Garden Goals:
Weather.com is predicting hotter than usual weather for the southwest U.S. for September and October (and predicting an early fall for the Northeast and South). The heat makes it hard to want to work in the garden (just a couple of days ago it was 113ºF/45ºC), but work still needs to be done. It’s still too hot in September to plant most things for my fall garden (soil temperatures are 80-85ºF and air temperatures are over 100º, cooling down into the upper 90’s by the end of the month) but I need to have the garden ready to plant in October.
1. Weed the garden
2. Fertilize fruit trees
3. Pull out dead vines
4. Deadhead zinnias
5. Start cutting down the dead peach tree. (My large Early Elberta tree died this year and I want to get it out so that I can replace it this fall).
6. Trim hedges
7. Fertilize roses
8. Pull out plants that died (several bushes and a tree) that are within the one-year warranty and return them to the nursery for credit. I will also take the pots back for credit, as they give a few cents credit for each of the larger black pots.
9. Pull out large bushes that fried in June. June had 117º temperatures (something we don’t usually see until July) and a lot of my plants completely burned.
Sewing Goals:
1. Mend 10 items of clothing
2. Hem three pairs of pants for my husband
3. Continue to work on whitework embroidery project
4. Sew a gift (or two) for my daughter for her birthday
Organization:
1. Donate items to the thrift store
2. Tidy the garden shed
3. Organize school supplies
4. Organize toiletry cabinet
What are your goals for September?
Trim our huge rose bush
Add $$ to the emergency fund
Take items to the thrift store
Trim our greenery bush
Weed the flower gardens
Eat from our pantry
Sell items on eBay
No spend month
Clean out the mud room closet
I live in the Midwest so getting the garden and yard ready for winter will be started. Since we have taken down our very large Locust tree this past spring there won’t be nearly the leaves to rake (what a blessing!).
My husband’s birthday is in October so I will be working on a large blizzard fleece blanket for him. I’ve had the fabric for about a year so no out-of-pocket expense. I believe I paid a total of $12 for it at Joann’s combined with sales and coupons.
The weather has been getting chilly at night so I know I will be dead-heading my zinnias soon although right now they are looking beautiful.
I will completely harvest all of my basil and drying or freezing it for this winter.
I will bring in my spearmint plant. Hopefully it will survive the winter. I’m open to suggestions and pointers 🙂
Oh, and I wanted to add-What a beautiful baby boy! So precious.
What a lovely photo! Are Winter and Octavius your only blue eyed children?
I love the picture of your youngest, Brandy! I just want to hug him and cuddle him! (I’m sure he’d hate it, but he’s just so cute!)
My September goals:
Garden:
– harvest everything that I can (herbs, tomatoes, mint, radishes and/or radish greens. I doubt I’ll have any peas, as I saw a caterpillar happily munching away on the delicate tops of ALL my plants. It had eaten them all by the time I found it. Very industrious of it.)
– check to see if my sweet potatoes are grown. If so, harvest them and let them dry on the balcony for a few days, and pluck all the sweet potato leaves to stir-fry.)
– plant some more Swiss chard (and lettuce, because one day I WILL grow lettuce)
Blog:
– look for a sponsored post
– submit an article idea to a publication. They indicated interest in a previous idea, but it didn’t come to fruition, so I’ll try again.
– catch up on my social media posts for my blog on twitter and pinterest
– look into a pinterest strategy
– find $ from various places in the budget, and earned via cat-sitting, to renew my post office box (legally, I need to have an address when I send out emails via mailchimp, but I don’t want to send out my home address obviously).
Canning:
– can peaches, pears, apple sauce, apple butter, pear butter, pickled beets, and potentially tomato herb sauce, if I can find a case of inexpensive tomatoes
– related to canning, I would like to chop and freeze a bag of onions, and freeze a bag full of carrots. Both items usually go on huge sales around now. This means I will have to eat down my freezer a little, so that’s in the plans as well.
Household
– continue to trade items to declutter my home.
– paint master bath
– recaulk master bath tub
– potentially do some quilting, but that depends on whether I can get out to a fabric store to buy some backing fabric. There’s nothing local, so either I need to be in the area, make a special trip, or order online (which I am trying to avoid because it can get expensive). But there is a quilt top that I have lying around that my husband would like finished and packed away, so I’ll try to get that done.
And of course, my day job and regular blogging stuff. A fun and full month!
Clean out stuff and try to sell on EBay.
Stock up on holiday staples- I am going to make/bake holiday gifts this year from the kitchen.
Save up for next year’s garden.
Can/freeze on what I can get my hands on.
Continue to earn points thru all my rebate/Swagbucks sites.
Hopefully will become my son’s CAP worker by the end of the year.
Swim in pool as much as possible before the cool weather sets in-LOL!
