As mentioned in Friday's post, we had scheduled a yard sale for Saturday. This is our first yard sale in Bethune, but we are experienced yard-salers. We have been doing it for years in many different places: small towns, cities, big towns. No matter where we are and what we have to sell, the take is always between $100 and $200. (It gets to the upper end if you have a big item like a working fridge that sells).
We did anticipate that the country may pose some different advertising problems, and that the population density was much thinner, but we tried some new advertising locations and techniques to better the odds. Our expectations weren't great, but we thought it possible to come close to the low end of our experience.
$9.10
Oh yes, we got rid of two kittens also.
Actually, this take wasn't so bad. Our immediate needs were two gallons of milk and a gallon or so of gas in the car we haul the trash to the dump in. So $9.10 covered it..."Give us this day our daily bread".
Saturday turned out to be very productive around Bethany, even if the yard sale wasn't. I have been under the weather for several days, low fever, throat, etc. (The sickness cost me a shrimping trip to Georgetown, SC this weekend with friends). Saturday in the warm sun I felf better, so I fixed up the doors to chicken coops and the dog/goat pen which were starting to droop and become unreliable. I also finished winterizing the rabbit cage area. Basically I put a wind break on two sides of the cages with some lumber we had hanging around. (Now they protected on 3 sides and roof. ) I still have to build a small shelter for the younger chickens as the nights are getting colder and their old house (a former dog house) is too small to house all of them now.
The chicken tractor is going well. We have 6 chickens in it and move it every few days. These chickens are bigger than the ones in the coop area. They get a larger variety of bugs and fresh grass/weeds every few days. I really need to build a second chicken tractor to get more benefit.
By the way, our older chickens are finally back on track. We had been getting only 1-3 eggs a day for two weeks now. (I think the problem started after we ran low on laying pellet feed and tried to sub other things for a couple days til we raised the cash for more feed.) We were getting ready to slaughter the six hens as the feed is too expensive to buy with no production. They must have heard the rumors because they are back on track. (An extra couple loads of table scraps probably didn't hurt either.)
Around here, running up to Halloween, the pumpkins are priced outrageously. (They aren't grown locally because of the soil). But starting tomorrow, they will be at huge discounts. Mrs. Curley will undoubtably come home with a dozen or more pumpkins bought at ridiculously low prices over the next few days. Then we will be delighting in pumpkin muffins and other similar items for breakfast over many of the fall and winter months. (In fact muffins of all varieties have become a particular specialty of Mrs. Curley.)
From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune... Oremus pro invicem!
3 comments:
I will batch cook the pumpkins in the oven (so as not to waste fuel) and then scrape and mash the pulp. Freeze in 2 cup portions in quart size ziplock bags - they keep for up to a year that way (unless you use them all up). 2 cups is the equivalent of the one pound cans generally sold (or a standard pie or loaf of pumpkin bread.
Pumpkins and other winter squashes will also keep well if well dried and kept dry. For that, cut into chunks and slice thinly, dehydrate well, and store in a cool dry place. Dried calabash can really add flavor and nutrition to a winter stew.
Remember that the American Indian tribes survived long winters on preserved corn, squash and beans, supplemented with what they could catch for meat and fish.
Alicia, I will pass these ideas on to Mrs. Curley. It is amazing how $10 pumpkins plummet to less than $1 in just a week. (If only gas prices would fall so fast.)
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