I went out to my garden on Monday night, and found evidence of hornworm caterpillars on the tomatoes and I saw grape-leaf skeletonizers on the grapes. I decided to take care of this problem first, instead of pruning the trees first. By the time I was done ripping out the tomato plants (I had been considering ripping them out anyway) and cutting back any damaged and invested grape vines that I could find, I had filled up all of the trash cans. I borrowed an extra-large can from my mom (who lives next door) and filled it with tree branches. It looks like I’ll have several more weeks of pruning grape vines and tree branches.
I spread out 3 cubic feet of manure in the garden where the tomatoes have been. I also sprinkled some fertilizer in this area, and I mixed it in by hand. I repinned the water lines down on top of the dirt. I pulled several weeds as well.
I also found 3 caterpillars on my peppers. It has cooled just enough (94º in the day but in the 70’s at night!) that they are starting to flower again. It looks like they will have open flowers in a few weeks, so I may finally harvest some peppers. I have not had any peppers yet this year, as it has been too hot.
I ended up going shopping last week, on three separate days! Thankfully all but one place were very close. Nevertheless, the time it took really cut into my sewing plans for the week, but I was able to stock up on some needed items. I bought 100 pound of potatoes for $8.80. I went to the case-lot sale and bought canned corn and green beans for .50 each, as well as a few other things. I also went to our local LDS cannery and bought a year’s worth of oats ($15.35 for a 25 pound bag; we eat 75 pounds a year) and stocked up on pinto beans ($18.55 for 25 pounds), white beans, and black beans. We eat a lot more beans now, and I hope that by buying now, I’m avoiding any higher prices in the future. In addition, we were low on beans.
I can certainly see how being home is the key to accomplishing things on my list each week!
1. Finish sewing Winter’s green dress. Sadly, I still didn’t get to this.
2. Continue to work on having breakfast at 7:30. This will continue to be a goal, but I won’t be putting it on the list anymore.
3. Continue to work on having reading lessons with my 7-year-old and 5-year-old right after breakfast. This has gone okay. We will continue to do this each day.
4. Spray the squash bugs. I ended up going out and squishing all that I could find, throwing out one dead plant, and ripping off any leaves that contained eggs. I did not spray.
5. Do a summer pruning to the fruit trees. I got started, but I still have more to do.
6. Cut out and sew one dress for one daughter. I knew that accomplishing this was probably stretching it, but I decided to try anyway. I cut out the dress and began smocking it. I’m doing counterchange smocking for the first time. I made good progress, but I still have more to do.
7. Sew piping for another project. Didn’t even go there.
8. Make item and photograph tutorial for the website. I ended up shopping instead.
9. Edit photos and get another recipe up on the website. I had to rephotograph the recipe this week instead.
10. Straighten laundry room. What I thought would be a little project turned out to be a major one, after I ended up emptying cabinets and going through and straightening them. My original plan was just to clean off the counter! Right now the room is torn apart, but when it’s done all of the space will be better used.
11. Cut out and embroider a baby bib. Not only did I do this, but I also cut out and embroidered a cover for a new pillow for the living room. I also started embroidering a handkerchief for a daughter for Christmas.
1. Continue to prune trees and grape vines. The trash man comes twice a week here. My goal is to have the cans filled each time with cuttings (in addition to any trash that we have).
2. Cage tomato. I had 2 tomatoes left that grew from seeds that self-seeded in my garden, long after the other tomatoes were growing. These 2 small plants were sprawling on the ground, and one of them seems to have escaped the caterpillars. I caged that one last week. The other one is still doing well. I will cage that one this week and carefully look for caterpillars. These plants are still small and will hopefully give us a fall crop of yellow pear tomatoes.
3. Edit new photos and remeasure for the new recipe for the website. Get recipe up on the website.
4. Continue to work on reorganizing the laundry room, by doing some each day.
5. Finish counterchange smocking on dress.
6. Sew pillow and pillow cover for the living room. This is the cover that I embroidered last week.
7. Finish Winter’s green dress–somehow!
8. Finish embroidering handkerchief. Start embroidering another handkerchief for a Christmas gift.
9. Start planting fall garden.
Doing the bulk shopping ahead will help in the future. You are right at being at home, staying at home, is a key to getting things done at home. Hope we both have productive weeks!
My main goal this week is that among all the soccer games and scout activities, I need to finish canning all the peaches. There are still a lot of them… 🙂
Quick question. What do you do with your oats and beans? Do you put them in buckets or can them. I only got one bag of oats, so between granola, muesli, and oatmeal it is going pretty fast. But not so sure about the wheat. I know I’ll go through it a lot faster once the weather cools off and I get back to making bread. I got three bags and think maybe I should can two of them. Thanks so much!
I’m starting to think I need a list! I am new to homeschooling with three kids, two pulled out of private school this year, wow, it is freeing but I also find I have more and less time, if that makes sense. I have more time at home to get stuff done if I can just prioritize, and less time getting deals at the store, as in free or nearly free groceries.
It’s chepaer to bucket them than to can them, andI find it’s easier to store them. I can reuse buckets. You could resuse cans with plastic lids, though, if that’s what you had.
we had beans a lot last week and my family loved it beans and rice lentil tacos split pea soup homemade bread, hummas and pitas and garbozo bean burgers and your black bean burgers so good love the bbq flavor they have and left over paradise casserol. Yummy we did not even miss the meat. Thank you for being such an inspiration. We are about 5 years now with a really low income,but God always provides. Have a really blessed week.Patti from San diego
Thank you for inspiring me to make a list. I have loved your website for a while, and am loving the blog. Thanks for sharing with everyone!
I don’t know how cold it gets where you live in winter but tomatoes, green peppers and eggplant are all perennial and will just keep growing if not killed by a frost or freeze. I don’t understand why you would pull them up and replant as long as they are alive.
The bottom 6 feet were all brown; the top 2 feet were compltely eaten by hornworms. They were no longer producing because of the heat for the last several months, either. I replaced a couple with new plants. We get a light frost here that kills them later in the year. The peppers are fine; one is very munched, but not completely. I had been debating whether or not to pull the tomatoes out anyway; the caterpillars made the decision easy. I don’t think the plants would have made it, and it would have been wasted space.
My Sun Sugar tomatoes were totally destroyed by hornworms at about 3 feet tall. On one leaf on them anywhere. I killed the hornworms–watered them well and within a few weeks they had leaves and were blooming. They are still producing unless last nights frost did them in. I figured that a well developed mature root system would bear faster than new baby plants that have to mature.