Spending the day with 4 Amish ladies

I played taxi driver for my neighbor and 3 of her cousins. Their driver had cancelled on them due to flu and they had appts...chiro and massage appts with a stop at Aldi's on the way back. They are going 50 miles to have these appts as that is the only lady chiro in the area. I enjoyed the time even though I really need to learn German as they would forget and get to talking in German, they try to be respectfully of speaking English around Englishers.  We were gone from 10:30 to almost 5 pm.

We talked about being frugal...which they don't call it that, to them it's respecting their resources. We talked about getting meals on the table quickly and when it's already been a long day of child care, laundry in wringer washers and clothes lines and gardens with preserving the harvest. We talked about routines. We talked about getting it done and still having time to rest.

I'll start with meals as I know my neighbor's husband is a meat eater... he has made that comment several times that he wants meat at all 3 meals and he makes sure he provides meat so his wife can put it on the table. All the husbands AND boys take care of chores..aka feeding and watering animals BEFORE breakfast which is usually served around 7 am. Wives and daughters gather eggs. (Because I asked what happens if you have no sons or no daughters...then it's the oldest child does chores and the second oldest does eggs.)

Breakfast might be oatmeal or homemade granola with canned fruit and an egg or like "meat eater" have sausage with it. Very little bacon is used as it's not something pigs produce a lot of.

Lunch is at noon pretty much across the board, or 1 pm during day light saving time as they don't do that time change. It's canned meat, canned potatoes, canned veggies or fresh from the gardens and some kind of dessert. Dinner or I should say supper as it's at 6 or 7 pm AFTER chores is the same as lunch...NOTICE CANNED MEAT and CANNED POTATOES. Casseroles are very common, Soups are common year around especially on laundry day but steak, pork chops, meatloaf isn't. With canned meat and canned potatoes they can have a meal on the table in 15 minutes. Since I am not in to canning meat so much I figure cooking a good supply of meat and putting it in the freezer in "meal" size will help.I do that will my turkey and hams , used to do with the hamburger as just hamburger for pasta,sloppy joes,  mushroom joes and taco meat. We don't eat that mix much anymore but I think I will go back to precooking my hamburger. When the gardens are producing what ever is ripe is what is ate. They ALWAYS have cake,pie, cookies and canned or fresh fruit in season for snacks. They burn those calories with the manual labor they do.The ladies decide what they are fixing the night before right after dinner. They know what they will be baking the night before. Not waiting until that morning or right before a meal is the biggest thing that helps keep the meals on the table without frustration.

Baking... Monday and Saturday at least, but most bake also midweek. Baking is done when the stoves (wood burning in this area) are already heating the water for the laundry to be washed not "wasting" the heat. They will bake the bread,cakes, pies and cookies at this time along with making noodles and using the top of the stove to help dry the noodles so they can cut them rather than leaving them hang or lay all over the house to dry. Especially nice in rainy weather. The young lady that used to live here showed me last summer how to do it on the stove and what to check for to see when it was dry enough to cut, maybe 2-3 minutes. She said since I don't have a wood burning stove to use a skillet to lay the dough on. They do one piece of dough as a time. Their cook stove is also the one that heats the house. Some have more than one stove. Our neighbor has 3, a kerosene cook stove for summer, a HUGE cook stove for winter and a smaller cook stove in the laundry room which I would have called a summer kitchen as it's a 20 by 20 ft room that she also uses for canning so it doesn't heat up the house in the summer.

If they are baking a casserole , the whole meal goes in the oven.Winter squash and sweet potatoes , casseroles are used a lot during the winter for the veggie since the stove is heating the house.Stove top meals during warm weather.

Routines help save you from frustration and gets most of it done and that's how they put it. Monday, Wednesday or Thursday and Saturday are laundry days. Baking is done on the same days. Bedding is washed middle of the week. Housecleaning is done on Saturday though if they have some thing that needs cleaned during the week they will do it. Houses are "spring/fall" cleaned from top to bottom usually right before when they have church service at their house BUT other family or friends will come in and help clean the house and prep food that is served that day. Some mend/sew on Tuesday or Thursday. All iron the afternoon or the day after laundry day.Floors are swept every night after supper.Dishes washed after the meal.Everything is put in place when no longer being used. They don't get something and then decide where to put it, BEFORE they get it , they figure where they will be keeping it. Sunday is NO work beside chores for taking care of animals. Church is every other Sunday and visitation with family and friends is encourage for the other Sunday. Meals are prepared the night before, dishes are to be done as normally done. Soup and sandwiches are common. They don't use condiments like we do. Might be the lack of refrigeration?

Kerosene lamps are used for task lighting only. Curtains are pulled open for light, and closed as soon as it gets dark during the winter or half closed during the summer to keep the heat out.They sew, iron, and read at windows. In winter they might do those things at the kitchen table where there is a lamp lit until they go to bed. They get up anywhere from 4 am to 5:30. Bed is usually around 8-9 (exception is teenagers and young adults).

They don't have summer clothes and winter clothes. They on average have 5-9 outfits.

