Frugal Friday including eating from the pantry

It's been a very frugal week...that's great because there was no extra money for anything including groceries for this week. Glad I have already planned to eat from the pantry this month.

We had an early dinner today, Hubby's work for tonight got cancelled (OUCH) so he ran the snow blower in the lane since they are forecasting 4-8 and winds for here this weekend.

I know how he would come in, get warm and then pass out( he works graveyard) until 2-3 am so I fixed bacon, eggs, leftover home fries and toast . If either of us gets hungry later we can have leftover pork roast sandwiches or cheese and crackers.

Today I processed in the pressure canner 14 pints and 6 quarts of different broths from carcass and bones given to us , 3 pints of apple butter (apples given to us this fall) and 2 pints of homemade BBQ sauce using my own red sauce as the base. I am now out of quart jars and down to 8 pints and 24 1/2 pints (jelly jars) left to can in.

Hubby used some Gorilla tape to tape the hole in the top of my barn (rubber) boots, hopefully they will last until late spring.

THEN Hubby used the same tape to tape my jacket back together after the pup got his nails caught in to the fabric. It's a very old jacket, was my son's and its cracking in places but I was hoping to make it last through this winter as my other jacket has zipper issues that I haven't been able to fix.Either it doesn't want to zip, or it zips and I can't get back out of it without pulling it over my head.

Hubby has finally gotten in the habit of turning off the power strip to the TV and computer after turning them off. Our electrician talked to him about ghost power and batteries that still use power even though the item is off. I marked it on our calendar when I started turning it off (which was every night) and our electric dropped almost $20.

We sent in a rebate that Hubby usually just pitches and doesn't bother to give to me. But he realized that even though it wasn't for very much it could add up and with spring coming I would need every little bit of extra money to buy for the gardens. I do collect some of my seeds but haven't done as well as I would like to. I think I have a black thumb to my shoulder :(

I need to go watch the local weather on TV even though I am already prepared for bad weather, I like to take the dogs out a bit more before it actually hits so their cabin fever doesn't get so bad.

Blessed Be

Jan 2nd 2014 Blistery cold out

with the wind chills hitting 15 below here on this farm out in the boonies. The pup was wanting to go out and play more than our older dog or I was willing so he got hyper on me, took him out to play ball (we call it 10 because I throw it 10 times) and at 6 he wanted back in...reminded me of all the times I bundles the kids up to go out and with in less minutes that it took to dress them they would come back in and be done playing out side.

 Hubby had some issues getting the Ford out of the garage, but that was the worst part of our lane which is 1/5 of a mile long. Up around the house with all the barns and buildings around the garage usually is the worse.

We ate from the pantry today...actually we ate from my son's pantry, he gave us some of his canned goods when he moved in with his lady;and we ate from my mother's pantry that my brother and I split between us when she died and our own pantry. Hubby had beef and potato soup and grilled lunch meat and cheese sandwich, I had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. He took leftovers from last night's meal for his lunch. He usually does take leftovers for his lunch anyways.

I wrote out what I want to plant this year. I would like to try for a 4 season garden but trying to keep a hoop house over any of the gardens out here in this wind is hard. I will have to think about it some more. Next I will sort through what seeds I have and figure out what I need to buy.

Going to flip a coin to see if I am sleeping in the bed tonight or on the couch, the wind is sucking the heat pretty much out of the bedroom tonight.

Good night

Blessed Be

Happy New Year ..Eating from the pantry challenges

I hope everyone has the best year they have ever had in this coming year.

Jessica Fisher over at goodcheapeats.com

and

Mary Ostyn over at owlhaven.net

are both having pantry challenges which I will be doing also.

When I started before, I got sidetracked with my health and frankly got in a rut. I figured out at that time there are times I work (in the home) right up to the time of supper and then don't want to fix what is chosen because of the time it takes to put on the table.

So Hubby and I sat down and came up with what we call our fast food menu to keep us from going out or running in to town (wasting gas also) for something. We came up with 12 meals that even he could fix and not be grumpy about doing. He is a fix it in one skillet and eat out of the skillet type of guy.

To start off we have decided on $400 a month for food. This does NOT include our non-food.

