07/23/2026
I'm on a quest. I've been buying in-season fruits & veggies as I can, & preserving them for the last couple of months, now. Today, I picked up 10 lbs of blueberries, a bag of pistachios, and 2 dozen ears of sweet corn. I had previously picked up 20 lbs of peaches, 22 lbs of apricots, 10 lbs of cherries, 4 lbs of strawberries, a large bunch of bananas, and bought Madagascar vanilla beans & vodka & have vanilla extract going until December, when I'llbe bottling smaller amounts to give as gifts & to sell. The desire & passion to be prepared & be as self-sufficient as possible has been weighing ever more heavily on my heart & mind.
Due to my physical health, financial situation, & restructuring due to things out of my control this year, I was unable to grow my 6,000 sq ft garden, collect from my raspberries bushes, grow my 200 sq ft of herb garden, or grow my medicinal flowers. The mulberry trees are starting with their secind round of fruit, so I will be collecting & freezing as much as possible from those, until I have a lot to process for jams & baking. The walnut trees will soon be dropping their fruits/nuts, & I'll be gathering those, as well. For the time being, I'll be buying from local farmer's markets & the fruit trucks to stock my freezers & pantry.
I've lost my entire flock of healthy, egg-laying chickens, so I've been quietly reevaluating & starting to figure out how I'm going to pivot, & I have a plan, but will need help to execute said plan.
With everything happening in the world today, I urge everyone to start preparing & building up your food stores. Grow herbs on your window sills. Grow veggies in cheap terracotta pots on your porch. Start growing through hydroponics. It doesn't take as much space or resource as you think.
Keep following me to learn more skills & easy, cheap, or free ways to preserve food.
Blessings -sufficiency