I asked about trash... oh yeah because no one has trash service. They ONLY thing they could think of that they had to deal with was the lids off their canning jars. Some use reusable one, others put holes in the lids and hang in the gardens to scare off birds, some recycle. Others find an English neighbor that will allow them to "share" their trash service. They all compost and  all have burn barrels(allowed in this township.)so paper stuff is burned if they don't use it to start the fire in the stove and dump the ashes in the gardens. and since they can all their own meat, veggies and fruit and get their staples mostly from the bulk store....they just don't have the "trash". They don't use paper towels (cloth rags) they don't use paper napkins (cloth napkins) they don't use paper tissue (cloth handkerchiefs), they don't use paper plates,plastic silverware or paper cups. Everyone has a water bottle.(Most drink water, juice or herb tea, very few drink coffee or "black" tea).

After supper, dishes are done (wash water heated while they cooked the meal), they or the one of the kids will sweep the floors and then they sit and read from Bible, talk of the day, wife might do mending while this is going on but pretty much the day is done, the hour or so before bed is one of slowing down and stopping.

They do get a kick out of me hanging laundry on the kitchen porch clothesline in freezing or rainy weather, seeing the oil lamp lit early mornings and during supper. How dark our house looks compared to other Englishers in the area.I swear the one looks like they turn every light on and never close their curtains. How big my pantry is for Englishers as the neighbor has helped us moving things around down there. They all are looking forward to seeing how I garden.

They either grow their own seeds/plants or buy from one of the other Amish that do.Most buy it from the ones that grow is as they don't have grow lights ;)

They miss fresh salad during the winters. I figured that with what I saw what they all bought at Aldi's... lettuce, lots of iceberg lettuce, lots of bananas, cool whip, canned fish,cream of mushroom soup(that was the one having church service next), and the 2 younger ladies bought pizza for their supper that night.

TO follow this up, Hubby and I talked about respecting our resources, routines in the house especially with the garden work going to be starting and him looking at working seasonal work for ODOT this summer AND working for the Amish. We talked about getting meals on the table to cut the "what are we going to eat when we should be sitting down to eat".

Blessed be

Battling Crohn's

I am thankful for my GI and her office that have went the extra step of not only monitoring the meds they prescribe,  probiotics, and prebiotics. They also researched what foods I can eat to help replace my med. In 2012 when I found out I had Crohn's there was no diet that they could really offer. It is definitely a disease that is very personal. BUT through the years I have tracked what triggers me and what doesn't. Certain bottle waters will trigger me. SO it's easier to look at what I need to eat and if I can eat it.

By time I got off the phone with the office I and the PA that was working with me was laughing. It's real close to the Mediterranean diet. Which is a frugal diet for the most part.

They gave me a list of prebiotic  foods which isn't a big effort on my part

onions, leeks, garlic radishes,carrots, tomatoes, asparagus, sweet potatoes and dandelion greens are already in the plans for the gardens. Apples, we have 2 trees. Didn't do well last year but I can always pick up some from one of the Amish neighbors. I already have flax and chia seeds,oats, barley,cocoa powder and as of last night I have bananas.

The list of probiotics was a different story.

Greek yogurt. I used to make in the oven but this gas stove doesn't have a switch to turn on the light. I priced yogurt makers but really I hate to spend money on something that only does 1 thing. I settled on a 2 qrt crock pot using my swag bucks to pay for it. Seems to be the right size for simmering soups for the 2 of us when not in use for yogurt. I paid $16 ON SALE last night for 3 lg containers of Greek yogurt. I don't prefer Kefir but might be sucking that one up.

Cured meat...hum... MY NONNA would be happy, pancetta, pepperoni, proscuitto, corned beef, kielbasa, summer sausage (we are usually given deer summer sausage) etc. I grew up eating cured meat, cheese and bread for lunch when I was with her. It can be expensive but as long as I use it as a condiment like Nonna did, it can be in the budget.

Oats and Barley...have

Fermented foods...that sounds easy but it's SALT BRINE or RAW VINEGAR brine, not cooked with weak aka store bought vinegar food. Still my girlfriend mentioned refrigerator pickles/veggies and using raw vinegar with the mother to make it( also ordered from Amazon using swagbucks) My Nonna used to make kraut by the bowl full with salt and then refrigerated it to eat after it sat around for a month or so at room temp.

Sourdough bread... SIGH, neither of us really like sourdough bread. I know I could also make muffins, pancakes, waffles, noodles, tortillas, crackers, pie crusts etc besides bread.

They asked if I could include spinach, kale (greens) and collagen...no problem as I am growing the greens and have the collagen already bought .

Wine. I've been told to drink it for my heart failure... first time I have been told to drink it for my gut.

Berries and cucurbits (cucumber, summers squash, winter squash family will be in gardens also) I don't have the berry bushes at the stage of getting a harvest so I will have to find people growing extra but I do that yearly anyways as we both love berries, just need to have more than I usually freeze.. There is a farmer's market in the local town that someone might be selling some when they start harvesting this summer.

I don't want to kill my budget and stress out (which triggers Crohn's) over what I have to pay to get in my diet. On the other hand, if I don't get it in my diet I'll be paying the hospital bills instead.

I decide to make what used to be my standard bfast... a porridge type of oats, fruit, chia seeds and yogurt that sits over night in the frig and then a smoothie after dinner when I usually crave chocolate, I can use cocoa powder which helps also.