We decided that meat must be below certain costs and listed those prices.

We took a good look at what we are eating from the harvest that is in the pantry to know what we need to plant this coming year.

I need to go back to bread baking. I try to stay away from preservatives and have gotten lazy about my baking. My health has taken the hit from that lazy time.

We found a great sale of meat last week and filled the freezer back up.

Last night we had ribs,black eyed peas and raw collard greens (YUCK) but I ate them anyways.

Tonight we are having pork roast, kraut and mashed potatoes.

I need all the luck and blessings I can get.

Blessed be

Happy Birthday Jesus

and Merry Christmas to all.

The First week of December

We have eaten at home every day, leftovers from Thanksgiving mostly that I had put in the freezer for future meals

 I finally broke down and fixed pork chops in the crock pot with a honey garlic ginger sauce just to have something different yesterday.

Tonight I used some of the sausage that I had cooked,bagged and froze, on top of 2 pizza crusts that didn't get used at Thanksgiving, added a chef salad that I made to round out the meal.

Fixed a sausage french toast casserole for tomorrow as it needs to sit over night in the frig. Probably will have it for breakfast or dinner depending on if we eat the 2nd pizza for breakfast or dinner.

I plan to pull out the last rib roast from the deep freezer and a box of the pie dough to see if I can make some cookies from it.Got a few recipes from the internet but not sure they would pass with my crew.

I decorated the front room tree today. Have the dining room left to clean and decorate tomorrow and then start upstairs on Tuesday.

Monday is kitchen day along with laundry. I am working on Christmas presents, Christmas cards and cookies and candy for the kids and grandkids besides decorating the dining room.

We talked about our eating from the pantry and buying less at the store. I want to save up some money to buy garden items, seeds and plants this spring which is only a couple months away as I cover a couple of my square foot gardens with hoop houses and plant early.We were trying to decide what amount to spend and on what.

I will have to think about that a bit longer, check out some others that have done the same thing also.

Everyone stay safe, stay warm and Blessings on you and yours.

It's Thursday, Thursday is our errand day or at least the morning is. This is how the dogs are after we get home. They don't help unload or put away. HA HA. The one on the left is Kira (not our daughter and no, we did not name her , she was five when we got her so felt she should keep her name).She is a black lab retriever.The "pup" on the right is Rascal (because he is a rascal).We adopted him when he was six weeks old, he will be two in March and he is an Australian cattle dog(blue heeler)/ Australian shepherd mix. He is my ball player and she is the one I walk the perimeter with. The only thing she plays with besides the chew bones you see between them is empty coke bottles even if she has to empty them herself.

We went to pick up the snow blower that had to be fixed, maybe we won't get that bad of a storm that they are forecasting for us since it is fixed so I can start it.

Then it was off to the post office, then the bank, the Joann's for yarn to finish some Christmas gifts and then ....

The grocery shopping. I shopped for the rest of the month except for meat that will go on sale....stay with me.

I bought milk,heavy cream,half and half , buttermilk (yes we use all of them) the season's coffee creamer (my present to myself otherwise Hubby spends a couple bucks once a week to get me a cup at the local gas station and I can spend a couple bucks and have it all month), apples for Hubby's lunch, coffee beans for Hubby, bread (because I have been baking daily for Operation Thank You to send cookies to our deployed soldiers and will start baking for the family) tea for me (Can't drink coffee when my Crohn's is acting up), eggs, salad items,potatoes, sweet potatoes,bananas, pomegranates  and that is basically all I have been picking up for us. I check the non food items and fill in as needed. I try to make those last 2 mos since I do have the space to store it...like under my bed,couch, love seat etc.

On the other hand...cookie and candy ingredients were the main items on the grocery list today for the family and friends. AND I am able to buy that much (think 3 coolers full of brown sugar, xxx sugar, choc chips of different kinds, peanut butter and butter etc. I already have over 50 lbs of flour and 25 lbs of sugar in the pantry) because I grew canned, froze and stored the garden, I "gleaned" from anyone that had produce to give away and I shop the sales on meat (usually, not always but usually).I vacuum pack anything that goes in the two deep freezers.I boil any meat bones for broth, I boil veggie peelings (I was the veggies before I peel them ) for broth. I render "lard" from any of my fats from my meats. I use my leftovers in other dishes or soups.