Reconcile June, July and now August bank statements
Prepare husband’s business tax return (on extension)
Contribute money to our emergency fund (at end of September)
Make both mine and husband’s lunch everyday this month (this week we alternate between beans/rice and hawaiian chicken/rice)
Pick up leaves out of 2 front flowerbeds (very time consuming, one by one)
Cut back plants in 2 front flowerbeds and remove dead strands
Trim hedges
Sound like some wonderful goals for the upcoming fall season! I’m not a fan of the hot fall weather we’ll be getting, but I’m happy to finally have an excuse to put pumpkin in everything. 😉 I really missed the taste of fresh pumpkin after discovering it last year! Mmmm.
I had forgotten about that.. not only am I working on stocking my pantry but we have been putting money back for emergencies. My job is a seasonal company and I worry when work slows down they may let me go so I’ve been saving money out of each check in case I can’t find work right away and now my husband is facing a surgery Sept. 18th to have a tumour removed from his back scared of what our part of the bills will be. So saving money back is really important.
Our cowboy church is having our annual trail ride to raise money for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital this month, so my time wil be spent getting all our camping and horse riding equipment ready, along with making sure we have food for our meals while out on the ranch where the ride will take place. Oh yeah, and I have to get my spoiled rotten mare all groomed and pretty for the ride!
Extreme temperatures are so hard to deal with. Apparently they are predicting a very cold winter for our area. Not looking forward to that!
My list of things to do in September includes:
*Processing the multiple large bags of various berries in the freezer into homemade canned jam.
*Process the big frozen bucket of peach juice into either peach syrup or peach jelly
*Make homemade chicken stock and can it with my new pressure canner
*Try making some home canned soup with my new pressure canner
*Watch for rock bottom sale prices on more seasonal produce and process them for use in winter as I purchase them
*Try a few new recipes to hopefully expand our list of family favourite meal ideas
*Find a project I’d like to make on the 4-harness table loom that someone kindly let me borrow for free
*Figure out how to read the weaving pattern, what I need to do to warp the loom to make said project, and calculate how much materials I need to complete the project (hoping to find cheap materials to do the project through various sources)
*Survive my autistic daughter’s transition into high school, hopefully with sanity still in tact :p
Continue deadheading spent flowers
Can more tomatoes as salsa and marinara sauce
When it cools off enough, change out summer to winter bedding (maybe late September)
Clean my closet and retire summer clothes, replacing with fall/winter wardrobe
Can Bartlett pears
Finish vacation scrapbook
Have a fall picnic for friends as soon as we get into the 80’s
Gather pumpkins from our garden for decorating around the house
My biggest goal this month is getting the family back into the school year routine.
Otherwise, winter preparations are in full swing. Yard, house, Christmas gifts and emergency supplies.
Because we might move within a year, I am not stocking up too much – but rather will be trying to use things up.
*Our forecast right now is cooler than normal plus possible crazy winter…
*Goals are to winterize the house including sewing 8 pairs of winter curtains to replace the ones I lost last spring.
*Sew flannel pj bottoms for myself.
*Start pulling out fall/winter clothes and bedding and putting away warm weather clothes.
*Replace Hubby’s fall/winter clothes as he has lost too much weight to wear what he had last winter and the clothes are really worn or stained as they are from his job.
*Finish harvesting the north gardens to plant ground cover (annual rye) before Oct 9th.
*Plant fall garlic
*Plant lettuce, radishes and baby spinach for fall
*Finish curing onions for storage
* Start clearing the south gardens, most will be removed completely.
*Cut down the two flower beds
*Start putting together Christmas/Yule/Hanukkah presents (multi faith family SMILING)
* Clear out garden stuff out of garage so we can put car in the garage this winter
* Tidy pantry, butler’s pantry(dry goods), root cellar and the area where I have paper/cleaning products and personal products.
* Continue to stock up. Continue to have energy and canning supplies to put up harvests.
*Continue to save for months without income this winter
* Continue to do therapy for shoulder
* Make medical appts that have been put off due to surgery on shoulder
*Continue with Pinecone and Swagbucks.
My September goals are:
Freezing garden vegetables, pickle cucumbers , dry herbs for winter cooking, make my first batch of chamomile tea from the garden flowers, freezing berries for winter deserts, pick our first ripe apples from our young 2 y/0 tree, harvest our new grapes, yard clean up and organization,
purge more and give to Goodwill as last month. Continue to work on our pantry goods and finish organizing our 72 hour emergency backpacks. Prepare our home for Fall and Winter activities and one last 3 day camp trip for the season.
Purging, we are over run by stuff. So stressful.
Cleaning out drawers and closets to donate.
Canning some pear butter and cowboy candy and pickled watermelon rind
Starting on Christmas stuff.
Cut way back on grocery shopping.
My first goal will be to get the seeds for the winter garden planted. I am so far behind. They should have already been out two weeks ago, but it is hard to plant more seeds when the summer garden is in full production.
My second big goal will be to begin cooking and getting ready for a big celebration here on Saturday, September 23rd when we will celebrate the Feast of Trumpets. It will be very important this year since it will also have the Revelation 12 astrological sign in the heavens of the “…woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet…”. It is the only sign the Bible called great, so I think I need to pay attention. Blood moons, solar eclipse, world gone crazy, I plan to do as Jesus said, “Look up.” Don’t know what will happen, but we will be looking up and since we don’t have a shofar (goat horn) to blow, we plan on honking car horns at the sighting of the new moon. We are gentiles after all, and never can seem to get it right.
