Day 1: July 4th 2014

Yesterday was day one on my one year journey of urban homesteading. For those of you that do not read our family blog, Adventures of Irish Triplets , our income was just drastically reduced as Tim switched to a new job. He was hired on as full time, general labor, but the man he was supposed to replace wasn't approved for his disability. So we are now living on a part time job trying to make ends meet.

Boiling a whole chicken

Now that was an adventure. I did a little research online, pinterest & google, and a few websites had varying advice. I boiled the bird too long. By the time I went to go pull it out it crumbled under the tongs. I had a hell of a time trying to debone it with everything just floating around. I did however end up with 4 quarts of killer homemade frozen bone broth, also known as liquid gold, to add to my growing stock pile of home preserved food. I boiled the whole frozen chicken, minus the neck and organs, in a stock pot filled about 3 inches above the bird, with what fresh herbs and veggies I had from the garden; basil, rosemary, green beans, peas, and pearl onions with a little salt and pepper of course. We ended up using half of the chicken for salads today and had bbq chicken sandwiches for dinner. We got 3 meals ultimately out of a $5 bird!

Freezer Cooking

I also made 18 frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I try to buy bread in bulk when it is on sale for a really great price. I had three loaves of bread, which I would normally just throw in the freezer until we were ready to use it, and decided to make ahead some "uncrustables" for a 1/4 of the cost. I ended up spending $4 to make 18 sandwiches, when they retail at the grocery store $3 for 4 of them for an almost 80% savings!

Clothesline

I have a clothesline rigged up between two trees in our backyard. It is about 80 feet between the two and even with a line separator and tightener I have succumbed to the fact that I will have to rig up a T post line because even if I get the line as tight as I can it still has a pretty big sag.

Garden

I planted a new batch of corn in between the 10 in tall seedlings I planted a few weeks ago. I also went ahead and planted 4 bean seeds around the corn stalks in hopefully create a synergistic environment that will hopefully cut down on our weeds in the garden. I also pulled up the tomato plant in the front yard that had a virus and replaced it with a new Chive and Basil plant. The radishes were pulled up yesterday, the ones that never quit made it, and a burpee lettuce mix was planted in its place. We also sowed a few more sunflower seeds to hopefully have a succession of blooms through the end of July into August. Next week I have to start and plan where our broccoli, fall cucumbers, kale, spinach, peas, beets carrots, garlic, and lettuce for our fall garden.