My lunch can be cured meat okay...Italian pepperoni (yes it's what I've ate most of my life)with mild cheddar cheese (instead of my standard colby) and I can sourdough crackers or sourdough pita bread (instead of my townhouse crackers).

I could be like my Nonna... coffee and toast with orange marmalade jam for bfast. Cured meat and or cheese and bread , 4 oz of wine and glass of water for lunch. Biscotti and tea at 2. Salad, 1 cup of soup or 1 cup of pasta, 1/2 plate of veggies and a little serving of meat with bread followed by fresh fruit and maybe some cheese and 4 oz of wine and glass of water. Woman lived to her  late 90s and had no health problems. Died in her sleep.

I remember the first week I spent with her. Early mornings spent in the gardens, fresh veggies daily, evening walks around her 10 acres of property as she walked the fence line every evening no matter what the weather was. She taught me to make bread and the difference between being frugal and miserly . Bean soup on Monday with fresh bread, tossed veggies and more water day 2 of that bean soup. Pasta or rice and more water day 3 and day 4 it was served over very stale bread. Friday what ever she decided, usually a pizza of fresh tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella cheese or parmesan  cheese. Saturday she baked and we would have eggs for our meals. Sunday after church...  Salad of what was ready in the garden , 3 beans salad or carrots and raisins during the year when there was no garden, spaghetti with meatballs, fried chicken with 3 or 4 veggies, wine and pitchers of water, bread, fresh fruit and cheese for dessert. There was NEVER leftovers and we ate for HOURS. 

Blessed be

Where do I start?

It's Monday and automatically I started the laundry before my first cup of coffee with Hubby before he left for work.

Our Trash company called Saturday to let me know they could offer me $3 off a month if I went to quarterly automatic payments that's the same as 2 months free DONE.

The furnace is off and the kitchen door propped open for the dogs to run in and out because that is all they want to do with this warmer weather and to air the house out without me freezing. The laundry is on the kitchen porch clothes line. I even got a couple throw blankets washed and out on the line ad things are drying so well today.

Hubby probably only has another 4 wks left to work depending on the weather so we talked finances especially when he knows his 401k*which is what we live on* is losing money AND I can no longer get the medication for my Crohn's. Company moved it out of U.S to Italy and changed ingredients which took out what I needed and put the cost way above what I can afford to pay even if they had left the ingredients in. They also just lost a lawsuit to the person who actually developed the ingredients in the original formula so it's looks like they won't be selling it anyways. I have 2 months left of the old formula, my GI has worked out a diet that should help keep things steady once I adjust to eating it. Not a bad diet to deal with, I just need to add smoothies into my diet, not something I do but I can get a lot of the live bacteria I need in a smoothie which will help with not having to eat 8 meals a day. I will have to start making yogurt...I used to use the light in my oven to make yogurt but my gas oven doesn't have a light switch nor do I have a 2 qrt crock pot. I have looked at a few at Amazon but haven't decided yet. One to two cups of Greek yogurt each day is going to be expensive to buy. Certain vegetables I will need year around. We looked and decided to buy a 4 shelf grow light with humidity tent to not make do with trying to rotate what plants I was growing under 1 grow light I do have. I got 20% discount, free shipping and cash back through ebates on the order. Hubby figured it it allows me to grow "greens" during the off season we will save $40 at least weekly. I will have to plant more vegetables than I planned to have what I need during off season.

We sat with the 5 different retirement funds in front of us. Talked to 2 different finance people that have NOTHING to do with our investments so they aren't getting anything out of it and figured out that we are still OKAY. We don't have to go to work to pay our health ins which we have seen MANY have to do within a year of retiring. We don't have to go back to work to make the mortgage or the truck loan. We do have to EARN the extra's so not to deplete the retirement. One retirement will be closed out this month, we had called it the house fund and that's exactly what it did even though there wasn't enough to buy the house out right and the improvements like installing running water and electric and appliances etc. It's losing money anyways so it's going over into the emergency fund/ medical funds.

Right now our goals are:

To have 6 months of emergency funds. 50% 2/4/2019

To have 5 yrs of medical funds. Since that seems to be a big one of those our age having to go back to work for or going without meds etc we decided that to be the second goal to emergency funds. We are at 22% 2/4/2019

To get gravel...which allows the deck to be built and the driveway redone as it's not in good shape. I have the $$ 100% for the deck but if we do it all at once I have 10% of the total.

To improve house, awning over French doors on deck, 15 new windows that don't let drafts in, more insulation, siding put on, etc. Windows replacement are estimated at $4800, insulation is estimated at $3000. And siding is estimated at $6000 (siding is WOOD).  I rounded it up to $15000.We are at 0%.

To have the truck paid off 2 years early 0%

To NOT claim Social Security until 67 being the earliest with work to make it to 70. Two years ago it was claim at 62 due to paying health insurance and that was the only reason we would have to claim it that early.I got that backed up to 65.Every penny counts.

We are going to town today after Hubby gets off work (I am not driving due to blurred vision thanks to meds) to FIRST see my Dad, then Menards, 11% rebate plus we have rebates to use to buy distilled water and furnace filter. Then to grocery store to get what is on my new diet that I don't have and can't make do without ...AKA Greek yogurt.