I have posted an update on my August garden and must confess, I am a bit proud of my compost pile and did brag a bit too much.
http://getmetothecountry.blogspot.com/2017/08/augusts-garden-2017_31.html
Jeannie @ GetMeToTheCountry.Blogspot.com
Goodmorning Brandy,
My goals for this month are
Inside
Continue with the spring cleaning, I have already started on the windows and blinds and hubby has washed the outside of the house
Continue cleaning the skirting boards
Clean on top of the kitchen cupboards
Clean and tidy my sewing room and continue with a quilt I started months ago
Outside
Finish mulching all the gardens and pots
Plant out some basil and tomato seeds
Cut back a vine that is struggling and let it start again
Cut out the affected branches (by gall wasp) on the lemon and lime trees
Plant some more Asian greens seeds
And that’s all I can think of at the mo
Have a lovely day
Fi
Seeing other folks’ lists always helps me think of things I need to tackle – I finally got the bulk of my goals written out (instead of letting them rattle around in my own head for the month). 😉
Mine are listed here:
http://meloniek.com/2017/09/september-2017-goals/
I am trying to deep clean my entire house before Christmas–have already started. It is my turn to host this year, and it’s a good excuse to rid myself of some clutter!
Harvested some radishes today from fall garden, and weeded the beets. I will get some more Miracle Gro on them soon because they are not growing very fast. They promise to be ready in 60 days and they’ve already been in for 30!
It is ALREADY getting cool here. Sept 1st is usually the end date for swimming due to the cool nights. They have already gotten cool at least 2 weeks ago. High yesterday about 68, and we have had several days that cool. Today is not one of them but big storms and rain are coming tonight. My sister had her pool liner replaced on Thursday–she did not get much swimming in this summer because there was a leak and she had to wait for the pool people to have time to put the new liner in. It might get warm enough for kids to swim but I doubt the over 50 crowd will be wanting to! Last year we had a number of fun get together lunches with our 2 year old and 6 yr old nieces. This year that just didn’t happen. My two sisters had one but I had something else planned that day–I stopped for half an hour as it was the best I could do.
My DD has been helping with cleaning one day a week–I have trouble doing it all. I have a long “to do” list for this week already and it’s only Monday!! My husband is having memory problems and I am needing to keep an eye on him much more than ever before. For every one thing I remember to check, he comes up with two more I hadn’t thought of! It’s quite an interesting situation, just keeping ahead of him. I am waiting for the first time he goes out in the car and can’t remember the way back—I am always telling him where to turn when I am with him. It will be a bad thing when he can’t go to medical appointments by himself anymore. He’s not willing to go for a diagnosis at this point, so I’ll just wait. Our doctor is retiring soon, and we’ll maybe talk about it more when we get a new doctor.
I will be getting winter clothes out but I hope it isn’t necessary this month! Usually Sept is pretty nice, although I’m not trusting in that this year!
I got extra wide fabric for quilt backing from amazon for a pretty reasonable price. You might check there.
Your baby boy is gorgeous! Lovely photo.
My goals this month:
-free activities for the children
-attend nearby Markets while my daughter goes to a Matisse class at Alliance Francaise. They have fruit & vegetables at the market so if I see any good prices I will stock up. I will be keeping a look out for broccoli, cauliflower, capsicums, apples and bananas
-attend a combined baptism and 1st birthday party, which means two presents. I spent $4.50 total on both gifts (savings of $36.50). I shop clearance and sales and keep them all in my linen cupboard
-cook a few sweets from scratch with my children
-grocery budget is $180 for the month. Some things I need include chocolate chips, milk, bread, yoghurt, gnocchi, fruit, vegetables
-next month we are going on a holiday so I will start meal planning for it, using ingredients in hand
My goal this month is to finish my bedroom as we are still remodeling the house we purchased in January. Slow and steady but no debt. I also plan on finalizing all Christmas gift ideas with the goal of acquiring or making all gifts by the first week of November at the latest. I purchased seeds 20 for $1, some are for spring planting but with living in the south my frost dates allow me to grow things much later in the year than others. I will be able to use that to my advantage. We will organize the pantry, freezer and bathrooms to inventory what we have a surplus of. This is also the month that our 72 hr kits are checked and replenished as needed.
Awesome, thanks, Deb!
I am so grateful for this blog and the community of likeminded people. I have been reading blogs for almost 8 years now. I used to frequent many frugal blogs, but as those bloggers got famous, they stopped offering articles. Brandy, you are truly the only honest frugal blogger out there. I found you on Money Saving Mom and that site is a perfect example. It used to have tons of good tips and comments, but now it’s 99% amazon affiliate links and she charges for everything. Please don’t change this format. It’s the only place left for people to exchange ideas for free and really help/encourage each other!
