Independence Days week 6

Had to stall this week's report long enough for me to actually have stuff to put on there. Still trying to catch up from our trip and Lori's illness...

1. Plant something - Watermelon (Orangeglo), musk melon (Minnesota Midget), Asian melon (Sakata's Sweet), Cucumber (Parisian Pickling), and pumpkin (unknown variety, except that it was a pie pumpkin).

2. Harvest something - I tried a couple nibbles of what I thought might be sheep sorrel. But it wasn't. Plus eggs. Though not the ones my son and the neighbor kids threw into the pond.

3. Preserve something - Nothing this week, though hopefully strawberries soon.

4. Reduce waste - Put my makeshift shade screens in most of our west and south-facing windows. Gave away our waffle iron to somebody who was looking for one. Continued cloth diaper trials. Lori's been knitting these cool breathable wool diaper covers. They seem like magic to me - a wet diaper underneath, but the knitted wool never feels damp or anything.

5. Preparation and Storage - Bought a few bulk items for storage. Read a bit of A Nation of Farmers. Researched a variety of topics.

6. Build Community Food Systems - Bought some apples, strawberries, sweet potato pasta, and garlic herb bread. Oh, and pie and fudge. Damn those farm market vendors and they're tempting treats.

7. Eat the Food - See everything in the previous entry. Also some local sausage from the freezer. The person who sold me the sweet potato pasta suggested a recipe, which I tried, but wasn't crazy about. So I added & modified until I did like it. The sweet potato flavor was lost in the cooking process. Maybe I cooked it too long.

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