ON budget...well actually under

with even forgetting a category... didn't have anything for house maintenance. Yeah really, I guess we were like, hey, it's like new house LOL. The day I realized it wasn't in the budget was when I picked up furnace filters and had no where to input the amount and we both wondered why we didn't have that in the budget and walked around looking to see what else we forgot.

We did nothing but the normal things of being frugal this month, I have used the dryer when I was down on Crohns or the temp was horribly cold or the rain/snow wouldn't let me use the clothes line on the kitchen porch. Hubby asked if I wanted a clothes line in the UNHEATED basement... Nope, already asked the Amish lady that lived here how that would go and she strongly suggested another drying rack.

We came in under budget due to some being cheaper (aka electric was down) and some not happening at all. My $550/month budget for groceries was $187.24.

The taxes I thought we would owe... I was a little high so we have that amount completely.

I used last year's gardens budget to buy fresh seeds and the items to make soil blocks, weed barrier etc. I still have enough left to pay for the cattle feed panels (16 ft by 50 inches tall) to use for "trellis" and metal stakes to hold it up.More soil for the grow bags, worth saving both our backs.

AND with coming under budget,  I am now going to talk to Hubby about cutting it again ON purpose and ways to bring in a bit more cash flow that isn't pulling from the retirement which lost over 2% last month. My savings earns more than that.

Garden Calendar and Amish cutting ice

It is hard work doing it and there was 3 more than came to help. I kept watch in case some went in the pond. I know they have a 20 ft extension ladder and rope to pull anyone back out. I have a couple blankets at the door I can toss to them if needed. It looks like it will be an all day job. Our neighbor told us that the ice he cut from the pond last February was still solid in his spring house. BUT we didn't really have that hot of a summer.

Hubby asked me last night to put my start seed dates, transplant and plant dates for this gardening season on a calendar. I had bought this calendar for that reason. It also helped me to decide what I was going to plant in spring and then in fall. I was able to work out succession planning at the same time. I ordered the items I need to make soil blocks a first for this attempt (Eliot Coleman), that will be in Feb the 7th for pick up. I do have some empty water containers to do some winter sowing in (Kevin...a Garden for the house) I haven't decide what to plant in them.Plus I need a place they can't get blown away.

I am making sure I don't start my transplants too soon, which I have done and then had to transplant them into bigger pots and then transplant in to the garden... wasn't the best for the plants or me as it added stress along with starting other transplants.

February seeds to start transplants : Tall Utah celery (first time) Celeriac (first time)Tokyo onions, long purple eggplant and diamond eggplant.

March is going to be busy over 40 different seeds to get started or planted if the weather works with me which it usually doesn't. If it's too cold to plant my peas ( March 18th)in ground I will start them in seed blocks. I do have them broke down to so much a week instead of doing all of it at once.

There will be around 38 to start in April. Plus April 19th is potato planting. Sweet potatoes will be May 23rd.

What I did realize was I have no banana pepper seeds which I need and all of my tomatoes are determinate which is good for canning as they come mostly in within 2 wks but not good for having tomatoes to eat during the season.I probably have too many varieties of carrots,lettuce and Swiss chard. But I don't know what will grow well here.  I am planting more heirloom but  still deciding on what to harvest seeds from. My field paste tomatoes is a given.  I hope my fall garlic produces good so I can use my own garlic to replant this coming fall. I have Egyptian walking onions already planted. Scarlet runner, painted lady runner and sunset runner I will use to replant next year.I just have to make sure I don't plant in a way something cross pollinates.

I need to start labeling my markers so I don't have to do that while trying to start seeds or plant.

Stay warm , blessed be

Choosing my "garden staples"

I have certain "garden staples" that I usually buy each year due to lack of space in the garden. Since I have plenty of space now I intend to not only grow what I bought but to grow other varieties. These are produce that require little or no processing to get them in the pantry. Hubby could handle it if I went down with Crohn's without worry about losing produce.

This year I am planting 3 sisters... well actually 4 sisters.

Japanese hulless popcorn (sister 1)
Lazy housewife beans (dry soup bean) (sister 2)
Boston marrow winter squash (squashes are sister 3)
Jack be little pumpkins
Butternut winter squash
Delicata winter squash
Sweet dumpling winter squash
and Bee balm which some would consider sister 4

In other places I will be planting what will be dry beans, basic, plant, keep weeded, and allow to dry on the vine and shell (which I have done once the garden is all in and I need something to do while watching the news)
Pinto beans
Navy beans
Small red beans
Cherokee Trail of Tears black beans
Charlevoix dark red kidney beans
Cannelino beans
Cannellini lingot beans

I will also grow these winter squashes... winter squash I allow the rind to be hard , then rinse in bleach water and dry out of sunlight before putting in storage of a cool dark place AKA loft.

Burges buttercup winter squash
Honeybear acorn winter squash
Cha cha kaboocha winter squash
Red Kuri ( one variety is called Hubbard the other one is Japanese)
Spaghetti winter squash.