This month we will be pulling out the onions then using the fresh onions in my cooking instead of my frozen ones so I have less to cut & freeze in Oct or at the latest November when we begin to heat with wood. I do not have cold storage so I will have to freeze what’s left.I will also need to pull out the remaining garden produce–Zucchini, beets, carrots and any remaining cucumbers.
I need to cook said zucchinis for meals–my husband would prefer them to be all zucchini bread–haha
i need to go through my youngest daughters clothes to pull out what no longer fits and see what she will need for this winter.
I need to take out my big bag of hats/gloves/neck warmers to see what still fits and what I need.
I also need to check out the snowboot needs and order any if needed
My kids are on school vacation starting 9/21 for potato harvest so I need to prepare quick lunches for them to eat while I work.
Continue to write letters to my son in bootcamp
The family dynamics have changed since said son left for bootcamp. I need to update the chore assignments.
Teach my middle son to wash his own clothes.
Take my middle son for lab work before his doctor appointment
sell items on ebay
continue organizing the freezer
concentrate on organizing the household paperwork.
I need to sit down and revisit the basics of my houshold’s budget and spending.
Goals include:
Plant out garden beds with native plants.
Plant stevia in the vegie garden.
Weed the courtyard from all the weeds that grew through winter.
Repurpose an electric blanket into a delicates wash bag, wire garden ties for the roses, and a wool blanket for an emergency kit I am slowly putting together.
Cute kid in the photo.
Many quilters use bed sheets as a backing. What if you looked at thrift stores in the area for something that would work. It would definitely be cheaper! By the way, check flyers for cases of Roma tomatoes. There are a couple stores this week. No Frills was cheapest, but Foodland had them as well. Sales will end soon, though.
Oh my goodness. He is so handsome!!! I love his haircut! I do believe the weather is correct. We live in the south and it feels like we will be having an early fall this year!!
Marcia R., I’m sending big hugs while you deal with your husband. I know this can’t be easy for you. My husband’s memory has gotten worse in the past few years. (His mother was diagnosed with Lewis Body (sp?) Disease.) I think it’s too early for any type of diagnosis, but it’s at the back of my head.
What a cutie Octavius is! I love those little teeth!
Garden goals…
-Harvest any apples that are edible. It’s not looking good.
-Dump my compost can, play in the dirt with my shovel, replace.
-Hack away at lilac bushes
-Weed
Sewing…
-Dig through my sewing tote and find x-stitch patterns I need to start a project. It’s been years since I did any cross stitch so this may be a stretch.
Organization..
Go through eBay piles and donate or list. I need a clean slate for the new year. Clutter is not in my nature and it’s already making me crazy.
Food..
-Look for great meat sales. One of my sons is a meat manager at Kroger, which we don’t have here. The sales they have are just incredible. I’m actually thinking of driving a couple of hours away to find better food deals before the snow flies. If we go to visit this son we’ll definitely be taking coolers! (He’s eight hours away.)
That’s enough for me. Wishing everyone a fabulous week!
My goals are to continue to lower our bills and keep working on swagbucks and survey sites for gift cards.
To use up food before spoilage.
To use up what we have as much as we can.
Move my two raised garden boxes to higher ground. I have one’s frame moved but need to get the other moved and both of them filled so I can plant my garlic in both this fall.
Get our shower surround pieces straightened out (they sent us a wrong piece) and get it installed. We’d hoped to have had it done last weekend. But it had to be delayed once we discovered the wrong part. Now we are waiting to hear back on how they are going to remedy this and when. Grr. We’ve already invested about a month’s time since ordering the parts.
Harvest and process some sweet baking variety of pumpkins that I grew from a few seeds from a friend from one of her pumpkins. There looks to be about five small to medium sized pumpkins ready to be taken off the vine soon. I’ll roast and then mash and freeze. I’ll likely give one pumpkin to my daughter, too, to do as she wishes.
Need to order another work shirt. My employer pays half. But they are from Land’s End and are still sort of expensive. Also, for work, I need to squeeze in the time to do several more training sessions on the computer at work (paid) and would like to learn how to access my pay stubs on my own home computer, which I have yet been able to do since starting there nearly a year ago.
Husband and I need to figure out how to either order glass or a new window for one of our double pane windows that had a crack in one piece, which he removed.
We have had so much rain and high heat, that it’s killed several of my herbs that don’t like that much moisture and heat. So, I will try to figure out what to replant, and how to grow them. Heat and humidity are going to be a problem every year, but this year was a topper.
I still need to clean out my junk drawer.
I need to clean carpets. Our old Cavalier K.C. spaniel is starting to have accidents. I’ve blocked her from the carpeted rooms now, but she had already had a couple of oopsies when I realized what was up.
SO much weeding needs to be done, it’s mind boggling. Spanish needles are taking over this place and are grown up around every tree and shrub.
Pick more beauty berries and freeze them for jelly later.
I managed to get some grapes before the critters did, for the first time in three years! So I am making things with grapes — so far wine and juice to use later. I hope to get some more grapes soon, if the raccoons, opossums, crows, squirrels, deer and random birds don’t beat me to it. They seem to know the exact second the grapes are ripe, and wipe them out.
