Wasteweardaily

Recently I decided to join a challenge created  by Sharon Astyk who is one of the founders of the Riot for Austerity. Her challenge is called “Independance Days Challenge”. I almost wasn’t going to do it, but I find myself trying to keep up with the Joneses. These are Joneses from a very different sort of neighborhood.

Basically the challenge is all about increasing your personal independance from market society. There are ten things to work on during the week and you are supposed to do atleast one everyday. Now looking at things that way makes it look easier. Here are the ten things.

1. plant something 2. harvest something 3. Preserve something  4. store something  5. prepare something  6. Manage something  7. cook something new.  8. work on local food systems  9. reduce waste               and 10. learn a new skill

So this week so far, I have

1. It rained last fri so I Planted 16 pineapple tomatillos, 4 reg tomatillos, 2 pimento peppers

2. Harvested several cherry tomatoes, several small tomatoes, yellow squash, vegetable marrow, green beans and a pound of potatoes.

3. Preserved quart and pint of veg marrow pickles, and a quart and pint of Daikon radish kraut. Took all tomatoes from last year or older out of the freezer and made 6 pints spaghetti sauce.

4. stored 2 extra bottles vinegar, 3 extra bottles soybean oil(organic at $1 each!), 3 extra jars peanut butter I also went to 3 thrift stores and bought 11 canning jars, two 8 packs of candles, 2 pair of shoes for my son, four still in package pillow cases and kitchen curtains. Purchased case of pints and case of quarts, lids and rings, emergency candles and a mantle for my Alladin lamp.

5. prepared, well I bought salt to make more pickles, researched sites to buy a pressure canner and then bought the canner.

6. managed-I went through all the non-canning jars and paired them up with lids, organised panty

7. cooked something new- Made salsa fresca

8   local food - discussed gardening with a new friend                   

9. reduced waste- brought home 3 bags and two boxes from the dumpster, mostly clothes

10. learned a new skill- canned spaghetti sauce for the first time