2019 winter garden

We haven't decided yet where to put it or what to cover it will but it will be unheated. We have done low tunnels but I would like something I can stand up in instead of kneel in the snow to harvest. Hubby thought about attaching it to the south side of the barn... it's a thought.

I did decided what to grow and pulled those as I don't want to have a repeat of early spring or late fall veggies coming in. I know we could easily get tired of them.

I chose the following 34 varieties for the winter garden. I did read Eliot Coleman of Four Seasons Farm and www.motherofahubbard.com for a list of what to plant, taking in the differences of planting zones.

Sylvetta arugula
Bull's blood beets
Napoli carrots (have never grown any other carrot but little finger carrots)
Danvers carrots (have never grown any other carrot but little finger carrots)
Claytonia
Champion collards
Wrinkled Crinkled cress
Palla Rossa Radicchio (never had luck with growing so one more time)
Red Russian Kale
Purple Vienna kohlrabi (will also be planted for spring or fall)
White Vienna kohlrabi (will also be planted for spring or fall)
Winter density lettuce (first time)
Rouge D Hiver red lettuce (first time)
Vit mach
Erba Stella minutina
Mizuna mustard greens
Sugar Ann peas
Round black radish
Philadelphia  white box radish (long time favorite for early spring)
Bloomsdale long standing spinach
Bright lights Swiss chard
Tatsoi Asian greens
Purple top white globe turnips
Diablo Brussels sprouts (first time for this variety)
Five star greenhouse lettuce mix (first time for this variety)
Nero tondo radish
Shiso green (first time for this variety)
Shiso red (first time for this variety)
Spicy micro mix (first time for this variety)
Mild micro mix (first time for this variety)
Miz America Asian greens (first time for this variety)
Space spinach
Chervil for microgreens (first time for this variety)
Fall and Winter blend lettuce (first time for this variety)

Polar Vortex and a smile from the neighborhood kids

Our Amish neighbor asked us last year before Christmas if they could use our pond to skate on, he specified there would be an adult or an older teenage with the kids at all times. They didn't want to buy their kids skates for Christmas if they couldn't use our pond, the other nearest pond is over 3 miles away.

We were glad we agreed because we got such a kick out of watching them and us staying warm. Amish dad checked condition of ice. He actually does this weekly anyways to help us monitor the pond.

Then Amish dad cleared the snow off the ice using pathways. That way he said the kids have to learn to turn not just go straight.They brought a sled also to sit on to change into skates but also to pull the youngest 2 that was there as they didn't have skates.

Amish Dad showing the younger one just starting to skate how to do it. I really missed it as he also showed them how to fall...which he didn't do on purpose.

Then the word went out and we had more Amish neighbor kids show up to skate also. The oldest teen took over when Amish Dad went to start chores.It was good to see a teenage pick up a 6 yr old and skate with him in his arms especially when they aren't siblings. The oldest teen made sure everyone got home on time and made a point of thanking us for the use of the pond.

There are 8 in this picture, they blend into the tree line with their dark clothes. At one time we had over a dozen plus a dog that did his little walk across the ice and then got scoped up by several to be skated around the pond in arms.

The polar vortex is suppose to hit us Wed morning. We are planning on it coming in Tuesday night. Since the dryer and the stove help warm the house I plan on doing laundry Wed and Thurs. along with baking the last of the winter squash to freeze in serving meal sizes. I can shut the bedroom off and hang blankets in 5 doorway if needed. Going to depend on the wind coming through. I know at 22 below the house is warm as it normally is. We will check gas levels in car, trucks and generator tonight as Hubby got gas for our cans when he got gas for the neighbors. On the menu, chili and taco soup for Hubby's lunches and turkey and noodles and mashed potatoes for one meal, turkey noodle soup from the leftovers of noodles. Custard as I have 1/2 gal of half and half. Might be a good time to make fresh mushroom soup LOL.

lousy week and weekend.

The best part of this week is the Amish neighbor checked the ice in our pond. It's 4 inches of ice, 4 inches of water and then another 4 inches of ice. When the top layer is 6 inches he will allow his kids to ice skate on it. We already gave him the okay before they bought the kids new ice skates for Christmas. Plus he will cut ice blocks for his spring house when the ice gets closer to 7-8 inches. He puts a 20 ft extension ladder across the pond a rope tied to it in case anyone falls in , the way to get them out is already there. He has fell in himself and so have I so between an adult and the ladder and rope, and 6 inches of ice , it's as safe as we can make it. He walks the ice all over before his kids get on the ice also.

Hubby has been working split shifts which definitely throws a wrench in his sleep pattern and our home routines. Doesn't help he broke a wind shield wiper on his truck and now has to go back to town this afternoon to get new ones. I told him to pick up a second set.

I went to the hospital on Thursday evening thinking I had Crohn's since I had dry heaves and couldn't even keep my nausea meds down... they said it was a bug but didn't run the CT scan to rule out Crohns....well it was a bug that started it but I am definitely in the middle of a Crohn's attack. GI called to check on me and decided that since the hospital where GI is at was pretty much full with accident victims and elderly with broken bones and the roads were bad he would order meds for me to stay home and if it got bad for me to go to the local hospital fondly called band-aid station and have them page him. Hubby got meds... that tastes like CRAP. It is better than it was but no where as good as it would have been if they had kept me when I went in. Pain is at level 8 , which is down from 12 but the pain meds make me throw up that even the nausea meds won't kick down  so I can throw up and have dry heaves that triggers the hiatal hernia ... 6 one and half dozen the other... I'm sucking up the pain and keep reminding myself I have went through this all my life without pain meds and survived it. But right now the quality of my life is in the toilet.