I just mentioned to one of the kids that they needed to get their self a deep freezer. Turkeys and hams are on sale and when else can you get meat for less than a dollar a pound? Pork roasts and pork loins will be coming on sale. I use the loin to cut boneless pork chops from along with lean roasts. I will pay the price (after calling around and shopping for the lowest price) for Rib roast. I order a twelve rib roast. I cut it myself , four ribs for Christmas Eve and then rest as two bones and vacuum seal them for the rest of the year.

Tea time...Blessed Be

Sorry I went into Thanksgiving mode

We still ate from the pantry most night until .....I went into Thanksgiving cooking mode. See I make homemade beef and noodles and homemade turkey noodles for the family (usually at least around 40). So about ten days out from when we have our meal (the Sunday before Tday) I start a turkey for the turkey noodles. On that day we have turkey and the next day we have turkey noodles for dinner. The following day is beef roast...same routine, beef roast that night , beef and noodles the next. By that time I am baking breads,cakes and stuff that I am no longer cooking dinner. It becomes what ever leftover has been shoved in frig, freezer or soup from the pantry.

After our Thanksgiving dinner, I make a list of the leftovers and what I can make from them since I will be making candy and baking cookies for the Deployed troops  and the kids...BUT this year we had Thanksgiving at our oldest daughter and one of the other daughter's had friends that wasn't going to have much of a meal if any...so we didn't bring home many leftovers.In fact I even complained to my daughter because when she took the meat off her turkey carcass she threw it away instead of saving it for me to make broth..no extra noodles for her.

In that respect. Hubby wanted a turkey wrapped in bacon for today...Okay, I will let you know how that one goes.

I have bought turkey and ham for the freezers. Finding meat for less than a DOLLAR a pound is few and far between and when I do I stuff the freezer.

Have a great Thanksgiving .

Blessed be

Frugal accomplishments

It's Nov. Money is tight between the higher utilities and the holidays coming up. Add to that my medical bills from this last hospital stay.

Since I had already filled the pantry for eating from it through this winter, that is in good shape. Will have to buy meat for the holiday meals and a few odds and ends but that bill will be well below the budgeted amt for the groceries.

Mean time I have harvested the last of the lettuce from the garden and some of the horseradish. I still have apples and pumpkins in storage to process but they are holding very well. I did the last of the red tomatoes in the oven for slow roasted tomatoes for this winter. I have a few green roma's that look to be turning red before Tday. I wished they would last to then but probably won't.

I started my writing with National Novel Writing month over at www.nanowrimo.org

I mended a couple shirts and a skirt

I checked through last year's left overs for Christmas gifts to try to use up those crafts.

I started working on this year's Christmas gifts. Goal is to be done  wrapping presents and decoration on Dec 1st. so I can sit on my butt and relax or go visit others and sit on my butt there.

May you and yours be well and healthy through this season.

Blessed be

Eating from the Pantry and just out of the hopsital

SIGH...the best laid plans of mice and men....

Get kicked to the curb when my Crohn's hits. Went in Oct 24th  and 4 am until Oct 27th at noon. Still not recovered but everyday is better even with adding that I threw my shoulder and neck out being sick with the Crohn's.

As from eating from the pantry

Oct 23rd we had fish,gnocchi,zucchini fritters, southern style black eye peas and pumpkin crunch. My last good meal. HA HA

Oct 24th until Oct 31 Hubby has done his best of pulling things out of the pantry for himself and fixing his dinner and lunch for work. He didn't tell me what he was eating since I still wasn't to the stage of eating anything myself. Jello anyone?

Nov 1st was the first "regular" food meal I could eat plus it was the beginning of  National Novel writing month  over at Nanowrimo.org In celebration we had smoke ribs and pasta salad from Davis meats....and all was well except for the shoulder and neck that is SLOWLY going back in to place and calming down.

Nov 2nd we had pasta with meat and veggie sauce.