We need to get some outside painting done, and it’s just not happening. I may have to use some of my precious remaining vacation to paint. I hate using most of my vacation days as work days, but sometimes, I don’t have another way to do it.
Brandy, that photo is gorgeous, as is your very photogenic model!
STOP!!! WAIT!!!! Margaret! Don’t harvest your sweet potato yet. They usually wait to bulk up late in the season. Yours might need a little longer. Keep an eye on the weather and if it gets cold one night, bring the plant in then put it back out when the weather warms back up. I don’t know how it is in up yonder way (southern speak for Canada), but we will usually have a cold snap, then warm weather will return for a few weeks longer. Also, don’t bother letting the potato cure unless you want to store it all winter. I recommend cooking and eating it immediately. It will have a different taste than the store bought kind, it will be FRESH! You can also save one of the vines in a glass of water and it will root. It might last all winter.
Also, your mint may last all winter inside also. I know I have kept cuttings alive forever in just water inside the house.
Jeannie @ GetMeToTheCountry.Blogspot.com
Could your son pick up some of those great meat deals for you and store them in his freezer until you come for a visit? Not sure if he has the room to do that for you. But if he can, you could arrange to come visit him maybe once every couple weeks to a month, instead of going more frequently.
Some of my goals for the month of September are the following:
– Start a fall garden with spinach, radish, lettuce and carrots seeds I have on hand.
– Continue to eat more protein/veggies and less sugar. I am easily losing weight this way and have much more energy!
– Get a birthday box together for my sister-in-law and niece. Instead of buying everything at one time, I pick up things here and there and keep a gift box under my bed for birthday gifts I have found at great prices.
– Continue to stock up my pantry and freezer, when items are at their lowest price.
– Re-list and add more items to my letgo.com account. I prefer to sell on there now, instead of Craigslist or Ebay.
I’m sure there is more, but that is all I can think of at the moment! Hope you have a productive month and reach all your goals!
Cross Country Move Related:
• Schedule handyman service for:
– Recirculating pump installed and old pump and outlet under bathroom sink removed
– Holes in attic firewall between garage and living area repaired
– Back door threshold repaired
• Shutters for family room window ordered
• Update wills, power of attorney, health care power of attorney, living trust
• Identify items needed for earthquake/emergency supplies & bug out kits for home & car; start purchasing
Retirement Related:
• Hubby sign up for Medicare Parts A & B
Family & Friends Related
• Meet up with cousins during their vacation
• Go to visit granddaughter using credit with Southwest plus some more
• Have lunch with elderly aunt and uncle
• Arrange to get together with another cousin
• Write aunt and a cousin
• Call friend in former location to hear about her vacation in Italy
Personal:
• Pick out a pattern to make a small cross body purse and get fabric
• Keep promise to myself by stretching and exercising daily
• Add one more weekly activity to my yoga class and OLLI class
• Get flu shot
Sweet Octavius makes me want a dozen more babies. Sadly, I just got too old for more.
I would like to paint most walls in my crayon box colored house. The former owners were quite colorful.
I need to nail up some drywall and at least tape it up.
I want to insulate all Windows with bubble wrap and cover with plastic.
I have an assortment of winterizing products to install like stuff that goes behind the electrical outlets.
I imagine I will putter around the house slowly as I must not injure my back while I recover from back surgery. I will be having a second one done soon but feel like I can get something’s done. All the materials were bought long ago so pulling them all out is the hardest part. ( I think some are hiding from me )
I want to pull my Xmas tree out.
I will continue to look for Xmas presents . All clearance, marked down or discounted of course.
My biggest goal for this month is to stop eating sweets. In the last year and a half, I lost 110 pounds. This morning I got on the scale and 10 pounds have found their way home. I refuse to let myself gain a huge amount of weight again, which happened when I was essentially bed ridden for about a year and food became my consolation. Now it is just that I like baked goods and have been making/eating too much of them.
The other goal is to paint a few walls that need it.
Modest goals compared to many, but if I overload myself I tend to get less done.
Call any glass supplier. I have had glass replaced for about half the price of a new window. It doesn’t matter which brand of windows you have.
Rhonda, thanks for the tips! I totally saw the No Frills awesome deal for a HUGE case of tomatoes for $6.88 (even my mom couldn’t believe the deal), but my local No Frills was out of them when I went on Sunday. They were supposed to get more in today, but I couldn’t make it over there before work, and after work I already had plans. My dreams of canning homemade tomato sauce inexpensively are slowly evaporating. Sigh. Ah well. I’m counting my blessings that I can afford to buy canned sauce, and that I don’t absolutely need to save the 10 cents a jar or whatever that I would save by canning it myself. When I think of it that way, I feel very, very lucky. Thanks again, Rhonda!
Thanks so much for the info, Jeannie! I’ll let them grow as long as possible. Good to know that they bulk up late in the season. And I won’t cure them then, since I won’t have so many that I can’t eat them while they’re relatively freshly picked. And I think I will take a cutting and try to root it to grow a nice houseplant over the winter. A bit more green in the house will be nice. Thanks again, Jeannie!