Still I managed to clean 30 of the 56 pantry shelves, figured since walking during attack (besides running to the bathroom) is encouraged that I would be productive without straining anything.

I also when not feeling up to even walking down to the pantry worked on the layout of the gardens... good thing I did it on paper because it would have been a major screw up in the gardens. Not only did I not focus on tomatoes being determinate or indeterminate, I didn't note harvest times... having 4 different types of tomatoes coming on at once is NOT good. The beans weren't as bad, but added to the tomatoes would have overwhelmed me and triggered a Crohn's attack.

Hubby went to the store, neighbor needed rock salt to make ice cream, kerosene  for lights and gas for the motor(lawnmower motor) to shell corn for the 100 calves they just got in. We needed gas for the generator, fuel for the truck, milk, 1 qrt of half and half, 1 lg container of large curd cottage cheese and 4 cans of Campbell's chicken and noodles or chicken and stars soups... please note the sizes and the brand name I used because as much as I  rely on Hubby I am not sure I will let him to go the store with even a WRITTEN NOTE. He got the milk and the cottage cheese right... but brought home 1/2 gallon of half and half (custard is on the menu a lot this week which I am not up to eating yet) AND Great Value chicken noodle soup which is one of the brands I can not eat.SO I am now down to bouillon and ramen noodles broken up... stars and alphabet pasta are now on the list, as I have already wiped out my broth supply and am not up to dealing roasting anything to make broth. I have tomato soup, can make homemade tomato soup but having it 4 times a day gets too weary of a meal.  Thankful as I am to have food in the pantry, I need to add SICK food to the pantry. LOL

How was your week?

Two neighbors came to tell us it was 22 below at 7 am.

Hubby plowing again as he plowed yesterday for 5 hrs after working all night plow state routes. Neighbor and his brother in law saw Sherm out and thought they should come tell him how cold it was. It was just around 10 below when they were talking. Hubby grew up farming with livestock so he knows how to bundle up.

I put laundry on the drying rack and got a new sock dryer on clearance with 15 % off to dry the socks.

Suppose to hang it from a clothes line or shower rod but this spot has a heat vent in the kitchen. Wished I would have had one of these when the kids were little with all the wet mittens , hats and socks there was in the winter.

I have bread rising and a pie crust in the frig chilling to bake custard pie.The kettle on the stove has hot tea.We had fresh eggs (another free 2 dozen from the Amish neighbor) and bacon and toast for brunch as we both slept in from working out side yesterday. I stayed up and watched the moon ellipse ... had to go outside as it passed directly over the house and dumb me didn't go look out the skylight in the upstairs north loft. I went out side in the freaking snow and cold. I roasted brisket yesterday while roasting our chuck steak. It's now just a reheat for today as we didn't know if Hubby would be called into work or not.

I've adjust my baking schedule and what to fix according to the coldest days this week. Tomorrow is decent starts at 5 above and goes to mid 30s. and Wed is the same and then it's a down hill slide again through the weekend. Winter squash and definitely a turkey in the oven this week.Might do another pie and cookies, maybe bread pudding.

I tossed the grocery store ads directly in the trash when Hubby brought them in with the newspaper.

Hubby now has 19 % saved for one trailer, if he buys both trailers he is wanting together he has 15%. The one place sells both and he is hoping when he goes to buy there he can get a deal with buying 2 for CASH. BUT if he went and bought the smaller one first he would 76 %.

I have 85 % of the garden stuff with 10 %  saved for what is left I need.

I am still at 35% for the deck gravel as the garden is coming first.

We are still at 50% for the health ins which is okay as we won't NEED it for 18 months but still don't want to need it and not have it.

I spent $55 on groceries this month. 2 gals milk, 2 lbs carrots, 6 lbs of onions, 2 lbs of limes, 3 avocados, 2 bags of tortilla chips, 1 container of cottage cheese, 1 of ricotta cheese and 1 of Greek yogurt, pkg of 16 of 8 inch tortilla wraps,6 lbs of apples and 4 lbs of mushrooms (marked down). I needed celery but I wasn't willing to pay that price for something that looked that bad.The neighbor had some and gave it to me in exchange for going after gas for them , wasn't out of the road as Hubby had to go to work.

It's easy to be frugal when you can't go anywhere due to the weather. I did research online the items I need to make soil blocks for my seeds and another grow light. Along with that I priced out gravel for the entire driveway, the deck and around the pond...if I pay for it ALL then I'm 10%. Hubby is trying to find someone to loan him a dump truck, he has a couple ex co workers that own them. IF we can borrow the dump truck for the price of fuel it's cuts the cost by 45 %.

Blessed Be

Winter storm 1/18/2019 thru 1/20/2019

It started the 18th, Hubby said I really didn't need to give him a present of plowing snow for the weekend of my birthday. I thought it was good as I was born between a snow storm and a flood. I spent Friday baking and figuring out what I wanted to fix that could be cooked and reheated.

