Being Self Sufficient! Part 7

#7 Work a little every day at your goals
I am trying to do this.. I try to take 15 minutes per day to at least make a list of what I want to get done.. and then also take another 15 minutes to organize what I want to accomplish.. I have piles of stuff to put up for sale in my craft room.. lol. as well as pictures of items on my computer.. every Sunday I start another list of what I want to get accomplished each week. as well as lists of what I would like to get done every day.. 
I keep a notebook with me almost every day just to jot down ideas.. for the house, my stores, etc.. I may not finish the whole list each week.. but at least I see some things get accomplished.. Do you also make lists?

Fall Hanging Towels

I finished 4 new sets of Fall hanging towels.. these are going up for sale immediately on Facebook and over the next couple of days on Etsy.. I now got a couple of new orders so will be working on a baby headband (auctioned on Listia) and a pair of adult cupcake slippers.. Will have pictures when finished..The scarecrow one is made of velour type fabric, not terrycloth.. so it feels very soft.. I have double of all these towels.. so I can also make them in your choice of the color of yarn and buttons.

More Fair Pictures!

I figured I better get the rest of the pictures up now.. lol.. since the fair has ended.. Today's post has all the afghans I saw there.. so many pretty ones and some really difficult ones.. it was hard to pick my favorite..

  

Which one is your favorite.. Mine is the Sweet Baby Girl.. using the bobble stitch.. 

Cupcake Slippers

I have two different types of cupcake slippers.. for a short time I will have custom orders of these ON SALE..

Infant and Child only.. These are so cute.. I am taking orders for these.. now.. they will be on sale for 2 days only.. request custom order via Etsy and get $2 off.. this sale starts 23 and ends on the 24th..

https://www.etsy.com/listing/165167763/toddler-cupcake-slippers

Being Self Sufficient! Part 9

#9 Learn To Enjoy What You Have Now
Alot of people cant do this.. seems everyone wants to keep up with the Jones.. I personally have few wants.. a decent computer.. some books to read.. my crocheting.. food in the frig... and a roof over my home.. I got those.. smile. 

Most of the time I dont feel jealous of people.. of people getting things.. I do want one thing in life that sometimes seems hard to find.. peace and quiet.. I am probably one of the few people who would love to be in a rut.. LOL.. I truthfully never feel bored.. I always have something to do.. smile.. 

How do you all feel about this step.. is this something you can relate to?

Bunnies!!

While at the fair.. we also got to see alot of bunnies.. I love rabbits.. they are really cute.. and soft.. and make good pets.. I used to watch this rabbit when his owners went away.. he was a smart little bugger.. lol. I would sit on the floor with him and visit.. first he would explore for a while, then come for attention.. but once I put my book down.. he knew it was time for me to go.. and then he would run and hide cos he didnt want to go back to his cage.. lol.. like I said.. smart little bugger..

The rabbit on the left.. she is so pretty.. looked like a calico cat!

I also make bunnie slippers.. Lop ear ones.. smile..These make cute gifts for babies and toddlers.. and keeps their feet nice and toasty.. You can custom order these in any colors and sizes.. with embroidery eyes or wiggly eyes (older than 3 for the eyes).

https://www.etsy.com/listing/99079706/bunny-slippers-for-children-and-toddlers?

Treasuries on Etsy

These are the ones I have done..

716 Buffalos -- For all things Buffalo

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDA1MzAwOQ/716-buffalos-for-all-things-buffalo?ref=pr_treasury

Tigers on the Prowl

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDA3NjQxOQ/tigers-on-the-prowl?

Buffalo Etsy Team Favorites..
https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDA5OTQzNw/buffalo-etsy-team-treasury
Listing

Ladybugs!
https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNjY1OTQwMA/ladybugs

Treasuries that I am in:

My Bakers Hanging Towel got accepted for:

Green

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/NDA4MDAxMzh8MjcyNjYyNzgzNA/green

Being Self Sufficient! Part 6

#6 Learn To Work with Basic Tools
Did you know that most high schools and some technical schools have courses to teach you the basics.. you can look online by typing the name of your city and adult education.


I live in Buffalo.. and some of the courses they have here are:

Hand-on Home Improvement

Basic auto mechanics

More Fair Photos

Being a retired Vet Tech.. I love animals. smile.. back in the 1970's.. I first tried to get my Vet Tech training.. but didnt make it into Morrisville (which at the time was one of the few places that had it).. so I went to Cobleskill, which I was taking Animal Husbandry - Horses (yes.. my dream at the time was to work with horses).. unfortunately, while there.. I lost what was left of my hearing.. so didnt finish.. still to this day I love horses.. This picture was of a mustang. always wanted to adopt one.

