2012 Self-Sufficiency Challenge

[madhen]

Yesterday, not much in the self-sufficiency arena. I am happy, however, that I have maintained my physical fitness level, because I had to lift my 70 pound dog in/out of the truck (had to have surgery yesterday), and I was able to do it! I've never had huge upper body strength, but it looks like those push-ups are paying off!

[greekislandgirl]

I have a great one for today, I think! I'm really excited about it anyway

I am making (just at this moment about to pop it in the oven!) black bread, using this recipe Black Bread Recipe - 101 Cookbooks. The only changes that I made were to the flours: the recipe calls for rye flour and unbleached all purpose flour. I had neither. I used whole wheat flour THAT I MILLED MYSELF (this is why I'm excited about it) instead of rye, and I did half hard yellow flour and half all purpose flour for the unbleached a.p. flour in the recipe.

It turned out that I shouldn't have used the same amount of water as the recipe called for. I usually don't - I ended up having to pretty much DOUBLE the regular a.p. flour, so that threw off the proportions. The other two are still in there, but in smaller ratio than they would have been if I had started with half as much water like I usually do. Oh well - I'll know that for the future. I can't wait to taste it - I'm so proud of myself for making my FIRST EVER HAND-MILLED WHEAT!!

[madhen]

GIG, that IS self-sufficient! I have never milled flour before, although I've looked longingly at the mills in the Lehman's catalogue. Don't know why I like the idea, since I don't make a lot of baked goods. Must be the pioneer spirit making her appearance.

[Spirit Deer]

I started sewing new living room curtains yesterday. I do stuff like that so routinely I forget it's being self-sufficient! But I'm loving the thread I bought a while back at a garage sale in huge cones for $1 a cone. I have a lot of problems with regular Dual Duty and thread breakage which requires me to sew slowly, but I can put the pedal to the metal with the new thread, which is just slightly heavier. It's nice to be able to run my machine flat out again. If only it sewed faster!

I made a OAMC chowder recipe yesterday but most likely it won't make it to the freezer. It'll be supper for us all weekend while we work on house projects.

[Debbie-cat]

I forgot about this thread!!

Just spent some time reading the whole thing and everyone is doing some great stuff! GIG - way to go on milling your own flour!

Let's see I will start with what I did yesterday...

- knitting scarves and a blanket
- made some OAMC potato/cheese soup ...had some for dinner and froze the rest
- baked bread
- organized dog and cat food in 5 gallon buckets to prevent rodent attack and took inventory for stockpile

That's about all I can think of for now.....since I have found you guys, I will be able to be more aware of my self-sufficiency activities and keep up with the postings.

[greekislandgirl]

GIG, that IS self-sufficient! I have never milled flour before, although I've looked longingly at the mills in the Lehman's catalogue. Don't know why I like the idea, since I don't make a lot of baked goods. Must be the pioneer spirit making her appearance.

The grinder I have was a gift from my mom as a house-warming present when we moved here 6 months ago - I think I've had it about 2 months but this was my first time using it. She told me to pick out whatever I wanted from Amazon and I picked the Victorio grinder because it had great reviews and it's totally hand-operated. As it turns out, it's really great: the flour falls perfectly into the bowl, no scattering; it's an easy motion (it can get tiresome, but I usually do half whole wheat flour and half all purpose anyway - all though certainly if I took a break halfway through I know I could mill enough for 100% wh. wheat. It was super easy to put together and it looks very well made. I think she paid around $65 for it. (Plus another $60 to send it to me in Greece I love my mom!!!)

She actually had originally planned to send me her old Lehmann's mill but she couldn't find it. I think it's one of those things that people tend to collect and never use - probably in the same category with the ice cream maker, the pasta maker, and the waffle iron!!

[Spirit Deer]

Hey! We use our ice cream maker! And the ice cream ball, too! Love homemade ice cream. Three simple ingredients, none of the additives.

[greekislandgirl]

I found another use for my flour mill today.

The Ikea bookcase that I put together the other day was not square - it was leaning a bit to one side. I think there is something wrong with where the pre-drilled holes are. It's almost impossible to put it together wrong, since the holes are already there. Even so, today we decided to take it apart and see if putting it back together again we could get it to square. The back is nailed on and in removing the 18 nails, I damaged the paper veneer in 3 places (probably not noticeable but still). So I had some wood glue left over from some other project and using a toothpick and a cotton swab I got some glue into the split area, but then what? I don't have C-clamps. I live in an apartment in the city!

Grain mill to the rescue! The grain mill uses a C-clamp to attach to the countertop. So does my pasta maker! So I was able to get TWO C-clamps out of kitchen appliances The third spot I had no choice but to tie a ribbon around the shelf and pull it tightly. I used plenty of padding underneath everything and I'm letting it dry overnight clamped.

I feel very happy with my creativity!

[Debbie-cat]

Today I ....

- used my homemade laundry detergent
- ate leftovers
- cut some old towels into rags
- browned extra ground beef to throw in freezer to use at a later date

[madhen]

Today, I:

• knitted
• inventoried my pantry
• stayed home and ate leftovers from HM meals
• did some minor renovation of kitchen cupboards (basically just removed some doors, but hey, I'm reaching)
• looked up recipes to use older items in pantry

[Spirit Deer]

Hmmm...

I always forget to think about things I do without thought as being self-sufficient. It's just living!

Today I:

~used myriad tools to modify and partially install a new stove hood. (Yea, let there by LIGHT!)
~used problem-solving skills when wiring knock-out for stove hood wiring turned out to be directly over a @%&* stud, and I don't mean George Clooney. )
~crocheted some on a lapghan.
~sewed some on new valances.
~ate planned-overs for supper.

[greekislandgirl]

I always forget to think about things I do without thought as being self-sufficient. It's just living!

That's the goal, right? Becoming truly self-sufficient so we don't even realize we're doing it WTG!

[greekislandgirl]

Yesterday I finished fixing the bookcase. I had to diagnose the problem (not easy) and sand down part of it in order to get it to square. In fact, IKEA did make it wrong. Only by 2 millimeters, but in a large piece of furniture, that's plenty to throw it off. It's now square

That's all...

[Spirit Deer]

Some things don't look like you did much when they're done, but problem-solving like the bookcase can suck up a lot of time, effort, and creative energy, so that's a big deal to get it done and get it right. Congrats!

[madhen]

Yesterday, I:

1. did some more "bench-presses" with my 70-lb dog, lifting him in/out of the truck for his vet appt
2. heated the house with the woodstove
3. hauled firewood upstairs for #2
4. knitted
5. started planning for this spring's garden