Self-Sufficiency in a Condo

     Happy Friday! Well, you may not be reading this on a Friday, but I hope you have a great day nonetheless! Today I want to share with you one of my hobbies and creative outlets. I have an antique booth at a local antique mall. It's actually a huge mall! But my booth is relatively small at 9ft x 10ft. However, it used to be even smaller before I upgraded booths. It was only 6ft x 3ft. But no matter the size, it's been a lot of fun sourcing, pricing and displaying the items for the booth. I don't make a lot of money doing it. Believe me, I wish it was a real money maker, but some months I actually lose money, so it's definitely in the hobby realm right now. I just enjoy it so much, I can't imagine giving it up. Here's a look inside.      It's always evolving and changing with the seasons. If you want to see me post more about my booth, let me know in the comments below. I also like to throw in a few crafts and DIY's too. So here's a look at my late...

       Hi everyone, I’m back after a long hiatus. I’ve been working a ton, but some things have changed, and I have a little more time on my hands to pursue my interests again! I have learned how to make yogurt and bread, with the help of some handy dandy appliances. I’d really like to learn how to make these items without fancy appliances. So, stay tuned while I stumble my way through it. I still have a balcony garden, although a bit smaller this year since I wasn’t sure at first how much I’d be home this summer. I’ve also been working hard on my YouTube channel, so if you want to check that out, I’ll post the link here. https://www.youtube.com/@momnmecraft      Anyway, thanks for sticking around, and I look forward to the future! 😃

     Hi everyone! I made tamales with my parents the other day. It was a lot of fun! It's only the second time we've done this, so we learned a few things as we went. We made about 50 tamales so now we've got quite a few in our freezer. We made pork tamales, chicken tamales, and even a few shrimp tamales upon my husband's request. We would have made even more, but that's all that would fit in the pot! I've also been working on some other projects unrelated to self-sufficiency, that I think would be fun to share with you none-the-less.  My mom wants to redecorate her house so I worked on some wall decor for her. I found this old window at a thrift store. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out because it was in pretty rough shape! But I think it turned out quite nicely. I didn't make the wreath in the picture, but I do like to make wreaths, so she can change it out with the season.  And finally, I organized my shoe collection. Everyone needs to do this...

Today, I want to show off the planter garden on my balcony. Now, I didn't start any of these from seed. I went to my local garden center and bought some small plants. 13 in total. I bought two cherry tomato plants, a blonde bell pepper that I'm excited to try, a jalapeño plant, cilantro, parsley, mint, dill, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and chives. Here they are replanted. I'm really excited to watch them grow! And the best part is I still have room on my balcony for more!  Does anyone have any recommendations as to what else I should grow? Leave me a note in the comments!

Dehydrating with a Beginner      I've been wanting to try out a dehydrator for a while now, but they're kind of expensive. Luckily, my parents let me borrow their American Harvest Snackmaster Dehydrator, which I'm told is older than I am. But this dehydrator, even in it's 30's, works great! If only I could figure it out. The first time I used it, I forgot to spray the trays with cooking spray and my applesauce stuck like glue. I had to soak the trays in water just to clean it off. It was unsalvageable, not too mention over cooked. Live and learn! So I just tried it for a second time, and you better believe I sprayed the heck out of the trays! Probably a little too much, but that's okay.      First things first, I went to the store and bought three pounds of apples, a pineapple, and a simple apple corer. After looking up how to cut pineapple videos on youtube (yes, I've never cut a pineapple), the pineapple went into the blender and then stra...

     Hi, my name is Cheri and this blog is about my trials in learning to become more self-sufficient while living in an urban landscape. I read all the time about being self-sufficient on one acre of land. Well, I live in a condo on the second floor with a balcony. That’s it. How in the world am I going to do this? Well, I plan to figure that out.      Here are 15 ideas to get me started: 1.       Growing food. Last year was my first year in the condo and I grew two cherry tomato plants in large pots. I also grew cilantro and parsley, which brings me to my second idea to get started. 2.       Growing herbs. Cilantro didn’t go very well my first year. It bolted pretty early on in the heat of the summer. And to be honest, I wasn’t watering as regularly as I should have been. This year, I will try a variety of herbs. 3.       Dehydrating food. I would love to get my hands on a dehydrat...