After all the holiday cooking and baking, I realized I had a lot more counter and shelf space in my kitchen than I was actually using. Imagine that! Well, I got rid of the microwave and some pans that were more chicken pans than people pans. (Now they’re in the chicken coop instead of on my shelves.) Then there were the boxes of sugary cereal we’d been given from time to time and don’t eat. Yep, chickens again.
Then, on to the drawers which were full of flours, nut meats, and baking supplies. My son, Bill and his wife, Kelly, gave me a vacuum sealer for Mason jars for Christmas. So, instead of bags of flours, I’m putting the flours into half gallon jars and vacuuming them closed so they’ll not only store better but be bug-proof. The baking supplies, I’m sorting through. If I haven’t used them in a long time, out they go to the thrift store. Better to have the room for things I do use, huh?
Same with the pantry in the basement. After Christmas, I’m returning to getting all those boxes of full jars off the floor and onto shelves. Like the kitchen, I’m going through my pantry and getting rid of the foods we just aren’t using. Like ten-year-old pickles and relishes I’ve replaced with ones we like better. Those jars took up a lot of room. Now, the foods we love will have a nice place to sit — off the floor!
Then there’s the under-the-stairs pantry where much of our long-term dry foods are stored. What a jumble that has become! I can’t find anything. Guess what’s on my “next” list?
We had nine deer come for feed this morning, which is the most we’ve had since the terrible winter that killed off a whole lot of deer. I just dump out little piles of feed and yell “Deer, deer, deer!” and here they come. It’s so nice to see the herd building back up again. Many of them were fawns and yearlings, taught to come by a couple of old does who knew the routine.
— Jackie
I consistently have six deer feed/drink. Two moms, three fawns (a set of twins, one is a buck), and another doe. I’m pretty sure the other does is the “grandma” of the fawns. A six and eight point buck graced us with their presence (uh, guess when?) and there is a cull buck. Not a unicorn and the one “antler” does not look right. I keep any and all buck info private – there are those who have no qualms about hunting on property that they do not own/have permission. AND cull bucks tend to be hunted for the “look what I have” mount. I don’t have an issue with ethical hunting for food but just for trophy, not happening on my property.
Rotation and management of any supplies is a necessary evil. Management of “stuff” is too. We’re going to be re-homing a few items from our basement. Storage shelves can be put to better use.