Mable, what a wonderful accomplishment losing all that weight! I’m sure you can reverse the weight gain with a few adjustments to your diet!
Brandy, when the cows across the fence ate down our peach tree & our apple tree, I thought both of them were dead. They had eaten the peach tree down to the trunk. It was only 4 years old, & no new leaves sprouted, etc. I was sure it was dead. So sure, in fact that I planted two Red Haven dwarf peach trees, one within 3 feet of the “dead” peach tree. The next spring, the tree came back, & the next year we picked nearly a bushel of fruit from it. This year we picked 3 1/2 bushels of peaches from it. Even if you are sure the tree is dead, I would give it a year. I was pretty happy to be wrong about mine, & I ended up having to move the baby tree Implanted too close to it.
Sheets are a little harder to hand-quilt through, unless you find some all-cotton. The polyester content can get in the way. It’s not so bad if you’re machine quilting, though.
You can also get wide 100% cotton muslin and printed backing fabrics for very reasonable prices now, especially if you take advantage of the 50%-off-one coupons JoAnn’s and other places often feature.
So happy to get to participate this month!
– take the kids apple picking (with the camera of course!)
– practice taking more photos: still trying to get better with my camera
– use up what we have in our freezer and rotate in new food
– figure out what to get and or make my husband for his birthday
– start looking for a new job for July (after I finish my post graduate training)
– figure out a cleaning schedule for this season of life we are in
– participate in a few more surveys
– box up clothes for thredup. I’ve never done it before but it seems simple. I already took a few of the nicer items and listed them on eBay.
– try to remember to charge my phone and iPad at work
Baby Octavius is so cute! I have to travel to see sick relatives, so I cannot reduce my gas bill. I am eating more bean and rice dishes, and more soups.
Your youngest is just beautiful! He looks angelic. 🙂
This month my goals are all about decluttering and storing water, both of which are a bit overwhelming to think about.
I hope everyone has a wonderfully productive month!
Marivene, it was ridden with borers and we thought we were going to have to take it out last year when we had to take off a huge number of dead branches. It died several months back and there is no question that it is gone. I also lost a new cherry tree (which is within warranty) that I planted to replace my plum that died last year. The heat came and burned the tree, but the branches were still pliable and a few leaves sprouted at the base. I figured it might recover this fall–but then those leaves died, and now it is dry as can be. We lost two other cherry trees previously in another spot (due to a leak in the water box of one day each time; the type of valve connector cracks in our heat) and I replaced them with an apricot this spring that grew amazingly well.
Unfortunately, apricots and peaches are only supposed to last about 10 years here, according to the classes I took from the extension service. The peach was very sickly this year and this year was my trial to see if it would make it. It barely produced and the handful of fruits it made were dark inside. The tree has been in for 10 years.
Oddly enough, my other peach tree in back started doing the same thing just a couple of months later (large branches suddenly dying) so I don’t know if I will have to take that one out as well; I am watching it.
And my large apricot, which usually gives me tons of fruit, did not even flower this year!
My largest concerns are the following:
Water issues where the peach tree died. I also lost two rose bushes in that section. Unfortunately, I also lost two new rose bushes in the other section where the other peach is too. But it was very hot this year very early on. These were my replacement bushes from the ones that died the previous year (and I planted them in different spots even) so those are a total loss.
My large apricot may be going, or it may just not have received enough chilling hours last year. We’re supposed to have a hotter than usual next two months, which makes me wonder if winter will be too mild and we won’t get enough chilling hours.
The spot where the plum died (same deal; branches just started dying off last summer) and now had the cherry die could have a soil problem. Or, it could have just been that the plum was unhealthy and the brand-new cherry burned; they are prone to that here. I am considering replacing it with a self-fertile almond, but I worry about the soil. I want to bring in new soil there as much as possible.
I knew they could be a problem after 10 years, but I had hoped to keep them healthy enough to prevent that. It looks like 10 years may just be their lifespan. I don’t know if I’ll have to take out the other peach as well; that would be a shame, as we then won’t have any peaches for 3 to 4 years, save for the ones from the smaller tree in front (and that tree has to stay small because of where it is at).
Well, I am worried about you and your little garden. I want it to be a success.
Jeannie @ GetMeToTheCountry.blogspot.com
A good compost pile is a thing of wonder and deserves a bit of pride.
Lisa, our potato harvest must be ahead of yours as our schools start late here always after Labor Day due to harvesting and tourism.
We are also getting out the warmer clothes as has been in the mid 40’s now in the mornings.
momsav and Rhonda, I wonder if he could store them up in the meat locker until they could be picked up.
Lillianna, I like the idea of a crayon box colored house! Are you thinking of adding more colors or toning it down?
Oh my goodness. Look how big Octavius is getting! What a cutie.
What a nice picture of your youngest son. Very handsome and lovely eyes.
My goals are only to finish the harvesting, can it up and then rest. Now is the busiest with tomatoes and corn, grapes, our first harvest of peaches. Then right behind are the apples.
