Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Seasonal work

It is a lovely spring day in our part of the Midwest.  I've been working on organizing "my" shelves in the garage which contain seldom used craft items, seasonal decorations, vases of various sizes, etc.

This morning I have been going through a box that contains items from my son's craft projects, finding some wonderful surprises (like Prismacolor colored pencils), Crayola colored pencils, and lots of dried out markers.  The Prismacolor pencils were added to my collection, the small Crayola pencils saved for when the grandchildren visit, and everything else went in the trash. 

I think when finished, I will have one entire shelf free to move often used jelly jars, Ball jars, and vintage Ball jars to that shelf instead of tucked here and there where I can find a place for them in the garage. 

An important part of the work I'm doing is to bring inside those pantry items that do not do well in the garage when the weather turns hot.  For instance, the half gallon Ball jars which hold chocolate chips.  This is the time to sort through everything as garage shelves are being organized and reorganized and spruced up a bit.

As the temperatures warm outside today, I need to take the hoe to the three raised beds that will be planted in early May.  I like to hoe them and rake them a few times so the weeds that come up can bake their little (and no so little) roots in the sun.  It was a garden hint in an article on the Internet a few years ago that has proven very helpful.

Hot weather items like basil and tomatoes will be planted most likely after Mother's Day.  They will be planted in the additional raised bed Hubby will soon be building.  Instead of the big garden expansion we thought of doing, we are only adding the one large raised bed.  An expansion needed to hopefully provide one more area that receives good sunlight. 

Given a limited budget as well as limited energy... that is a good thing.

The past two weeks of off and on nice weather were used in getting old brush and dried up perennials broken off, raked up, and in the wheelbarrow to become mulch in the forest eventually.  That is the nice thing about living next to a forest, you feel it is happy to receive the old plants and brush so they can become a natural fertilizer for the trees.  Eventually.

Our friends south of the Equator are beginning to tuck in for winter just as our world is waking up from a long, cold slumber.  Presently spring is a delightful change but come say... October... we will be looking forward to cooler days and pumpkin spice lattes.  But not yet. 

Spring is just beginning, the tall trees of the forest have only unseen buds and many smaller trees are blooming in various shades of purple.  I can still see my neighbor's red barn, a sign the leaves have not fully formed on the bushes lining the county road.

Ahead of us there is yet to be garden veggies picked, and Farmer's Market veggies carefully chosen, and reading on the porch, and family sitting around the two deck tables, and watching a Maine Coon appreciate cool air when the air conditioner is running.  Her breed was made for the winter winds of Maine you know.

Now off to the garden.

Image:  Rooster and Four Chickens-Allposters.com