Tips, tricks, tools of the trade?

[prairiemom]

I'm getting ready to do my Sept newsletter for preparedness. The two goals for this month are:

-Finish up gardening & food preservation.
-Update or organize your financial and health records. This should include an up-to-date will, power of attorney, living will or end-of-life plans.

So...what are the things you do as fall comes and your garden winds down? What tips or tricks do you have for getting all the harvest put by? Favorite tools?

How many of you keep a garden journal? How does that work for you? How about a record of canning? Other than a spreadsheet, how do you keep record of what you've canned and what you need to can more of?

And when it comes to organizing your personal records, what methods do you use? Any novel ideas or pointers?

[prairiemom]

Anyone? Please???

[JayE]

I admire your attention to organized record keeping. Garden journal? Canning records? Wow, we don't even have time to pull the weeds. Life is way too busy and hectic in our family.

[Noahs ARK]

I used to keep gardening & canning journals, but I don't have a garden right now. The canning went on a master list, which I kept on the shelf for easy access. I added to the list when I canned and subtracted from the list when I took something off the shelf. I tried to keep it as accurate as possible.


When I had a garden, I drew a diagram of where I planted everything and kept the diagram for the following year, so I could rotate the plants around.

I also have a Master List for all my food storage, water & misc prep needs. At a glance I can tell if I need more corn or berries. The Master List is broken down into different categories - flour, sugar, veggies, fruit, meat, tvp, cheese, beans, butter & margarine, treats, matches, blankets, candles ... you get the picture.

I use those calendars with the 2-inch squares for each day of the month and use a calendar for each of the following:

1. House (change furnace filters, clean dehumidifier & humidifier, wash windows & walls, wash mini-blinds, etc.)

2. Yard (deadhead roses, sprinkle Preen in mulch for weed control, spray driveway for weeds, prune bushes & trees, hook-up hoses, roll-up hoses, put away planters that will break, etc.)

3. Animals (monthly flea & tic and heartworm, yearly shots)

4. Car (I don't have to do this now cuz my Pathfinder automatically puts a notice on my radio screen.)

Our personal records are in a fireproof safe. Wills, Living Wills, Power of Attorney, Advanced Care Directives. Again, a Master List is on the inside of the safe - I add or delete items as needed. We review all our personal items once a year, usually at New Years.

Don't know if any of this information is useful or not.

[phylm]

Anyone? Please???

I''m a bit lax on canning/freezing records, because I don't record what I use. What works for me is to use the next-to-the-last two pages of my daily log/journal to record the jars as we can or freeze. I make two columns on a page, with the year at the top.

Example:

2010

5/1 poke weed fr. 6 qts ..........................................6/1 blackb. pie filling c. 12 qts
5/4 gr. peas fr. 10 qts etc.
5/15 gr beans c. 36 qts
5/20 fr. strawb. 10 qts

[signseeker]

Glad I don't have to translate phylm's canning notes. :blink:

I keep a grocery list type paper on the fridge and write down stuff when I can it:

4/9/10 8pints Strawb.Jam
4/10/10 8pints Strawb.Jam

etc...

At the end of the season I rewrite it in my gardening journal. I LOVE having the gardening journal so I can keep track of which varieties did well, what I want to try next time, little things I'm finding out along the way. I know I'd forget so many things if I didn't write them down.

[Earthling]

I keep a garden journal that records any info about my garden pertinent to another year. I draw the garden plan out so I can rotate crops next year. Also I had too many green beans so I could see how much I planted last year and make a change. I can also see what dates I planted so I can make any needed adjustments another year.

I have a food storage spread sheet for long and short term foods. I inventory the short term storage twice a year since it is constantly being used. I keep a running current total on the long term storage.

I have attached my spreadsheets if anyone is interested. You will notice I put the church recommendations but also put the amount I considered appropriate after I found out the church recommends the bare minimum for survival of grains. I have put in the calculations for 6 people but you can change it to fit the number of people you are storing for. On the short term storage I broke it down into upstairs & downstairs for ease when I am doing the inventory.

[signseeker]

For some reason the word spreadsheet makes me twitch.