Our younger son’s wedding is coming up 11-4 but we do not have as much work to do as was with a daughter. Our middle girl Johanna will be in the wedding as she became a good friend of Christy while she lived in that town for school. Our oldest boy will be in the wedding also. The wedding will not be elaborate, but it will be large. Their church does as ours does with an open invitation to the church family to attend.
Brandy, our oldest daughter had problems with borers. She killed them by laying tobacco leaves around the base of the trees. The nicotine kills the borers somehow. She stopped at one of the local smoke shops & asked if they had any loose tobacco, explaining why she wanted it, & they laughed at her & gave her the tobacco leaves that were the packing for some fancy Cuban cigars, for free. I also know that tobacco mosaic virus can be a problem for tomatoes if it gets in the soil, but if your trees are far away from your tomatoes, it might be a free solution to the borers. I know when they get in the soil, they can be difficult to kill.
I think you are very smart to put aside food and money. It will help…and I’m thinking of your family.
Kitchen and dining room are orange. Family room rose. Son’s bedroom bright pink. Sugar cookies room is baby blue. Bathroom bright yellow. Living room two shades of army green. Master bedroom and bath are dark gray. I have 3 5 gallon buckets of good paint medium sandy colored ? These were left over from a job I did. Trying to decide cheapest way out as I will either need multiple coats are some Kilz. I am going to leave the green as it matches my furniture. I am confused as to what they were doing as paint types are wrong. Doors are stained brown over paint.I paid little at auction for my home, so I have all the time and patience in the world. It is an eyesore.
My September goals are pretty simple:
–Get homeschool off to a good start. I still had a couple of things to gather, and they are in the mail, or purchased now. There are going to be more library trips this year, as we are utilizing the library more this year instead of buying it all, so ordering from there will continue throughout the year.
–I’m right there with Athanasia–I’ve got to get the harvesting done and preserved. I picked a big box of tomatoes this morning, so those will be canned in the next few days. My family processed some corn for me over the weekend while I was on my anniversary trip–so nice of them. I still have beets to pick and pickle, purple and yellow beans that are still producing, a few more potatoes to dig, and more tomatoes to do. I have peppers to pick (not many–kind of a disaster there), and hopefully will make salsa.
—Get the garden cleaned out, another planting of lettuce planted, replant the spinich for the 3rd time (it’s been too hot for it to sprout), try to find some onion starts if they are out there, clean out the strawberries, cut out the dead vines from the raspberries and blackberries, tie up the Marion (black) berry vines that have grown over the summer. Weed around the berries. Tie up raspberries. Use up any veggies that grow. I have several things planted for fall–so weed around, pick and use them as they get ready.
—Try several recipes from magazines I have on hand, especially choosing ones that use ingredients I have. Plan menus. Cook them. Since I am scheduled to work away from home from 2-6, 3 days per week, I need to plan it out so that the Crock Pot is utilized, or things are cooked ahead. It’s a little better than last year–I’ve rearranged things so I will come directly home every evening except one, so with planning, I won’t be eating at 8 or 9 like I did last year sometimes. Even though it’s not my favorite schedule in the world, it works for us because I can home-school all day, still have dinner with the family at 6:30, and earn a little money.
I have already made the Basil Chicken from the current issue of Cooking Light and it was wonderful. I did modify it a bit by making only one batch of the basil sauce, marinading the chicken in all but about 1/4 cup of it, and then just keeping that 1/4 cup as a sauce, instead of making the sauce again. It would have been way more sauce than my family would eat and tasted wonderful with the marinade on it, and just a little extra sauce drizzled on top. We had it with grilled veggies and grilled garden potatoes. I also made some white rice because I was in a hurry. Today, we tried Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Curry from the same issue of Cooking Light, without the pickled red onion or the rice. I cooked it in the crock pot and it turned into more of a soup than anything. I had some red lentils in the pantry, some sweet potatoes I was given, and a can of coconut milk, so that’s why I chose that one. It was warm and comforting. I served it as a soup, and had hot dogs and cut up veggies on the side. (Strange, I know, but everyone was happy that way).
–We need to go get our wood from my sister’s house before the fall rains start. We have a large pile up there and probably won’t have to buy any. We have to get it load by load in the back of our van, though, since we sold our trailer, so it will take a couple of days. (We will take out the 2 back seats and line it with a tarp)
Lisa in Maine..THANK YOU for the reminder to check snowboots… I checked Hubby’s but not my own. Need inserts for the muck boots. Thanks
talk to your vet, our old dog had bladder issues after being fed rat poison (thankful she didn’t eat it but got enough on her teeth and mouth to damage her and NO we never caught the person) . The med was on the expensive side until we cut it in half and she did fine with that amount instead of what the vet said to use. Vet was okay since it worked.
I find it so interesting that your schools work around the potato harvest for both of y’all. My mother used to get out of school in late October/early November to pick cotton. All the farms raised cotton in the part of Alabama where she is from, back in the 1940’s, and all the kids that were age four and up, were in the fields helping to pick cotton. She and her siblings often spoke of dragging the cotton sack behind her.
