twitter without the bird

quick updates as I'm @ the library without my lap top using a pc paid for with my tax $. Stopped in to snag some free DVDs for movie night later this week. Our local Library has quite a selection of films all for free. Just need a library card.
DD#3 picked out the box set of Indiana Jones & a Denzel Washington movie, Inside Man which I had never heard about before. I love action thrillers with a good plot & this movie has Jody Foster & an English hottie Clive Owen. Hope he is as manly as he was in that King Arthur story a few years aback!
Sorry we have been without regular t.v. for 2 days because the new fangled antenna that goes with the new fangled converter box is broken. Hopefully DH will be able to fix that $60 antenna. As it is the 15 year old t.v. is starting to loose one of it's speakers.
No we don't have cable haven't in well almost 10 years. Yeah I know there are some peeps reading this blog who are lol about having a t.v. from the early 90's let alone not hanging on a wall. What can I say it's just not an issue for us. It's not our priority.

Back to homesteading type topics.
If you look over to the right side of my blog you will see that I have separate lists for various ways to preserve food for long term storage. Under the freezer section I have listed a zillion cups of shredded zucchini. K, think I can now take zukes off my need to have list!
Scored onions by way of a gleaning ops thru a church friend. Got enough to give Aunt Sally's a bushel for distribution to a local food bank. Gave a half bushel to my gfbb. Gave a peck to a church lady who in turn gave me a flat of nest run eggs (have no clue what that means exactly but they are fresh), and gave about 6 to my co chairwoman. Her & I run our church garden of which the food is donated to both Congregational members & various community food banks.
Plan is to slice the onions & dehydrate then vacuum seal them in pint mason jars.
Corn - so far have about 45 ears of corn from the hubby of the church lady who gifted me eggs. Seems my family has been adopted by them. Well actually she realizes that the main reason I have been volunteering so much with church projects is that I am now a SAHM. She & her DH are helping to keep my sabbatical a reality.
Good karma huh?
Fighting with my self not to just freeze the corn cob style. I should can it & keep that valuable freezer real estate vacant for other items that either can't be canned or we prefer frozen.
It's just that I really do dislike pressure canning. And corn has to be pressure canned.
K, have 3 minutes left on my allotted time on this very public pc.
Will work on downloading the few pics from Lehman's that I snapped.
Anyone wanna help slice onions?

08/20/09 - 0049
DH got an air card thru Cricket which enables me to be online in the privacy of my kitchen in my robe instead my local library. Convient it is but slow like dial up.

Nine pounds of onions are currently nestled in the dehydrator making my house smell like onion bread.
Will leave about 10 lbs. out in a crate down in the cellar. Another 20 lbs. use in pay it forwards namely the local food bank @ Aunt Sally's. They inturn used a portion of the gleaned onions to fill out their Senior Luncheon on Tuesdays. The rest went out for general disrabution.
May use 10 lbs. in a barter deal need shampoo/conditioner along with vinagar. Actually I could make a shampoo bar that would be rich enough not to need a conditioner for our hair. That would be the smart thing to do.
Then all that is needed would be t.p. & vinagar, lol. Maybe bleach. & powdered milk.
Spent $20.92 @ Aldis today. Bought; 2 containers of quick oats, box of corn flakes, 8 oz. of hard cheese, frozen can of pink lemonade requested by DD#3, brown sugar, can of black olives, grated parmesan cheese, & 2 bags of tortilla chips for nacho night later this week. Also bought Bananas on 50% discount - due to over ripness. There's 5 qts. of diced bananas in the freezer.
Oh forgot a gallon 2% milk for yogurt making. Haven't been getting raw milk from the dairy as the farmer's price is still @ $2.50 per gallon. The raw leche isn't organic just freasher & creamier, & a bit more expensive so I'm going with the more cost effective choice.
Last week grocery shopping @ Aldis was $15.11; bag of apples, gallon of milk, again 2 bags of torilla chips, 2 bricks of hard cheese, package of bologna, & canned mushrooms. Also canned black olives.
In the next week or two I will do a post on UPC with updates such as the side of beef that was bought last month. Surfice to say that I still haven't truely limited our grocery budget to the the $100 mark.
Reality sucks.


~~ pelenaka ~~

on the road

I'm blogging from Erie, Pennsylvania @ Barns & Noble while my daughters use their b-day gift cards. We're on our way back to the New York coming from Cleveland so we stopped off here in Erie to take advantage of the tax free shopping. Go potty. Buy Gas. Sit in a/c 'cause my Aveo is air less.
Bought DD#2 running shoes @ Penny's using a promotion coupon for $10. I had promised it to my gfbb since I was told their Dad bought shoes in Houston for them. Don't ask what he bought but it wasn't what was needed. I'll offer here the next coupon that is mailed out. I get like 3 a month it seems. Quite a bit since I only shopped in a Penny's store 4 times last year. 3 shopping excursions were for running shoes. One was for me. I scored a $300 wool lawyers coat for $49. As hubby is fond of saying I really look like I could talk my way outta the big house in that coat.
Total spent was $39 for running sneakers. Now she's all set for her v.j. cross country.
Then we hit this book store so they both could use their gift cards. Again no tax here in PA.
Personally I wouldn't make the 3 hour drive here to shop since well I mostly barter for visit tag sales for our clothing needs. But it worked out since we were in the area.

So here I sit wishing that I had some great photos to share about our experience earlier @ Lehman's in Kiddron, Ohio. But alas I'm technically challenged.
The pics are on my cell phone. Wasn't planning on the side trip to Lehman's and didn't pack the digital camera. Anyone wanna email me directions on how to accomplish this task?
Daughter's have made their selections. Will post soon.

oh the road again ...

~~ pelenaka ~~
who has as a top ten topic #4-being married means you can sleep on long road trips.

ugly broccoli

I got me some ugly broccoli. Despite my best attempts my Broccoli looks nuttin like the large green globes in mega mart's produce isle. I even fertilized them with a special tonic made from water seeped with eggshells, dehydrated banana skins, & Epsom salts.
It's cool 'cause the broccoli tastes great.
Like broccoli should. Tender.
Was able to gather 23 cups off my plantings when all the blanching was done. It's safely in the freezer vacuum sealed in bags.
Hopefully a second harvest later on as once you cut off the main heads side shoots of Broccoli grow. I write hopefully as here in Western New York it has been a very long Spring. Double the amount of rainfall to the tune of 16". We haven't broke 90 degrees yet.
Retail value is some where in the neighborhood of $20, minus the cost of seed. Not a bad return on my investment.

~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S. Green beans locally grown are selling for $1.49 per pound @ Tops Market this week. So far I gleaned 21 cups = 5 lbs = $7.45 worth of free Green Beans! No idea what the cost of frozen Green Beans will be in Febuary.
This year I want to keep a savings tally calculating the vale of food that I have foraged & gleaned.