Today Nov 3rd we are having sweet and sour pork with mushrooms and pineapple over rice.

Blessed be Juls

Oct 22 Menu update, still harvesting

I am still harvesting from the gardens. We had to cover some due to the frost that hit this morning. Dodged it a couple times before it got us. I checked it seemed everything was okay for a few more days if not longer.

My mudroom is full of apples,red and green tomatoes(granddaughter helped me clear the tomato gardens on Friday),jalapeno peppers (2-5 gal buckets left to do) bell peppers and potatoes.

At this time of year I get tired of the harvest and what to throw up my hands and quit....BUT come Thanksgiving when I pull the dinner mostly from the pantry I sing praises of the blessings....I remind myself of that when I get grumpy.

As from eating from the pantry.

Sunday 10/13 123 pantry

Monday 10/14 a casserole

Tuesday 10/15 We went to the Inn Between Tavern

Wednesday 10/16 we ate leftovers from the Inn Between Tavern

Thursday 10/17 Little Caesar's Pizza because we had the grandkids over night

Friday 10/18 we had leftover from the pizza the night before. The rest was stuck in the freezer.

Saturday 10/19 we had chuck roast marinaded in balsmatic vinegar,rice,cooked carrots,mushrooms,onion,and bell peppers.

Sunday 10/20 sausage gravy, Texas toast bread and mashed potatoes

Monday 10/21 pork chops,mashed potato patties, and corn.

Tuesday 10/22 (tonight) Beef stir fry, rice, egg rolls, and pot stickers.

Got to get back to the harvest...have a great one

Blessed be

Eating from the Pantry

We haven't done as well as I had planned with eating from the pantry. Part of it is lack of planning for the work load of the day and the other is I am still sick, now down graded from bronchitis to viral infection.

Last Sunday we had rib roast,carrots,potatoes and watermelon

Monday we had homemade pizza because I found more crusts in the deep freezer and needed it out of the way.

Tuesday we ate at our local favorite place.Inn Between tavern and got their fried fish special with onion chips (like onion rings) and cole slaw.

Wednesday was Hubby's birthday so I pulled out rib eye steak from the deep freezer and added baked sweet potato and steamed some cauliflower,broccoli and carrots to make California blend veggies that is his favorite veggie.

Thursday we went to the store and ran errands. We got all that we needed (3 things) and then got what we wanted and still came in under budget for the next 2 wks. I fixed sausage patties and French toast for dinner

Friday I made Cinncy chili ...that is chili on top of pasta. I used up some of the Ramen noodles.

Last night was Subway subs. I had worked on fall cleaning all day and Hubby was at a HAM radio class.So he picked it up on the way home.

Have a Blessed Day

Saturday Rainy and cold and eating from the pantry

It's raining and it's cold. That weather report doesn't mean a thing to the pup that thinks I still need to go outside and play ball with him. So instead I propped open the door and tossed the ball out across the front porch while I caught up on my email here at the desk. Yes I know I am being lazy. Our older dog understand rainy and cold days mean stay in where it's warm and dry.

I was suppose to go down to our son's today to help move somethings around for him with Hubby but I have a fever and a cough...again. So stayed here. Didn't think anyone would appreciate me passing to them...again.

We are eating from the pantry.Have shared our bounty with 2 of the kids that are out of work.One starts work Monday and the other one is waiting on the Gov't to get it's act together.

I went to the store on Thursday, our normal errand day. It felt weird to go into the store, not get a cart or buggy (depending on which state I am in ) and only pick up a gallon of milk and 8 lbs of sugar for jelly and jam making. Hubby asked if we were allowed to only get that much.  I spent the rest of the "grocery" money on canning jars which once again I was out of.

I fixed pork chops, mashed potatoes,corn, baked apple with maple syrup and had cottage cheese and apple butter on Oct 1st.

I reheated the turkey and dumplings on the 2nd.

On the 3rd I made mashed potato cakes out of the leftover mashed potatoes, and fried green tomatoes out of the garden and served it with leftover pork chops and the last of the baked apples.

On the 4th we had nachos...neither of us was hungry after a big lunch due to fasting for blood work that morning. It was a quick and simple meal to put together and plenty for both of us.

