What else I do:
First, I would like to say I will be 60 years old next year. I am thankful to some of the members here for great encouragement, that I can still go on and do what I do!
A portion of my garden is devoted to vegetables. I love to grow my own onions and sell a portion of those at the farmer's market. But for the farmer's market I specifically grow 'Sungold', a cherry tomato. I also like to have a couple hills of cucumbers, some seasonal lettuce/spinach, lots of large tomatoes, including heirloom and paste-type varieties, some green beans, a couple hills of Super Sugar Snap peas for eating right out of the garden and a few bell pepper plants and one jalapeno.
I think it was probably 3 years ago, maybe 4, I made a major life-decision. This decision included keeping the Sabbath on Saturday, and eating kosher. (The Saturday is a whole other story, and a huge life-change, but I won't go down that path here.) But the eating kosher was a large life-change. My tendency previously was that I was way too busy to cook, and so I ate at fast food restaurants all the time, and those choices generally small since we only have a McDonalds, a Blimpie, and a Subway in Delphi though the small town grocery store also sells lunch type items of deep fried chicken, etc. But Kosher = cooking, for the most part.
So although I already canned, and that including making and canning my own Salsa, and canning green beans if I had enough, I was challenged with cooking or preparing my meals for both mid-day (lunch), and late-day (supper) meals. Then I started canning even more. I learned to can my own chicken and enjoy just eating it out of the can. I learned to can my own beef, and enjoy quickly making it into a barbeque sandwich for lunch. I also enjoy opening a can of beef-brisket to make a Ruben sandwich for lunch. I found that canning most in 1/2 pints to be just the right amount. I also purchased a small freezer and enjoy freezing my own strawberries and asparagus (yes a portion of the garden are dedicated to those items too). I now read labels on food products, whereas I never did before. (This itself can be time consuming.) In the freezer I also have make-ahead type food (meal) such as frozen goulash or soup, or for breakfast, make ahead Bran Muffins.
Aside from that, I purchased a small air compressor which I had to learn to use. I have 2 wheelbarrows, the rider-mower, and a wagon with mesh-metal bottom, sides and tail-gate. These items can have a tendency to lose air especially during the winter, but sometimes even in summer. As for the wagon, I love it, but couldn't use it all season because it has 4 flat tires. It is originally the reason I purchased the air compressor. But I found that the tires of the wagon had deteriorated so badly over the past winter, that they would not hold air. That means replacing the tires or having tubes put in them. This is not cheap, and I couldn't afford that this year, so it is on my agenda as hopeful to get done, money permitting.
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