I spent many, many hours up late each night this week canning. I am grateful to my mother-in-law for teaching me the basics of canning. I had a newborn at the time (my second baby) and she came to my house and taught me to can peaches. With lots going on during the day (and another…
I collected eggs from my friend’s chickens and picked cucumbers, a few green beans, and tomatoes from her garden. I canned a batch of dill pickles from the cucumbers. I harvested grapes, tomatoes, oregano, basil, and figs from my garden. In the garden, I sowed seeds for red noodle beans, red zinnias, white zinnias, Genovese…
It was really wonderful to hear from so many readers this past week in the comments! So many of you have been reading for years and I didn’t know who you were. I loved reading your frugal accomplishments and was very, very touched to hear how much my site has helped so many of you…
This post contains affiliate and referral links. Ten years ago, I sat at my computer and started creating this website. My plan was to create menus and recipes for those who were living, like us, from their food storage and garden. At the time, we had been living on our food storage for over…
My son and I repaired a leak in the garden. I signed up for a free online mini-class. I used a $15 off coupon at Joann fabrics on top of purchasing items on sale. I collected shower-warm-up water and used it to water potted plants in the garden. We picked blackberries and apricots from the…
I cut flowers from the garden. I cut rosemary and Swiss chard from the garden. We picked blackberries, apricots, lemons, and figs from the garden. I had my son spray for bugs. Spraying the outside of the house rather than having a bug service saves us hundreds of dollars every year. We watched children’s shows on…
I harvested Mission figs, Royal apricots, Meyer lemons, peppermint, green onions, New Zealand spinach, Swiss chard, hibiscus flowers, and blackberries from the garden. I worked in the garden, weeding and sowing seeds for sunflowers, Armenian cucumbers, Genovese basil, and vincas. I collected green onion seeds from my green onion flowers and planted a new…
This post contains an affiliate link. I cut flowers from the garden. We harvested Katy apricots, blackberries, chocolate mint, peppermint, chamomile, green onions, and Mission figs from the garden. I planted seeds for Dark Opal basil and Armenian cucumbers in the garden. I received an email advertising a discount for season tickets for the Philharmonic….
This post contains affiliate links. I mended seven leaks in the drip irrigation. I had accidentally cut these last year when pruning hedges. I planted seeds for Armenian cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, and Thai basil in the garden. I harvested apricots, lemons, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, green onions, garlic chives, oregano, parsley, and chocolate mint from the…
This post contains affiliate links. I have been behind in my work in the garden, but now that the baby is here, I am working to get caught up. Consequently, most of my money saving activities this week involved the garden. Two weeks ago, I was speaking with the irrigation person at the local…
I harvested lemons, lettuce, garlic chives, oregano, spinach, and a couple of apricots from the garden. I cooked chicken in my solar oven, which not only didn’t use gas, but it also kept the house cooler. We celebrated a birthday at home for my 2-year-old with homemade cupcakes. My son picked more mulberries from our…
For those who missed the announcement on Instagram, I had a baby boy on Friday, April 27th. I’ll be sharing photos and details in an upcoming post. We’re still deciding on a name for this baby. We enjoyed some rain on May first and second, which is rather unusual here–especially in May! I turned off…