Tonight I am thinking pizza.

I ran across a recipe for Indian Lentil soup on Mary Ostyn's blog at http://www.owlhaven.net/2013/10/04/pinteresting/

I think I will  have the soup tomorrow with homemade bread to go along with the homemade jam I just made.

Are you eating from your pantry?

Have a Blessed Day

Started early

That's what I get for saying something to Hubby about starting to eat from the pantry Oct 1st instead of Jan 1st.

His response was "can you start tonight?"

I pulled some leftover turkey pieces from the deep freezer, diced that up and added to it diced onions,diced celery, diced carrots and diced garlic. Sauteed that for a little bit to soften the veggies. Added broth and milk. Let it get hot again then added frozen peas and the dumpling dough I made from the Bisquick( which I realized I was low on). Served applesauce on the side and called it done. I drew a star on the date on the calendar and thought one down.

Tonight is cubed steak. But since there is only 3 small ones and I know that's not enough for our dinner and Hubby's lunch I am slicing it in strips and cooking sliced onions and mushrooms to add to it. I will serve it on what ever bread I have. I will serve with it a tossed salad loaded with veggies and french fries that are in the freezer,cottage cheese that Hubby will eat with apple butter on and I will drink a V8 fusion. I will make a Waldorf salad but use crunchy peanut butter instead of mayo as that it Hubby's preference. Another star on the calendar.

I have 4 more trays in the new dehydrator of ripe tomatoes and  4 trays of bell peppers in the old dehydrator. I don't think there is going to be any more bell peppers out of the garden.

The square foot gardens are pretty much done and ready to be prepped for winter. That leaves the 2 tomato patches, if I can call a garden that has 120 tomato plants in it a patch, yet to wrap up. Tomatoes are still okay there so I might have to cover them if we get a frost any time soon. That only leaves the horseradish left to dig up after the first frost.

Have a Blessed Day. Talk to you tomorrow

Oct 1st. Eating from the Pantry

I am still putting up (old timers term) the harvest but instead of waiting until Jan to start eating out of the pantry for the most part. I decided to start Oct 1st.

My goals are as following:

to make more room for what is still coming in, including turkeys and hams

to use food up so it doesn't go to waste ...after clearing my mother's pantry and having to throw the majority of it out it broke my heart because I know if she had been in a different state of mind she would have been feeding others with it.

to cut the budget as low as possible to finish paying off some of the bills. We have several medical bills right now due to my sickness and shoulder/arm injury along with back taxes and 2 loans. The last loan due to be paid off Jan 2017 and I am aiming to pay it off in 2015.


SO I also decided to hold my self accountable so I will post on here what we are eating and when we buy something what it will be.

Thankfully the weather is cooler now because this requires me to bake the bread for toast and meals.

Blessed be

Sept and still canning

My son calls me almost daily on his drive to work to make sure I am doing okay. Then he calls me at lunch time and see how I feel and what I have been doing that day and what else will I be doing and then on his way home he calls to see how it went and what I fixed his dad and me for dinner..for the last couple months the answer has been .I am in the tomatoes and I am canning tomatoes in some form.Tomatoes has been on the table in some way pretty every night.

At the beginning of the season I had one of these every day or no later than a day and half. then it was every other day, then every third day. It's been 5 days since the last load. The weather has turned unusually cool for us and this time of year. The tomatoes aren't turning red as fast but I am still pretty well loaded with green tomatoes. Guess fried green tomatoes are going to start being on the table a lot also.

On Monday during my son's lunch call he was silent for a few minutes when I told him we had went to the produce auction and then stopped at a farmer's market on the way home. I could tell he hated to ask what we picked up but just couldn't help himself.Probably so he knows what to tell his sisters so they know what food they can ask for later.

I got mushrooms (dried and canned them), pluots (dried and canned them),bananas (dried and canned them ),butternut squash (still to do),cabbage ( made jarred kraut for the first time),acorn squash,(still to do)pumpkins (roasted, pureed and then dried), delicata squash (fresh eating), spag squash( fresh eating),winter onions ( hanging in nylons),4 bushels of different types of apples( still to do ) and 50 lbs of potatoes( still to do). Yes I still have tomatoes coming in. I even asked a friend if he had chili peppers that I could have to make more salsa.

