Canning

Nancy just brought me up TONS of delicious apricots. So I will be bottling apricots. I bought some 100% juice concentrate on sale at Harmon's so that they will be bottled in juice. I also plan on doing some in only water- for myself and baby Finn. I'll post pictures later.

Getting Started

My friend Codi posted recently on her blog about the thrill of tossing something you don't need being a bigger thrill than buying something. That really made me think and I've been trying to minimize since. I think I will try to take it one step further and try not to buy any non-essentials for the next year. I don't want to be extreme about it or make my kids feel like they are deprived- so we will see how this goes.
This is what I posted today on my Facebook page:

"I'm thinking about doing a buying freeze. I love finding bargains, but I like the idea more of living more simply. I have already bought Christmas presents, so maybe if I cut it back to absolute necessities- eating as much as possible from fresh produce, our own meat and eggs, then using our own frozen and bottled foods in the winter and early spring.

I will try not to buy any processed foods, anything that I couldn't do without. I'm thinking I'll try it for a week and hopefully do it for a full year. THEN it will become more habit and buying things can be done more carefully.

I've read about people doing these things. Anyone have experience with it? Has it worked? I think it may be most difficult in the adjustment stages but then I expect to experience much freedom from this experience."

I'm actually quite excited and my goal is to blog about it along the way. My progress, setbacks, difficulties, etc. I'll post recipes I do from all of the produce and food storage stuff. (And this will be a good opportunity to see what my food storage is lacking.)