Saturday morning we did a test run for a hour of the generator running the house. Hubby made sure it was full when we turned it off.Four deep freezers, 2 refrigerators, sump pump, water pump and furnace... the small generator did fine, you almost couldn't tell when the furnace fan or the deep freezer kicked on, the pull wasn't enough to make that much of a difference. I am glad Hubby got one that he knew would handle the whole house. Can't run the dryer on it as it's 220 and that would pull hard. But I am not running the dryer much any ways. I did pull drinking water so if we ran out of fuel while Hubby was working and couldn't get home that I would have water. I can drain the water lines and have small "buddy" propane heaters (with a window open some for ventilation). My gas stove burner work without electric but the oven won't if we don't have electric. As long as the generator works everything is about normal as we don't run a lot of things at one time anyways. Hubby had to go to work at midnight so supper of leftover lasagna was early. I pretty much worked in the pantry in the basement so not to disturb him while he was sleeping.

Sunday. this morning I woke and was surprised the dogs hadn't woke me up during the night or early this morning like was normal for them. Guess they didn't want to deal with the nasty weather either.Temp was 5 with wind chill of 8 below. I let them out through the basement to go up the ramp and through the garage that is just a tarp covered garage in a box, so Wilbur could actually go potty away from the house, he slid off the kitchen porch last night trying to jump through the drift and only caught part of the porch , not hurt but worried us enough to change how he goes out until we clear a  path for him and the porch isn't slick. Charlotte and Rascal seemed to wait for him and he followed their footsteps this morning. We call Charlotte snow bunny as she loves running around in the snow.

Hubby cleared the back door when he got home this morning. Could not get the F350 (large dual wheel truck) up the driveway so he has spent all morning plowing his own driveway.I'm not sure he will get to snow blowing the sidewalk to the barn , drift is up to my waist or the couple pathways he was talking about making for Wilbur and Rascal (as Rascal has had a leg injury and that flares up when it's this cold) to go potty away from the house. They still haven't let him know if he is working tonight or not. They might have him come in on Monday instead since it's a holiday and they weren't suppose to work the holiday.

I have a chuck steak in the oven on low as if it was a roast for supper.  I will start a brisket for tomorrow in a bit.

 I did put a load of laundry in to wash this morning, with the wind chill I won't be using the line but want to keep the electric down. I can get one good load on my drying rack. So it's a load or two every day this week.

I need to get started on the brisket, it can share the oven with tonight's supper.

Garden planning.. rotation and spring planting

I have my rotation for the south garden

grasses (pop corn at this point) or lamiacea (herbs)

legumes (beans)

brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli cabbages etc)

Umbelliferial (carrots celery etc)

Asteracea (sunflowers, lettuces etc)

legumes (again)

amranthaceae (spinach, Swiss chard, beets)

solanaceous (toms, peppers, eggplant)

allium (onions garlic leeks)

cucurbits (cucumbers summer squash, winter squash, melons)

This year I am planting Grasses (popcorn) in the north garden as a 4 sister garden with bee balm, Lazy housewife beans(dry for soup) and 5 different winter squashes.

So I  will put lamiacea which is herbs. It will be the annual herbs as I intend to plant the perennial in the north garden  this year.

Morning glory family (sweet potatoes) will be planted in grow bags so I am not digging but dumping a bag.

Fingerling potatoes (solanaceous) will be planted in grow bags for the same reason.

Can you tell I am still working on learning plant family names?

I chose what I was planting each season

Spring is:
little white snow peas
little purple snow peas
Alaska pea
Royal snap pea
Sugar Ann snap pea
snow bird snap pea
red wethersfield onion
candy onion
patterson storage onion
zebrune shallots
American flag leeks
evergreen bunching onions
Tokyo bunching onions
white spear bunching onions
Danver carrots
St Valery carrots
Napoli carrots
Little finger carrots
Florence fennel
bronze fennel
Tall Utah celery
par cel celery
mars pelleted celeriac
bloomsdale long standing spinach
electric neon Swiss chard
cylindia beet
bulls blood beet
chioggia beet
Burpee golden beet
basella malaber spinach
Joan rutabaga
Daikon long radish
starburst radish
Philadelphia white radish
cherry belle radish
red glow radish
early scarlet radish
white beauty radish
Fioretto 85 cauliflower
redarling Brussels sprouts
Diabo Brussels sprouts
large Charleston wakefield cabbage
alcosa cabbage
Late flat Dutch cabbage
minute F1 Chinese cabbage
red dragon Chinese cabbage
Roamesco cauliflower
early snowball cauliflower
red Russian kale
champion collards
scarlet kale
snowdrop kalettes
autumn kalettes
mistletoe kalettes
calabrese broccoli
green goliath broccoli
green leaf salad bowl lettuce
red leaf salad bowl lettuce
Jericho lettuce
buttercrunch lettuce
rocket arugula
green party mesclun
red rouge d hiver lettuce
red romaine lettuce
four seasons lettuce
ez serve lettuce
looseleaf blend lettuce
flying saucer red lettuce
heatwave lettuce
summer bibb lettuce
super red romaine
Tom thumb lettuce
green ice lettuce
palla rossa radicchio
chio Italian dandelion

radishes and onions are good companion plants to help deal with some insects that aren't good... so they will be what is called a trap plant.

