Independence Days Week #6

Plant something:
- cleavers, chickweed, motherwort, waterleaf (from Martha's property)
- tomatoes (most plants were bought at the farmer's market, three were given to us by a friendly gardener)
- yellow hot peppers, sweet pickling peppers (started from seed, they're still so tiny!), one pepper plant from a garden neighbour
- bush beans
- basil, cilantro, chives, parsley, rosemary (bought at the farmer's market)
- lupines, Heartsease (from a garden neighbour)
- meadow rue, blue vervain, jewelweed (from the Native Plant sale)

Harvest something:
- creeping charlie, violet flowers and leaves, stinging nettle, raspberry leaves
- 8 ounces of spinach, 13 ounces of radishes
- chives

Preserve Something:
- drying violet leaves, raspberry, nettle
- making herbal vinegar with creeping charlie
- made more violet flower syrup

Reduce waste:
- cooked lentils in sun oven (to make lentil burgers)
- made my own yogurt
- bought wool blanket and hand rake at yard sale
- scavenged more garden materials
- biking everywhere
- composting everything
- saving and reusing glass jars
- returned milk bottles and egg cartons to vendor at farmer's market
- set aside some stuff for a neighbourhood garage sale next week

Preparation and Storage:
- bought tomato cages
- bought gallon of organic apple cider vinegar (for herbal preparations, the glass jug will be used in the future as a carboy for homemade wine making!)
- bought airlock for future homemade wine making!
- bought canning utensils: tongs, funnel, magnetic lid lifter and jar wrench (the canning pot, rack and a dozen jars I bought second hand in the winter)
- finally finished organising bathroom cupboard and cleared out two shelves for storage space
- moved emergency water to empty cupboard under bathroom sink
- learned to identify sweetfern, bearberry, wintergreen, oyster mushrooms

Build community food systems:
- went to two farmer's markets
- sent mushroom growing links to someone from the wild edibles group
- meeting and talking to garden neighbours: I had a great conversation with one woman who asked about the nettles I was carrying. I was happy to tell her what I know about them. She seemed really interested and keen to try them.
I met a friendly man who has beautiful lupines growing in his plot. I stopped to ask him about them. He said they spread quickly and he has to keep them under control. When I said I would be happy to help him with that, he dug some up for me as well as a heartsease. We chatted for a while. He helped me to identify mugwort which I have growing on my plot and had mistaken for ragweed. He reminded me that it is a beneficial insect repellent and good for keeping mosquitoes away.

Eat the food:
- spinach and radish sandwiches
- spinach and egg frittata
- shredded radish and yogurt spread to go with lentil burgers