Canning Jar Quandry.....and Garden and Dirty Diva Duckie Updates

Hello everyone! Today my laundry is being dried by the gracious sun and I am cleaning out the pantry. Ugh. It never ceases to amaze me how easily it gets out of hand. In the process I am taking inventory of my canning jars. I currently have amassed....

18 Quart Jars
29 Pint Jars
3 half-pint jars
A million saved glass jars that are for storage and refrigerator pickles, but not canning

So, how many canning jars does one need? I have no idea. How many do you have? Is it enough? Where is the best (best meaning cheapest) place to buy them? How many do I need? Can you tell me? How and where do you store yours when not in use?

I have been working on some "canning goals" and going through that fabulous Ball Canning book and picking out the recipes that I plan to use. I figure that is a start. Is that a start? Is that a good start?

My camera sucks cow butt so I have no pictures right now. But will soon!!

The garden....is overall doing very well. I do need to weed and plan to do that this evening. We used hay (straw?) mulch around everything. One and a half of those GINORMOUS round bales to be exact. So far so good.

Successes include....

Tomato seedlings
Pepper seedlings
Cucumbers
Popcorn
Sweet Corn
Zucchini
Squash
Radishes
Carrots (have just recently made their appearance! I was so excited!)
Beets
Potatoes
Pumpkins
Strawberries
Green Beans
Peas
Melons - I am leery about the seedlings, so I direct planted some as well.
Stevia is still in pots and doing well
Recently planted Dill in the garden and Rosemary in pots. Will wait a bit longer to plant some Cilantro because last year by the time we needed it it was bolted and spent. I do have a volunteer Cilantro coming up. I let it grow. Just in case we need some sooner.

Iffy Things....

Sweet Potatoes - some of the slips are growing so we'll have some
Onions - the dozen or so I got in the ground early and then waited on the rest because I thought the soil was too wet are actually doing very well. However, ones I planted later are so-so and not a lot are making it. Even the green onions are having issues.
Lettuces - Some are coming up, but I think they needed to be planted earlier and will try a fall crop and use the cold frame
Okra - I was inspired to plant a few (thanks Mrs. S!) but so far they aren't doing so well. I am going to try re-seeding to see if we can't get it going.
Watermelon - Looking puny. Remember I tried seedlings? I went ahead and direct seeded to see if those would do better.

Total Failures...I think due to planting late

Cabbage
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts


The Dirty Diva's got a little rearranging. As I have said and anyone with ducks knows....they are THE messiest little things when it comes to water. Their set up had their food feeder and a 5 gallon waterer inside the duck house, with their pool outside, and we'd let them out in the mornings and they'd put themselves up in the evening and lock them in. Well, they were emptying that whole 5 gallons overnight, and a lot of it (most of it!) was ending up on the floor which is essentially dirt covered with straw. The problem is that it was stinking to high freakin' heaven, to the point that I couldn't even clean it out, hubby had to do it, because I was gagging horribly! It was also becoming a breeding ground for those annoying little gnats.

So we (meaning hubby...I watched!) got the inside scooped out and cleaned up and laid down a nice thick fresh layer of straw. It is now their sleeping quarters only. Their their food got moved outside next to their pool in their play yard. When they go to bed at night, we do not shut the coop door in case they need to eat or drink overnight. Do they eat or drink overnight? I have no clue. But I do know this is working out very well and they are doing just fine. We are thinking of ways to improve the inside of the coop so they can have a waterer in there. But this will do for now. I have contemplated cutting our flock in half. My original plan was 6 or 8, but to get this kind (Khaki Campbells) we had to order a minimum of 15. No way could I eat them, they are too sweet, but I could sell some. Hubby thinks we should just keep them all. We'll probably just keep them, we'll see. Sixteen ducks is A LOT of ducks.

We are thinking about moving the majority of the garden up to the yard next year in the spot where his grandparents always had their garden. Hubby brought home a gigantic roll of thick black felt that they use under bridges. If we do, I think we are going to lay it down to (hopefully) kill off the grass over the summer and then we will remove the felt and till in some leaves to compost over the winter. But then again we may just stick to what we have been doing and keep the garden on the edge of the soybean field. We go back and forth. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

