  The idea is that lots more things can be grown outside the boxes too!  So I built some tiers, so we'll have lots of 'edge space' for things like strawberries...and then taller things like onion & chives will be behind them - cool huh!?

 

This is the left box, when it was first built & Joe attached it to the wall!  Then he lined it with landscaping paper so my precious dirt (hey, I had to PAY for it!) wouldn't sneak out the cracks...

The same Left box after being filled with dirt & grapes!

Today, after I made the tiered mounds... I'll be planting onion, chives & strawberries on them!  Oh, and notice the beautiful trellis?  My wonderful Joe borrowed a friend's truck to bring those home from work where he discovered them in the dumpster!  FREE!

Isn't that AWESOME???

Ok, one more brag about my JoeBacon, he is going to let me (that sounds so wrong somehow!  I bring home the bacon too, you know! ;)  But we are trying to be more careful about where our money goes & get a handle on our debt, etc... so in light of that) he is OK with me spending money on: an electric grain mill & a super cool dehrydrator!!  I know, you're all got them already, but this is HUGE for me!  I'm so excited!  I was gonna say nanny nanny boo boo, but being the mature grown up woman that I am, I will graciously accept your congratulations.

** grin **