Independence Days Update

Life's gotten away from me again with research and papers and teaching (oh my!), and so my posting's gone a bit awry. I don't know if I can get it back again for a bit, but at the very least I wanted to keep track of what I'm doing over here, especially as I start Sharon and Aaron's garden design course.

And so, here's where I am after the last few weeks:

1. Plant something: Grew some mung bean sprouts.

2. Harvest something: Ate some mung bean sprouts.

3. Preserve something: Dried some green onion.

4. Store something: Not really.

5. Manage Reserves: Went through onions and potatoes to take out those starting to go.

6. Cook something new: New lentil recipe; cooked cod and tilapia for the first time (yum); made roasted sweet potatoes (also yum).

7. Prepped something: Stocked up on a bit more food; picked up a book on building log cabins and homes from the thrift store; continued with decluttering and tidying my apartment; filled some more bottles with water to store; picked up two basic first aid/keeping warm goodies - a hot water bottle and an ice pack bag.

8. Learned a new skill: Not really so much here either, however I have started taking a teaching certificate course in the hopes that it will improve my teaching in general (and, honestly, in the hopes that it will also make me more marketable when I start hunting for a job).

9. Worked on community food security: Not really so much here either.

10. Reduced waste: Worked on getting over my tendency to throw out food that's just starting to go bad - instead I'm working to cut off just the bad bits and use the rest; turned off a few appliances that I suspect of draining power.

11. Regenerated: Started another new goodwill pile of the things that I don't need and am getting rid of to make room for the important stuff.

In good but not quite related news, I've just found out that I've won a $1500 award from the university to support my research. I have to claim against the money - they don't just give it to me - but it means I can get some materials that I need, and possibly even some useful post-peak books to add to my bookshelf without paying out of pocket for them, which is really rather lovely. I can then use that money for a few of the things that I still have my eye on, but have yet to buy, like a grain mill and a solar oven.