Cooking from scratch made me a better permie

I have chaos in my mind as I take on the myriad of cool permie projects that inundate me in my limited free time. So many awesome things get started and never finished.
Then as I began really getting into growing my own food I realized that I as an adult had no idea what to do with raw unprocessed ingredients.

I took on the challenge of making growing paste tomatoes making sauce and canning sauce and then trying to use those to create meals. This was awful. I did not focus on one thing for the excitement of the next and failed terribly at all of these things.

This forced me to take it slow and learn one skill at a time.

So I started with just making a sauce and then with making a meal using that sauce and other ingredients that were purchased and I was familiar with.

This was where I met success. I looked up a recipe found the ingredients and the pots and pans needed made a list and then procured them. Then I followed a recipe and it was simple once I used a timer  to keep me on task I was a sauce making fool! This expanded and I started to experiment with what's on hand. Start with mental list then improvise for fun or lack of ingredients.

I have begun using this approach with my projects.

I make a list of materials  set possible time goals and then improvise with my sites specific requirements.

So if you have a problem organizing your thoughts staying focused planning and preparing  projects and want to build these skills and a little patience then perhaps step away for long enough to make a sauce and realize that all of life can be this simple.

What a great post! I think I often do what your describe, but accidentally. Not with intention. Equally often I try to start big, as if I know what I’m doing, with highly variable and often disappointing results. After reading your post my brain said- making something that requires new skills and knowledge? Test feasibility and build skills with intention - start small, break down the tasks, do one at a time, when successful, add next step. Sounds like a no-brainer, but hubris (with a generous dose of enthusiasm) is my middle name when it comes to new things.

You have helped me to step back and work with intention.
Here’s my project, which I began exploring just yesterday, but quickly got overwhelmed.

Background: for a number of reasons, I now do my veg gardening in galvanized stock tanks, washtubs, buckets, and big clay pots. I water them by hand with a water wand, or tuck a small sprinkler in the stock tank and move it around. I am retired, so I have the time, and I have far fewer plantings than I would like because now I live with a tiny yard.

Then this happened:
My grandson’s parents (one of whom is my darling son), asked if The Kid (14 year old young man) could stay with me for 3 weeks this summer while they gallivant about the country. I said yes so fast that I forgot to even ask where they are going.
The Kid  decided he wanted to spend spring break with grandma (I’m totally amazed that he still wants to do this, at the age where peer group trumps everything, but knowing it will happen, I grab him while I can!).  Anyway, one day I looked at him and said hey, if they can go off for 3 weeks, I’m thinking, Road Trip! He grinned and said “let’s go to Canada!,” and of course that’s what we’re going to do.

But my veg garden! The berries etc would be fine, but not the containers. Not in July, not when we’re likely to have another record breaking year of high temperatures and I live where summertime rain is but a dream.

I have to put in irrigation. And a timer.
When I used to have large gardens, I also had a partner who did that for me. Sure, I watched, chatted, picked up a few things. But that’s not the same as doing it.

So I looked at a kit.  Visualized what I would do with it. Wondered why there was so much tubing and so few emitters. Worried about water pressure given that I had 2 ft high containers, 1 ft high containers, and others in between. How many separate lines would I need? What kind of emitters? One size fits all, or container size and shape dependent? I did not buy the kit.
And oh yeah - I need to figure out how to fix my outdoor faucet which leaks like crazy if left open but water isn’t flowing. Like it would be when the timer was on off. Like it would be most of the day.

Of course I was quickly overwhelmed, turned on the ball game and took to spinning yarn. Knowing I still had to deal with the water. Wondering if my friend Martin would just do it while I’m gone. He probably would.  And he would pick and use the veggies that need picking, which is also good.

Yes, that was another shaggy dog story. I can’t help it.

You have inspired me.

I’m not giving this up. I’m going to approach it with intention and break it down. If it doesn’t work out, there’s Martin for a back up.  Pressure is off.  But when I succeed, even if it’s too late for the road trip, I will still have lasting benefit: on 98 degree days, which are suddenly all too normal in the Willamette Valley, I can run out and turn on a spigot instead of standing outside with a water wand.  And I will likely use a lot less water.   (I could keep using the timers when I’m home , but I don’t like to - I think overwatering is a common result, especially with wildly changing temperatures.  Plus I need to go out anyway to tend to things.

So here’s my starting plan:
1. Go to the local farm store and buy some tubing, some emitters, and other necessary doohickeys. Just enough for one container. The store is 5 minutes away and they even let me bring my dogs in.  And, they give good advice.  I can ask them about the water pressure issues.
2. Get a plumbing for dummies book from the library. Fix the dang leaky faucet.

Just those two things. Not thinking ahead. Not til I accomplish those two things.

So thank you for your post. Instead of endless time worrying and overthinking and being generally under productive, I have a plan. It doesn’t take much investment. Just a little time, just a little money, and just a little effort. Not big. But, bigger chance of success. Good learning opportunity.

I think I can do this!

PS. The containers. I fill the bottom half with wood.  Fallen branches that I scavenge. No space here for hugelkultur. But maybe its not an all or nothing proposition?

L Anderson,
I was just reading this permies post https://permies.com/t/121561/Drip-tape because I have several raised beds also to water. I am also trying out a snap grid watering sys. in one bed this year.
Hope that helps.

Clay, What a great post! In my case, your post brings back memories of when I first met my wife over 40 years ago now.  We were both in the army and she had a son so she lived off base,   had her own apartment, and did her own cooking and baking. I was single so I lived in the barracks and ate at the mess hall. I was always on the go. After I started dating Renee and we decided to live together, in preparation for getting married, I learned to slow down and appreciate life. Renee taught me so many things. But among them, she taught me how to can food into glass jars. From there came gardening, from there came a small farm, and from there came raising 4 children together and 41 years of being together through thick and thin.  Thank you for making my day. The happy thoughts I'm having now will easily get me through a full day of work. Jeff                                                                                                                                                                                    

Luckily I grew up in a time and place where 'cooking from scratch' was the ordinary way. Not everyone had a garden to grow their own vegetables, but there was the 'greengrocer', a shop selling fresh vegetables.

Watching mum preparing meals in the kitchen was the way a child learned to cook. (later I even saw my father in the kitchen sometimes, but he made pasta with sauce from a can). I was able to cook meals 'from scratch' as a teenager.

Times change, but I still prefer to cook with fresh ingredients. When I buy them I go for organic. But more and more vegetables, herbs and fruits grow in my garden.
I am glad I learned at a young age about 'wild edibles' too. My permaculture garden provides in those too (so-called 'weeds'). Being a 'creative cook' first I go and pick somethings from the garden and then I decide what to cook that day.

My advice for the younger generation: learn about edible plants, both the official vegetables and the weeds. Learn ways to prepare them, find out how they taste, how you can combine the different tastes (follow your own taste!).
After you learned how to cook, then it's time to start growing.