This picture made me laugh.. since my ex-hubby's name was Chuck.. grin.

Have to say Holstein calves are cute..

Here is a picture of me with a Guernsey calf.

Fall Hanging Towels

I went out to Dollar General and they had a ton of cute Fall and Halloween towels.. so bought a ton of them.. been working on Fall towels for a while now.. and here are some of them.. Very few of these are on Etsy yet.. just up in Facebook on my page.. You can click her to go to the photo album.

Tomorrow I will be listing these on Etsy.. and then sending the ads to the Yahoo groups.. so if you want any.. order now.  Back to the Fair pictures tomorrow..

More Fair Pictures..

When we first got to the Erie County Fair.. we walked into a display of model trains.. only got one good picture.  My camera isnt good for moving things.. lol..

Then we walked out and saw the Siberian Tigers.. I love wild cats!  and one of them was a youngster.. he was trying to wrestle with the older one.. and kept getting smacked.. LOL!. reminded me of my cats..

So decided to use Tigers as a Etsy Treasury.. do check it out!!  Got to love those Kitties!!

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDA3NjQxOQ/tigers-on-the-prowl

Being Self Sufficient! Part 5

#5 Learn To Fail 

This is probably one of the harder steps.. smile.. Nobody likes making mistakes, but the only way to learn is to make mistakes.. and keep doing it until you got it right.. I probably should have put the gardening one under here.. lol.. 

Not everything can come easy.. sometimes you just need to keep plowing thru things until you reach the other side.. and just consider it a learning experience.. and dont kick yourself for making a mistake.. sometimes we can be our own worse enemies.. 

I learned that years ago.. if things dont work out one way, try a different way, but if they dont work out trying a couple of different ways, the best thing to do is to just drop it.. and move on to something else.

Anyways.. that is all I wanted to say on this.. 

Chickens at the Fair..

One of my favorite spots is the Chicken, Duck, and Rabbit barn.. Of course this year my main focus was getting pictures of chickens for my blog series.. lol.. Here are some of the breeds I saw..

Rhode Island Reds are a utility bird, raised for meat and eggs, and also as show birds. They are a popular choice for backyard flocks because of their egg laying abilities and hardiness.  They generally lay 5 - 7 brown eggs per week.

The Belgian Bearded D'Uccle is renowned for being a calm bird. Bearded D'Uccle eggs are notably small and are coated with creamy or tinted coloring. The breed is known for being very broody, and a typical hen can lay her eggs over a two-week period, though others have taken as long as three weeks.

Plymouth Rock is a dual-purpose, cold-hardy bird and therefore makes a great breed for the small farm or backyard flock owner.  There are many different strains of this breed.  They lay a large egg that varies in color from light to medium brown with a touch of pink. The birds continue laying throughout the winter but with decreased production. The amount of eggs laid is dependent upon the strains of the birds.

These are Silkies.  They are mostly used as pets and to hatch other birds' eggs as they are quite broody.  They generally lay about 100 white to beige colored eggs per year.

Polish Chicken - These are considered ornamental birds.. not very winter hardy.. Generally lay about 2 small, white eggs per week..  

#myeriecountyfair

More On My Garden

Well.. I talked to the Cooperative Extension about my mildew problem.. they said I could try a fungicide on my plants.. but probably the best thing to do is pull them up and destroy the plants (dont compost them).. luckily for me I plant them in pots, so I just got to bag up the plants.. dump the soil (probably not the yard), and then bleach the pots for next year.. sigh.. guess that was a learning lesson.. no zucchini and yellow squash for me this year.. Then I think I also will bleach the whole area and tables where the pots are..

Tomorrow, I will have about the chickens.. just wanted to tell you what I found out.

Being Self Sufficient! Part 4

#4 Raise Chickens

All the pictures here were taken at the Erie County Fair, when we went yesterday.. We go almost every year.. as I love it.. smile.. 

As much as I would like to have a chicken or two.. I can't... one, my neighbors are too close to me and two, my boyfriend isnt for the idea.. but if I could.. I would.. there are so many benefits to having chickens, even in the city..  They are a natural source of fertilizer for the garden, as well as a wonderful way to control insects!  Plus you get farm fresh eggs.. cant get better than that! 

