I harvested eggplant, cherry tomatoes, roselle hibisicus, garlic chives, peppermint, and Meyer lemons from my garden. I shared eggplant with a friend, who shared nigella seeds, chocolate mint cuttings, and an ajwain cutting with me from her garden. I cut a bouquet of roses from my garden to enjoy inside. I made cookies using what…
This looks to be the second December in a row in which we have yet to get a frost. This has extended my warm-vegetable growing season. I harvested cherry tomatoes, Swiss chard, Meyer lemons, a Serrano pepper, lemon verbena, and eggplant from my garden. I listed and sold two items we weren’t using on Facebook…
I harvested lemons and Swiss chard from my garden. We made lemon meringue pies and lemonade from lemons in the garden. I cooked cranberry sauce from scratch from four bags of cranberries that were on sale. It cost the same as the cost of a can (I am genuinely shocked at how much canned cranberry…
Some friends of mine who moved away earlier this year came for a visit. They asked me Monday morning if I wanted to go on a spontaneous road trip with them to Lake Tahoe (a 7-hour drive away). I said yes, and we left Tuesday. Some things we did to save money on the trip:…
We took everything out of the pantry and washed everything in the pantry (shelves, jars, the walls, the floor, etc.). We then reorganized the pantry, changing where we keep everything. What I buy and cook has changed over the years, as both my tastes have changed and food prices have dramatically increased, and the order…
I harvested roselle hibiscus, okra, a lime, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and basil from my garden. I started sewing an apron for my son for Christmas in his favorite color, using duck cloth that I already had on hand. I ordered a couple of Christmas gifts on sale for a daughter. I combined that order with…
Hello everyone! My pause from blogging ended up being a lot longer than I planned. Among other things, I was able to finish several major repairs to the irrigation (including building all new valve boxes in some of my older valve boxes) in my garden with my father’s help. This was of utmost importance, and…
See you all after the holidays!
I harvested eggplant, red noodle beans, and cucumbers from my garden. The children and I attended the wedding of a close friend in another state. The wedding was near where my eldest lives, so we stayed with her and got to visit. Traveling is expensive, so making trips often is cost-prohibitive. However, since I had…
I harvested Metki and Indian Snake cucumbers from the garden. I harvested a zucchini and used it to make a zucchini cake. I read an e-book from the library called The Great Divide, a historical fiction piece about the building of the Panama Canal. I limited my trips and combined errands whenever possible. I canned…
I harvested Armenian cucumbers, a Metki cucumber, red noodle beans, basil, a small eggplant, and garlic chives from the garden. I found a new YouTube channel for learning Urdu that I started following. I don’t really have time to watch videos, but I have found that I can listen early in the morning while watering…
It’s been an expensive (and busy) last several weeks! I needed to replace three daughters’ wardrobes and personal items almost completely after they lost them all in the boat fire that they were in. We did find some deals on some items and for now, we have held off on replacing their sleeping bags. We…