I also did another totally cool re-purpose! The kids have a swimming pool, you know those easy set pools with the blow up top ring and soft sides? 12 X 3 I think. They love it. Anyway, last year the black lab dog chewed up the chlorine floater thing. I looked at them at the store a week or so ago and they were a whopping $10! Saving money tends to get the wheels in my head going. So I decided to make my own. I used an empty 2 liter soda bottle with lid and a small sour cream container with lid. I tied a string tightly around the neck of the soda bottle. Then poked a bunch of holes in the sour cream container and tied the string in holes on each side. I wish my camera worked, I'd show you! I'm really proud of it. :) The chlorine tablets go in the sour cream container, lid goes on, and in the pool it goes. The sour cream container fills up with water and sinks, dissolving the tablets, and the pop bottle stays afloat to keep it floating around. I'm a freakin' genius! :) No, not really.....just a momma motivated to pinch pennies and squeeze George til he screams and who saves way too many empty containers. :) LOL Or maybe that makes me a Redneck? :)

Oh, I have been knitting too. More of those Knitted Babes. I knitted a newborn one for my daughter to go with her big girl, hope to get a picture up soon. And I knitted a big one for my niece's birthday and am going to knit her TWO newborns since her mom is pregnant with twins.

Well, I think I hear the pantry calling so off I go. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

EEEEEEEEEKKKK!!

Those dirty little beggars have returned! The first round they were only on the pantry floor. Of course we don't want them in the house period, so we set traps and caught four and haven't caught any since. But really it is just part of country life and is no big deal. It happens. Well, it really shouldn't happen in my opinion with 4 cats and 2 dogs around and this is the first time it has happened since we have lived here...but I digress.

This time they ***GASP*** left evidence in my SILVERWARE DRAWER!!!! My silverware drawer. Where we keep our silverware. You know, the stuff that we eat off of? That my KIDS eat off of? That we use to put food in our mouths? How dare they!

Oh, they have gone too far this time and it is ON! Either exit the premises and remain outside the castle walls or face the consequences. That is the only warning I will give you little meeses. The troops, I mean traps are armed and waiting. Heed it or else.

Gotta go now...I have a date with a bottle of bleach.

An Almost Finished Skirt....

Well, I ran out of thread! This type of skirt uses A LOT of thread. I need to get the elastic it calls for too. I think the biggest challenge with this skirt was the layout and making my fabric work.

I thought about cutting a pattern from brown craft paper, but instead decided to just measure, press, and cut.
I think it is turning out really cute, though the pictures do not do it justice.

I have to make a trip to town today anyway, so I'll pick up the thread and elastic. I've never made the kind of waist band this skirt calls for, so it should be interesting! But after the town trip and before working on it, I will be getting back to Anti-Procrastination Week. My goals for today are to do the windows/blinds in at least two more rooms and to clean out the floor vents of the rooms whose windows are done.

Well now, that is some serious dirt!

I noticed something (other than the dirt) in doing this Anti-Procrastination week challenge...I procrastinated even starting it today! But that led my staying busy (to avoid doing it!) and getting the entire house all tidied up good, and then I had no more excuses and HAD to start the challenge. So I did. And it is a GOOD thing...just look at this dirt on the underside of this valance in the little living room!


And on the window frame....

I was expecting dirt, but not THAT much! So I worked on two rooms...the little living room and my craft/sewing room. The curtains were washed, the wood and window sills misted with warm water and orange oil and wiped down, the windows washed, and the mini blinds got a shower. And now....




....it feels so clean and bright! And it is a beautiful sunny day! I'm trying not to think about all of the rest of the windows that need done. Instead I am going to enjoy what I have done and work on some sewing. See that fabric on the ironing board? I bought it to make skirts and I am going to try making this peasant skirt http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=JC&Screen=PSKIRT that I found the link to from this blog. http://beautythatmoves.typepad.com/beauty_that_moves/ I think I am going to use the green for it.

I'll keep you updated on my Anti-Procrastination week progress and my skirt adventure! How are you doing with your Anti-Procrastination tasks this week?

Spring Cleaning and Anti-Procrastination Week...

Country Mom had it listed on her blog from Brandi's Blog so I thought I'd join in on Anti-Procrastination Week. Over the past two weeks I have started "spring" cleaning and de-cluttering...so I can spend spring doing other things. But there are things I just keep putting off and putting off. So they have inspired me to just DO IT this week!

I'll have to make a list, but one thing I can think of off the top of my head is window sills and mini blinds. Since we heat with two wood stoves, the house always seems to be dusty and the window sills and blinds seem to just pile it up. My plan for the mini blind future is to get vertical blinds instead of the current horizontal ones. Vertical just seem like they'd be easier to keep clean and that would keep the cats and the kids from breaking them and messing them up looking out the windows. But for now, I have what I have and they need cleaned!

What have you been putting off? Join in and make this your Anti-Procrastination week too!

MY LIST FOR THIS WEEK....

1. Window sills and mini blinds
2. Floor vents
3. Mud Room Closet
4. Anything else that I come across