It is cool right now with some overcast. The weather report said we should get rain this afternoon--a 40% chance they say so maybe, maybe not. We'll see. I just finished grinding a nice supply of egg shells. I add them to the gardens--especially the peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. A blogger (sorry, I forgot which one and it was some time ago) calls eggshells "slow release calcium." I am for anything that uses something we would normally throw away to grow something we can eat.

Yesterday was another foray into the "adventures of shopping." I don't call it "consumerism" since we aren't the mindless consumers who open their wallets and reach for the cards at the drop of a suggestion the commercial powers that be would like us to be. We generally know what we want and, usually, know where to find it. Over the last year or so that has become somewhat of a problem. Part of that situation is simply we have gone retro in so many ways. I think I have already described our shift back to cast iron cookware because we became utterly disgusted with the performance of the so-called non-stick cookware we had been using for the last fifteen or so years. After we started trying to find the skillets and such we suddenly found the local Target began carrying a line of Lodge cast iron. We had already bought from Lodge direct on-line. At the same time we have gone from the usual shower jells and shampoos to Dove bar soap and a couple of lines of "natural" shampoos till, just recently, to old fashioned castile soap. That last has been the best so far for our skins and hair.

Well, the bankruptcy of our main grocery outlets (owned by the same company despite the different names) has sent us off searching for the products and/or brands we use. Though the stores never closed, unlike another nearby store, we suddenly couldn't find lard, Fage yogurt, and a few other mainstays. I will admit that we can be very picky. If we can't get the Fage in the full 4% fat variety or the 2% (if absolutely necessary), we will do without. Yesterday we did our usual grocery shopping and found that the store here still didn't have the yogurt, the lard and a few other items we wanted. So we decided go a bit further afield and check out a store we had talked about but hadn't been in since the (local) chain opened a new store in a closer neighboring town. Surprise--we found everything there. And at comparable or cheaper prices.

Result--we are changing our shopping patterns. We buy multiples of our most frequently used items. The number of multiples depends on how much we use them. Whole wheat and all-purpose flour--we keep two five pound bags in addition to what is in our canister and get a new one when we empty a reserve bag into the canister. Corn meal and rye flour--one reserve. With that system we can easily keep a list and shop maybe twice a month. Milk and orange juice we can buy between regular shopping.

Once upon a time the big box stores promised us "one stop shopping. Only for those who aren't at all picky about what they are getting.