1. Eat more meatless meals “But my husband won’t eat meatless meals!” you say. If he isn’t bringing home the bacon, you can’t cook it. I know that sounds harsh, and it isn’t meant to be. I’ve talked with a lot of women who say that they drastically have to cut their food budget, and…
I picked blackberries from the garden. I also cut Swiss chard and green onions from the garden this week. I harvested 2 small Early Girl tomatoes. They are already quite small because of the intense heat. Usually they are bigger at this time of year, so I don’t know if my other ones will be…
During 2011 and 2012, I needed to keep our grocery budget down to $100 a month for our family of eight (which became nine in 2012). Some months I had nothing at all to spend, some months I only had $10 to spend, and other months I could spend $200, but when averaged throughout the…
I cut roses and larkspur from the garden and brought them in. I made a blue skirt for Wren using fabric from my grandmother’s stash. I gave Elsa a haircut. I bobbed her hair. I picked peaches from our tree. I also harvested the first of the blackberries, Swiss chard, bolted lettuce, green onions, sugar…
We picked peaches from our Desert Gold peach tree. This is a low chill tree that is the second tree to ripen in my garden in the spring (the first is the Dorsett Gold Apple, which will ripen in another 6 weeks or so. My other peach tree, an Early Elberta, ripens in late July)….
Before we started We are making progress on the front yard. We waited a long time for the HOA to approve everything, and once they did, we got started right away. So far it’s been a lot of moving dirt. The tree and bushes were chopped up and taken to the dump in…
Swiss chard from the garden Last week, I made cranberry almond granola, bean burritos, Tuscan Tomato bread soup, lemon poppyseed muffins, French bread, chicken flavored rice, turnip gratin, Swiss chard soup, pasta salad, and Italian dressing. I cooked a chicken and we had chicken for one meal, then I used some in creamy chicken enchiladas…
Mother’s Day 2012 Many years ago, we had some fantastic family pictures taken. I loved them, and we ended up choosing a whole lot of them to have printed. When the total came, however, I turned to my husband and said, “I could have bought a camera for that.” At the time I only owned a…
I picked lettuce, Swiss chard, green onions, snow peas, strawberries, and chives from the garden this week. I made several green salads, and I made a fig vinaigrette dressing with home-canned fig jam. I wasn’t planning on grocery shopping this week, but I found out about some amazing deals on Monday. I bought split (bone-in)…
Graham Thomas roses cut from my garden yesterday Mother’s Day falls in May for at least three countries (the United States, France, and Italy) and probably many more. It’s not the same day for any of those countries (as I learned as a missionary in France with both an Italian companion and a French companion…
Larkspur and stock from the garden I cut flowers from the garden and brought them in to enjoy on my table. I printed up seed packets so that I could share extra seeds with a friend. I spent time playing in the backyard with my four youngest daughters, pushing them on our swings (which are…
Yellow mustard seed from my pantry in bloom in the shade The garden is growing nicely right now. I’m really enjoying all of the lettuce that I’ve been growing. Some things are bolting in the garden right now (spinach, radishes, mustard, Swiss chard and some of the lettuces), and I’m hoping to collect seeds from all…