A Week in the Life of an Off-Grid Mom: August 29– September 4, 2026

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This Week at a Glance:

• Canned 49 more jars.
• Started a new meal plan.
• Solidified school for the kids.
• Ready for a work heavy month!

Around the Homestead

What I Preserved

I preserved a total of 49 jars this week! Not as much as I was hoping but I’ll elaborate more in a minute here.

• I canned up 10 quarts of pearsauce. We love this! I don’t add anything to the pears. I also used this opportunity to work with the kids on canning and the science behind it since it’s an easy project.
• I canned up 10 quarts of plums. I’ll be honest, I’m worried that these are going to be too mushy with how long I have to water-bath them. We will see…they might turn into plum sauce or jelly!
• I canned up 7 quarts of mixed pickles straight from my garden. They included tiny cucumbers, beans, carrots, and our favorite…scallop squash! Can’t wait to eat these jars!
• And I also did up 22 jelly jars of BBQ Sauce. I used this recipe this time.

I had also ordered peaches and nectarines to can from Azure. We ended up eating all the nectarines fresh and the peaches were not good so I had to ask for credit.

In the Garden

We again ate lots of beans and zucchini. All of the seeds I planted in my fall gardens last week are up already.

I also did a bunch of work on the tomatoes and gave them a very heavy trim to let maximum sunlight on them to try and get them to ripen up before the frost.

Off Grid Life

Since my husband still had to work his regular job this week, we didn’t do much. The work on the barn starts this weekend!

From the Kitchen and Pantry

I started a new meal plan this week that is simple and back to basics. I love it! Each meal has a simple formula (Like carb + protein + 2 veggies + 1 fruit), and it’s been nice and easy for me to follow. Our sides this week have all been garden veggies and fruit from Azure, and some main dishes have been: meatloaf, whole chicken, and chicken noodle soup. (German Pancake for breakfast pictured above.)

I need to finish cleaning up the root cellar this weekend. It’s just messy from me putting things in and not organizing as I go.

Family Life

I’m not sure if I got any more sleep this week than I’ve been getting, but I did start taking an organ meat supplement again, which is helping my energy levels.

We had all the best intentions to start “full school” this week, but our last laptop broke, and so we have to wait until we can get a new one in. The kids did read lots of audiobooks again this week and are re-reading The Green Ember series.

Homemaking This Week

We focused on extra cleaning this week as we will have company here for all of next week.

I worked on getting out all of the kids’ winter clothes and washing them up. I also assessed what we still need and am working on finding those things.

Behind Little House Living

I hardly worked on the blog this week, save for a little bit today. I’ve just been too busy with school plans and getting some things ready for winter here.

A Few Things I’m Enjoying This Week

I read a great book from the library about foraging in the Rocky Mountains. It was good inspiration for me!

I also pulled out my embroidery to work on it here and there when I have a few minutes. I decided to start making baskets again as well and signed up for a willow basketry course since I’ve mostly only worked with reeds.

Reflections

It was a slow and simple week, and I loved it. Lots of reading and playing with the kids, as well as just starting to think ahead, since the crisp fall air is definitely here.

I love the warmth and the gardening in the summer months but I also love the slow down that comes with winter. This week was my reminder that it will be here again soon.

I’ll check back in with you all again next week! I hope you’ll comment back to have a bit of community and connection here on this simple, old-school blog post.

Talk to you again soon,

Merissa🥰

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