The freezers are full. The pantry is almost out of shelf space. Will be long before I finish for this season. I have started dehydrating things I normally can such as pumpkin just to have room for other things.I got the chili soup made and canned but not the veggie beef soup.I haven't made my dried noodles either.That's also on the to do list.

I have tried to keep the grocery budget at less than $300 but the canning supplies is coming out of the grocery budget like it was a over flowing river breaking through the damn. Hubby has even taken to buying supplies for me out of the overtime he has gotten off and on.

We know if things turn bad like they did a couple years back , that the food I put up (ha ha old term ) is money in the bank for us and our adult kids . I am becoming my grandpa more and more each year.If he didn't grow it,hunt it, fish it,barter it or raise it , he didn't eat it. We don't hunt or fish (hubby drowns plastic worms) and I will buy meat and some other things but most in the pantry is home grown.

I need to go check the canner and the dehydrator.

Blessed be

Grocery budget and the harvest

There are some things that didn't do well this year so we bought them at the produce auction that is ran by some Amish in our area.. What is coming in from the garden right now is tomatoes...I worry I won't get enough and will have to buy sauces and such again this year and green beans. These seems to be doing good plus I just put in some more for fall.The only thing besides tomatoes that it looks like I am not going to have enough of is cabbage and winter squash. I didn't get much zucchini, what can I say besides I never do and I must be the only person in the world that can't grow zucchini. I am blessed with a friend that does very well with 2 plants so he shared his zucchini and what beets he didn't want to deal with.

Still with the garden coming in I have blew the grocery budget through the summer. I was checking the blogs I read and saw where Mary over at www.owlhaven.net is having a grocery challenge of getting back on track and saving some money herself so I joined in. Everything is easier if I am held accountable and have "friends" doing the same thing.

My goal for food and non-food is $200 for the money. It's usually $350 but the last few months it's crept up to $600 with eating out also. We have a cookout this month with our family that we provide the meat and some of the sides so that is included in that $200.

We have 6 debts to finish paying off. Goal is set to be debt free (we rent because we live where hubby works not where our families are so we didn't want to buy since he is close to retirement) by Jan 2017, I would like to cut 2 yrs off that which means I have to stay on budget and I have to roll what I pay on the other debts on to the next debt as they get paid off. Kind of like snowballing.We will have 2 paid off  by the end of this year and 3 paid off by fall of next year.

It's going to be interesting to see if I can bring the grocery bill down and put that money towards getting that debt paid off faster.

Have a good week.

Blessed be

chicken with no head

this is just a small amount of the plants I have put in since spring. In fact I have put in over 250 tomato plants, 150 bell pepper plants, and 240 onions along with several other is just the tip of the ice burg...then I went to a produce auction and got more...then a friend was over ran with beets and I got those....sigh...best description of me right now is a chicken running around without their head.

For right now, 2 deep freezers and both freezers to refrigerators are full to the brim. I am out of shelf room in the pantry with this last round of canning tomatoes.I will have to start storing canning under the bed, in closets etc. I don't stop putting up just because I am being over ran. I figure there are good years and then there are bad years with the garden(like last year and tomatoes) so it just gets shoved some where.I still need more tomatoes (fingers crossed that I will get them from my own garden), green beans (which are growing but not producing) and cabbage. I will probably buy the cabbage at the produce auction. I plan to make kraut this year as we eat it regularly.

I have changed our "diet"to be closer to the Mediterranean diet to try to get my cholesterol in control as I can't take statins and  my insurance doesn't cover Zetia.

I am so far behind I thought I was first seems to have become my motto.

Meantime, two of the kids moved and needed our help as we have the trailer, one went to AT for military and I stayed at their place and babysat my four legged grandchildren.Then we got notice we might have to move and then after a frantic couple of weeks was told that wasn't going to happen.SIGH.

I hurt my shoulder to the point I have had physical therapy and now have an appointment with the specialist.

