So, the past month or so I’ve been learning more about herbal medicine and being more systematic in my approach. I’m attempting another herb garden, and ordered some quality dried herbs as well. With prices rising on everything, I really want to have my herbal medicine cabinet well stocked within the next few months.

My mulberry tree has grown a lot and I realized today I have lots of ripe berries ready! Mulberries are pretty fragile, so I need to use them soon after picking. So, this morning I’m looking up jam and cobbler recipes. Yum!

Hopefully, I’ll have some photos up of my creations later today.

Of course, much of the lifestyle changes we have been making are in preparation for harder times, and to allow us to live more independently of the many systems on which we are currently too dependent.  Still, I am stepping up some of my efforts, including snipping and drying more of my herbs, getting other ones going, buying dried herbs so I can make my own tinctures, etc.  One of my favorite herbs is mint.  Thankfully, it is not only yummy, mint has great immune building properties as well.  I plan to blog here about growing, harvesting and drying mint in the next day or so.

Yesterday I decluttered a bit to make room for some of the homestead items I need or have, but didn’t have a place for.  I love the feeling of walking into a room that has just been thoroughly decluttered – I could just sit on the floor and sigh contentedly.  It makes me wonder why I waited so long to start getting rid of stuff!  One shelf I cleared will be for some grocery items I’m planning on purchasing to stock up a bit.  Folks in Mexico City are basically hunkering down in their homes to avoid exposure to the swine flu.  I hope it doesn’t come to that here, but I figured I should be prepared just in case.  Down here in Florida we prepare for hurricane season by keeping 3 days supply of food, water, etc., so these preps are what I need for the coming season anyway (plus a bit extra, since we could need to stay inside for weeks rather than days if the swine flu outbreak grows substantially).

I’m also stepping up my gardening efforts.  I have had the seeds for a while, but don’t have much in the way of seedlings started.  That’s something I’m learning…I should have new things growing all the time.  I know that our summers here are not great for growing many things, but I did purchase seeds for veggies that are grown in more tropical parts of the world, hoping they might grow here.  I plan to use as many containers as possible, so I can move them if they are too hot or too wet.  For me, it’s all a big experiment.  If the plants make it, great!  If they don’t, oh well, a lesson learned.

It’s nice to know I’m not alone on this journey – there are many others who are learning and sharing as they grow.  Here are a couple recent posts that provide both encouragement and practical tips:

Garden Like You Can’t Go to the Store

Panic Gardening

In some areas we’ve made some real progress on our journey – but then there are those inevitable set backs.  My “brown thumb” is definitely showing, but I’m determined to overcome

The Everglades Tomato seedlings died – I let them get too dry.  I’ll start another set next week.  I learned that you need to put a cage around a tomato seedling BEFORE it grows – I didn’t and, although I did use a stake, it ended up getting bent and the base snapped during and afternoon thunderstorm.  So, another seedling AND cage went in the pot, and they are doing well.

Those cucumber seedlings took off!  I transplanted one of them in a large pot that also contained a pepper plant.  It is vining up the “trellis” that helps to hold up our porch.  The other seedlings stayed in their starter pots for a long time, but I finally got them transplanted last week.  I used a window box I found on clearance and put one at each end.  I need to come up with something for them to climb, as they are not in a good spot to sprawl.  I also put a few bush bean seeds (heirloom) inbetween the cucumbers.  My herbs are growing well and I was excited to use my home-grown basil in a couple dishes this weekend.

Oh, I killed the pepper plant that was in with the cucumber – I over fertilized with the organic stuff I’m using.  So, I pulled it up and replaced it with some lemon balm – I love the smell of this herb!  I’m looking forward to using it in my next batch of soap.

Speaking of soap – I made my first batch two weeks ago and it turned out great!  I can’t wait to make more!  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I have just started using it (it needed to “cure” for a couple weeks).  It is scented with lavender and lemon, colored with BarleyMax powder (the stuff I drink everyday).  Everyone who has seen/smelled it has commented on how nice it turned out.

I have been trying to shop for more in-season fruits and veggies, trying to lower the amount of “food miles” we consume.  Peaches are in season now.  They are not grown locally, but even though they are from Georgia, I take comfort in knowing they are not coming from across the sea/border or across the country.  Since prices on peaches are great right now (I get 3lbs for $2 at the farmer’s market), I’ve decided to try “putting up” some peach preserves, so we can enjoy peaches when they’re not in season.

It has been a bit disheartening to see that even the stuff at the farmer’s market is usually from somewhere outside of Florida.  The produce is traveling from TN, GA, NC and SC mostly.  I guess there just isn’t enough growing down here this time of year.  I can’t wait to be able to eat and preserve our own food so next summer we can be living off of our own efforts.  (She says with a prayer and a bit of trepidation!)

Oh, I’ve been crocheting again too!  I love my crocheted washcloth and want to make some more.  I think two or three cloths and some homemade soap will make nice gifts.

TODAY – we have a hurricane headed our way.  Since we have been putting things aside to be more self-sufficient and prepared for tougher times, I didn’t have to do much last minute shopping.  We have been busy securing the house and my hubby still has to put up the hurricane shutters when he gets home from work.  I want to get my Aladdin lamp working; something I’ve been wanting to do, but never have gotten around to it, since my dad blessed me with 3 of them back in June.  I guess there’s no time like the present!