This chicken above is the Rhode Island Red, which many consider one of the best breeds for the back yard.. You can read more about them HERE.

Here are some links for advice on starting this.. 

Why A Great Garden And Raising Chickens Go Hand In Hand - Old World Garden Farms

Raising Chickens in the City - Urban Farming Guys

How to Raise Backyard Chickens - Backyard Chickens

Raising Chickens for Dummies - Cheat Sheet - Kimberly Willis, Rob Ludlow

And there are alot more!! Just do a websearch.. 

Next, I am going to discuss some of the breeds I and pictures I took at the fair.. See you tomorrow!

#myeriecountyfair

Being Self Sufficient! Part 3

#3 Learn to Can and Preserve

Picture used from Scrapgirls.com

I used to can years ago.. both with my grandmother, my mother.. and myself.. only thing we really canned were tomatoes.. and I also remember doing peaches with my grandmother.. now.. I just freeze.. I specifically got a small chest freezer to store my produce in.. it iis so nice to not have to pay high prices for my veggies in mid winter!
One of these days I do want to try canning and making jelly again.. but usually I dont have the time.. with my orders and stuff.. 

716 Buffalos

This is one of her designs.. I have to say I love her ideas.. she takes some of the most unusual things and makes the prettiest Jewelry.. Here is my favorites.. do check her stuff out! 

#Etsy, #buffaloetsyteam, #handmade


https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDA1MzAwOQ/716-buffalos-for-all-things-buffalo

Being Self Sufficient! Part 2

#2 Grow Some of Your Own Food – Plant a Garden

One of steps I like and have been doing now for 4 - 5 years is gardening.. the prices for food seems to go up every year.. especially for healthy, fresh veggies! I started just with tomatoes and peppers (yes, I am Italian.. so use those alot).. then every year I tried one or two new items.. This year I didnt try anything new.. the planting season started late.. plus it has been a cool, rainy season.. 

First having a backyard that is tree covered and with a bad clay soil with tons of weeds.. I didnt want to spend the energy gardening in it.. so I decided to do patio gardening.. my first attempt was to check out pots. um... large pots were way too expensive.. so thought about it and said.. why not recycle those plastic cat litter containers.. we get our cat litter in 40 lbs or larger and at the time was using Tidy Cat (yep.. those plastic containers).. so just took those. and punched holes in bottom for drainage.. I first tried using gardening soil.. discovered it was too heavy.. now I use potting soil.. If you look closely, you often can see the cat litter containers.. lol.. 

What I do is every year I take out half the old soil.. (saving it).. and mixing the old soil with new potting soil, coffee grinds, eggshells crushed really fine, and compost.  Then I transplant my seedlings (I dont often grow my seedings from seeds.. get them ready grown) in the pots with some fertilizer and more coffee grinds and egg shells.. You need to use eggshells in things like tomatoes to prevent with Blossom End Rot.. One of the things I discovered this year is you need to soak your crushed egg shells in vinegar before putting it in the soil and it really helped my tomatoes this year.. 

Anyways.. I discovered that these items seems to grow really well in pots: all kinds of tomatoes, peppers (both green peppers and Italian sweet peppers), eggplant, lettuces of all types, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, and the summer squashes.. I tried regular squash and broccoli.. no luck with those.. They just didnt produce enough for it to make it worth my while..The pictures here are recent.  took them a couple of days ago.. 

Baby Dresses on Etsy!

Just made a treasury of crochet baby dress patterns I would love to make..smile.. check them out! These dresses are just perfect for both a gift and to dress up your little one.. I checked them out and most are made with yarns I can use (no thread for me.. hurts my hands)..

I will take orders for any of these for the next month!

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDAzMjc3OQ/baby-dress-patterns-on-etsy

New Order I am working on..

Well.. I got a custom order for dishclothes and hanging towels.. she supplied the towels.. so far I made her dishclothes.. she ordered Bands of Lace dishclothes. I made them in the following colors.. bone and autumn red.

Then she dropped off the towels.. three different styles.. so I decided to match the towels to the dishclothes.. I think it worked.. what do you think.. 

I still have the cream color ones.. (same color as the off white tab).. these are actually the same color tabs.. just taken in a different place.. a bit hard to get good colors with artificial light. I probably will have the others done in the next day or so..