I picked peaches, Mission figs, Bartlett pears, grapes, and apples from the garden this week. We enjoyed some mushrooms that a friend gave to me (she received them in her CSA and she doesn’t like mushrooms). I took some photos of the children. I found a free online typing instruction course for Winter to use…
Every so often, we redo the chore assignments in our house. Changing things out is good for everyone: children learn new skills, and the boredom that sets in from doing the same chore can be relieved by doing a different chore. We usually change chores every 6 months, but it has been quite a while…
Most of my accomplishments last week centered around helping the children with their schoolwork and chores. Nevertheless, I did manage to do some things to save money: We played outside in the backyard. As our humidity continued, I was able to collect 15-20 quarts of water a day from the runoff of the air conditioner….
Last week we had a huge makeover to the chore assignments. I spent some time instructing children how to do new-to-them chores. I ended up doing a task that I had planned to do sometime in the coming weeks (I cleaned out the shed) but the temperature dropped dramatically on Saturday, which made it ideal to…
The heat has been intense; it was 118º for over 10 days right after the garden was planted. After that it cooled to 110º. Several plants are dealing with sunscald, and several roses are dead (as well as a few euyonomous bushes). The others are struggling. I hesitate to replace anything yet because it will…
I spent a lot of time canning last week, and that took priority over everything else.. Friday and Saturday I watched a free online food photography class on Creative Live. For some strange reason my flash player wasn’t working (so I missed part of the class) and I ended up having to watch it on…
Shirt: Free hand-me down in like new condition, given as a birthday gift; shorts bought on clearance last year. In the background is our Early Elberta peach tree, from which we are still picking My husband cut my hair on Sunday morning. We had to replace our dishwasher this week. I compared models online and…
If you have a garden space, are you using it to the best advantage possible? I have a .24 acre lot. Most of my garden is behind the house. In that space, up until January of this year, I had 35 fruit trees, most of which are semi-dwarf varieties, and 40% of which are espaliered…
One of the most frequently asked questions in my inbox is, “What do you use for sandwich bread?” The answer is simple: I use French bread. I sometimes will make baguettes and have sandwiches like I did in France: ham, cheese, and mustard on bread. More often, though, I’ll slice the bread, and just use…
Seeded grapes from our garden My husband and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this week. I made us a late dinner for just the two of us. We had homemade tamales. I used the corn husks from the corn I bought on sale last week. I also used pork shoulder roast that I had bought…
I’ve known Cyrus’ birthday was coming but now I feel as though it has snuck up on me! I made a change to last week’s goals as part of it with a sewing project on Saturday, and I’ll have plans today for it as well, since his birthday is tomorrow! Here’s how I did last…
It’s July now, which means back to school sales are starting on school supplies in the United States. While most people know that they have a once a year shot to get the best prices on school supplies and now is the time to stock up on those items, what many of us aren’t willing…