Spring Cleaning and the MENF!

Okay, so mom and I obviously had lots of energy yesterday and since it still is spring, we did some "spring cleaning"....... emptied the back fridge and freezer, cleaned it all out and organized it as we loaded it back in, making a list of all items and then can check them off as used or moved to the front fridge.  Once the back one was done, we started on the one in the kitchen, emptied, cleaned and refilled, as we organized.  I have to say, I honestly don't remember storing either of the dogs in the fridge or freezer, but there certainly was enough of their hair in each to support that theory.  :)  Unbelievable how much hair they produce.  They sure are cute though, don't you think?

Here is mom typing the list with all the fridge items on the table and in the freezer bags as we cleaned the back fridge and freezer.

 Here is the organized freezer once refilled.

Then the front fridge before.

and after.  The quart jars have the crock pot yogurt and our raw goat milk from the "friends" Rachel and Monica.

Also, the egg cartons contain the Delaware chickens eggs that roam the yard and like to hang out on the front deck on the new bench/railing that Rob built.  And the turkey in the ziplock bag is from the Tom we harvested.  I am going to be putting that in the food processor and make lunch meat with mayo and homemade relish.  We decided to put fresh fruit in the top drawer on the bottom and then cut vegetables in the bottom drawer.  I have had a fruit bowl on the counter in the past, but have found that apples go mealy too quickly and I like them better when they are cold anyway.

We will be tackling the pantry next, to clean, reorganize and label what goes where so it is much easier to find.

On another note, Mom, Aylia, Kara and Madison (Kara's friend from school) and I went to the Mother Earth News Fair (MENF according to Erica from NW Edibles) on Saturday.  We have a great time.  I took in the mini info classes on Heritage Turkeys and why to raise them, Beekeeping 101 on learning how and why to keep bees, how to make No Knead Bread, checked out the red wattle hogs, red poll cattle, Romney sheep (and watched the class on them), got free trees, checked out the bookstore and got a couple of books, and one highlight I have to say was listening to Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms.  He is a very dynamic speaker and "right on" about so many things in today's world of food politics, policies and the policing going on by the USDA and FDA.  And he has managed to make a multigenerational pastured poultry, cattle, and pigs, family farm business work.  If you haven't read any of his books, they are fabulous, and he has a new one coming out in October of this year!

Another highlight was meeting Erica of NW Edibles above and speaking with her.  She was great to talk with and her blog is awesome for all the new things I have learned!  Am definitely going to be trying rendering lard when we butcher Pig.  And such a bonus, she mentioned mom and myself (and linked my blog!) in her post about her time at the MENF!  That was so cool.  Thanks Erica!  She was very down-to-earth and very knowledgable on many subjects in self-sustainability, gardening and such.  Check her blog out!

So that was yesterday and then today it was work, work, work, as work came in today to be done, which was actually fine, as it rained most of the day.  It is nice now, though.  And, bonus, I don't have to go water anything as it rained.  So there is a silver lining in those clouds the come and go out there.  hahaha

Have a good one!