September:
Restock pantry!
Finish garden and fruit tree harvesting and keep an eye on temps; cover hardy greens like kale and collards as needed.
Finish any necessary clothing, shoe, school purchases by end of this week and then…No Spend September!
Create a driving/gas schedule for the three people who leave our house each day for work and college classes.
Get that wood stacked!
Good luck to all of us this month!
PS…What a beautiful picture of your big boy!
Marivene, do you have any idea if planting nicotiana around the base of stone fruit trees would help deter borers? Or does it need to be harvested/dried tobacco? I haven’t grown nicotiana in years, but in SLC it was always grateful for a bit of shade.
The wedding sounds like fun! I love to visit with family!
The red curry soup sounds delicious, and so does the Basil Chicken!
Cindy, we watched a DVD of PLACES IN THE HEART. They grew a crop of cotton during the Depression to try to save their farm and that looks like an awful crop to have to deal with.
Oh my! Maybe they were just using up paint remnants, free paint?
Thank you for forgiving me Athanasia.
Jeannie @ GetMeToTheCountry.Blogspot.com
Are you close to a Habitat for Humanity’s Re-Store? I’ve found paint there quite cheap.
I hope you don’t mind me asking, what is a CAP worker?
Coucou de France, from Paris
Vos enfants sont très beaux….j’aime votre blog. Merci pour votre expérience.
Prenez-soin de vous.
Astrid
Hi Jeannie, when we tried our sweet potatoes before they had time to cure, they were absolutely gross. We let them cure on top of the fridge in a closed dark box for 4 weeks and they were wonderful. I believe they were Beauregard. We grew them here in the lovely Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
I have decided to eliminate more things from my life so that I have more time. I think that the past few stressful years have me longing for rest. We are still building and it seems to take longer to get things done.
I’m being very careful what I commit to.
I’m not going to cook much, but will continue to reduce what we eat and make it easier foods. Still learning to use the grill. Avoiding breads…it is more difficult right now, so I must redouble my efforts.
Looking at what needs to be done for winter. I too am checking the boots and looking for the hats and gloves. I think I’m going to have to replace a number of winter items. Hoping my son’s coats fit after his weight loss.
We are putting money into savings and continuing to pay down unexpected debts.
Just so thankful for this wonderful job. I love it and am happy for insurance, retirement and a paycheck. Grateful.
Another goal is to get back to cutting our winter wood and clearing brush at the same time.
Stay home more.
I wondered that too – here is what I found on Google: “The CAP/DA Program is a program that allows elderly an disabled adults ages 18 and up to receive support services in their own home, as an alternative to nursing home placement. By providing in home care, case management, and other supports, CAP/DA can help these individuals stay at home.” HTH!
Goals for this month:
1. Finish some deep cleaning in the house (cabinets, light fixtures, washing all curtains, etc.)
2. Finish purge and re-organization of daughter’s room. Put together a shelf and hang it for finished Lego pieces.
3. Continue to slowly add to our pantry and freezer. (I already cleaned out both over the summer).
4. Finish three “fun days” with my daughter: Tie Dye Day, Scavenger Hunt Day, Slime Making Day)
5. Schedule van maintenance appointment
6. Purge basement (Worked on this over the summer — we have about half to finish)
7. Purge and move craft closet to basement.
Brandy,
I hope this doesn’t get lost in the comments. I have been reading you off and on for years and lately reading your site almost daily for knowledge and encouragement. I would like to ask if you would share more about how you keep track of your homemaking, all the things that flow together such as when you know to plant this or that or when to remember that spaghetti goes on sale, or whenever you need to clean this room or mend that dress, etc, things like that. It seems like you have a system down and I’m wondering if it is all in your memory or do you have a list/itinerary written to help guide you. I’m trying to put together a better system for myself especially since I’m trying to learn to garden as well as adding sewing to my repertoire. Any wisdom you share would be greatly appreciated. If you have this all written down somewhere already then please direct me to it. I’ve searched your site but haven’t come across anything really pertaining to my question except your schedule. You are a inspiration to a lot of us and are greatly appreciated as a Titus 2/Proverbs 31 mentor. Thank you for all you do for your readers.
LSM
cathy I have no idea.
We received 4 boxes of free apples. So I froze 25 qt bags.
We are going to discount Amish stores at the end of October and I still have food from the last time we went. My goal is to empty my cupboards in the next 2 months so I can restock with cheap foods. Im not buying ANY groceries for 2 months. My freezer is full of apples.
I’m paying $300 extra on our mortgage each month.
Other goals include getting more free compost.
Also, using up lettuce in garden.
I second your opinion that I like the format of this blog. So simple and easy to read. I also love the monthly goals and reading comments.
How do you get your peaches to stay that beautiful color?
Those are just canned peaches. If you don’t eat your peaches within a year, they will start to lose their color. They will still be good to eat, but not as pretty.
Hi Anna – I’m in Ohio, too! It’s so hot here this week!