So today I am sitting down and setting goals of what I need to get done and what I want to get done before the snow flies or worse surgery on the shoulder.

We are tightening the budget to save more as we realized just how much it would cost for us to move into something that would suit us with our lifestyle.

I best get at it...have a Blessed Day

Over ran by life

or just kicked in the rear end...take your pick.

I picked these old boots up at an produce auction while getting my 250 tomato plants,144 cabbage, 144 cauliflower, 96 broccoli, 96 bell peppers and lots more. I have more than 1000 plants in my gardens not counting the seeds I planted...please do not even try to think of what I thinking of because I have claimed insanity already.

The best thing I can say...it took me 2 months to get it all in ground...and this week I have been harvesting tomatoes and several root veggies. The pantry is cleaned and ready for the new harvest when it starts burying me.Hubby and the kids have decided that if  I am missing that I must be buried alive in the garden and to look for the pup as he is usually with me wanting me to toss the ball for him.Guess they think a large dog jumping up and down would be easier to find than an old woman collapsed in exhaustion.

I will add that my Dad told me they planted 200 tomato plants a year and always ran out before the next harvest.That made me feel better about myself. That was part of what was in my mind. I ran out of tomatoes last December and had to buy canned tomatoes. BUT reality is that I got wrapped out in the bidding and it didn't register that a flat wasn't necessarily 12 or 15 but sometimes 48.

Now I have to take care of all these wonderful plants that will feed us and most likely our kids and their families.

I have started watching Alaska the Last Frontier, it helps with motivation...HA HA.

Enjoy and Blessed Be

3 more days and I will be home

From the sounds of the weather at home it would have drove me crazy , warm, cold, snow, rain etc...Hubby even said "you won't be able to get in the garden because it will be too muddy when you get home" which I came back with "that's why we have square foot gardens also." At least this year I won't be making him add more square foot gardens.

I have enjoyed work, enjoyed seeing old friends, enjoyed the warmer weather even though it's cooler than normal in this area, enjoyed paying off a couple bills...but I am so ready to get back home and get to work there.

I did use my down time here for catching up on some reading and starting the inventory for my pantry and reworking our budget. I was able to visualize in my head the shelves in the pantry (now I think just how huge our pantry is) and write out what items was there, should be easier to count them when I get home. I know I missed some things... condiments and spices/herbs...I have over 100 spices and herbs.

Got to get started on the spring cleaning, (warm weather for using clothes line YES!!!) and repairing and redoing the outside furniture.

Planting flowers,herbs and hundreds of veggies. Yes hundreds because I will have over 100 of various tomato plants besides the other plants. I can my own red sauce,bolognese sauce,red sauce with veggies,and pizza sauce. I might do salsa this year also since we do eat enough of it.Not touching diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with seasonings, stewed tomatoes. I don't make tomato juice until I have enough of the other tomatoes needed done.

I need to really "clean" the pantry while inventorying it so I can see how much room and empty jars I have for this year's produce. I most likely will need more jars, I usually do.

I am going back to baking, I had stopped after Christmas except for cookies for Operation Thank You but since we decided to rework the budget to get a couple more large debts paid off in the next year. The grocery budget(food, non food, personal items, pets, and office supplies) took the hit.

Going to try drying greens this year. Haven't really heard of doing it before last winter, something new. But then I have had a  lot of people that have never heard of leather britches (greasy cut short green bean dried on a string. Will do a post later on it.)including my parents that were upset that they were tossing food they could have been eating,they made shelly beans (like dried beans) out of them and tossed the rest in the compost pile.I reminded them at least they composted it but it's hard to think of that when you know there was times you went hungry. Mother was sad that she had never learned to make broth from meat let alone from vegetable peels like I do.

Dad taught me the basics of cooking, the rest I picked up from others as I became an adult. Still learning each day something new in the culinary world which is probably why I enjoy my career as a Personal Chef even after all these years of working in the food industry.

Going to go "play" with my garden designs...even though I know I will change them when I plant them.

Blessed Be

Prayers for Boston and all those affected

We are praying for those in Boston and all those that are affected. We have a friend that has a friend that was there and their family hasn't been able to reach him so far.

Blessed be