My lettuces produce from 30 days to 80 days.Since I am only planting a little bit of each I shouldn't be ran over, if I am, they will go to the neighbors, family or auction.

I know I am going to forget...so

I thought I would jot these frugal moments down.

I put foam insulators in the outlets and switches. Since I didn't have many (I know we have a ton some where in the barn) I started in the wheelchair bathroom as it's outside wall socket is on the northwest corner... WIND  came through the actual socket. YIPS. I put the insulator on and then did the north wall in the front room...same WIND. The front room east wall had some but not as bad.

Hubby went out in the barn and found some pieces of insulation board and a couple wood boards and put them on the northwest and north walls foundation of the house. He also insulated the old breaker box that is NOT connected to anything but we didn't get off the side of the house last summer and thought that was also part of the draft probably. There is still a 3 degree temp between the front room and Wheelchair bathroom and the rest of the outside walls. We will be doing insulation this summer. I don't think they put insulation where the garage walls met the foundation when they converted the garage to the front room and bathroom.

I found a hole in the foundation of the pump house that Hubby now has plugged. We have a gas heater in there also so that also saves on the propane being used to keep the pump from freezing.

I already noticed a drop in the amount of propane we use each week even though our propane company let us know we are 5 % below average usage for this house and what appliances use gas including me canning and baking.

I found more outlet and switch insulators so I continue around the outside walls.Child safety plugs are on the to buy list to stop the cold air coming through the actually outlet holes ( update, got some and have about half the house outlets now plugged)

With the change to LED Christmas lights even with more expensive electric here than the old place where the bill would have been around $225... it was $128 . We averaged 45 cents/day compared to the month before for the use of the LED lights. I see more LED Christmas lights in the future as the fake tree had regular lights on it this year so that is on the to buy list.

I continue to turn the furnace down to 60 when we are out of the house more than 4 hrs, I turn it down to 64 when we are gone less than 4 hrs.

I now unplug my laptops not just turn them off along with unplugging phone chargers and the 2 extra landline phones base. I found the landlines don't go dead for a week even off the chargers. I want to see if this brings down the electric this month. Hubby put his on a power strip as it doesn't plug in to an easy place to get to.

I had to bake 4 different things at 4 different temps so I started with the lowest setting and time it so there was only about 10 min between what I was baking. The last was dinner at 400 for 15 min.

I wrote up the menu and the baking menu..figured out the temps so I can do more combined baking to save propane.

I have to replace some baking pans. Since I bake  and I will be doing more of baking I am not buying cheap, but well made sturdy that will hold up years. I checked out Wilton first , it's been my go to for decades but the last 4 pans I bought did not hold up past 3 yrs. My son 2 had a pan from King Arthur that he has used for everything, deep dish pizza, lasagna ( I use glass for this but son uses parchment paper to line when using acid stuff in his metal pans), cakes, etc. YES HE BAKES. He has had this pan for 10 yrs. So I am going to try King Arthur (had a gift card from Son 2 which made the cost more in line with what I was willing to spend and stay in budget. This is out of my spending money for myself budget.

I ordered my canning supplies through Fillmore. Mason jar rings and lids. I pick up jars when they go on sale at the end of the canning season and stores are clearing them out.That was in the garden budget.

The house humidity is 36 and needs to be at least 42 so Hubby is picking up distilled water for the humidifier  after work today after he goes to the bank... won't have to back track for anything that way. I don't NEED anything from the store.Usually we have to start the humidifier in Nov so we have save $$ not having to buy distilled water for 2 1/2 months.

My Auto ins agent was checking our policy (he does every 2 months) and was able to reduce our payments by $80/ month since I turn 60 this month.

I am hanging laundry on the kitchen porch line to freeze dry LOL or become damp and finish drying on drying rack. When I don't want to do this I remind myself that I want the deck this early summer not next year and the money I save pays for the gravel we need to put the deck up.

We did splurge and bought dinner at a different Chinese restaurant. Hubby paid using the money he got helping the neighbor. We had enough left over of 2 dinners(Hubby eats SPICY) that we had 2 more meals each. So that actually made it as cheap as the Chinese buffet with a coupon. Hubby was happier as he got SPICY. Next he will get something with seafood...I know him. LOL

I was making the grocery list last night as my basement frig froze my carrots and celery (grr.. This happens a couple times a year and I can fix it myself since my Appliance guy showed me how). I asked Hubby if he still wanted apples for his lunches. He thought about it and said NO, he wouldn't need them to next week... I came back with I am not going to the store next week so you will need to figure out what you want to use instead....He changed it to YES, he wanted apples. He takes apples, crackers and peanut butter for snacks for work. They work nice if he's not able to get back into the main post to eat something. He takes a thermos of hot food, trail mix and a thermos of coffee as he drinks water when he is at the main post or out post.  I am going to the store about every 2 wks I would love to stretch it to 3 if I can get milk that is dated a bit farther out than 1 week.

I had some errands to run to pay some bills and appointments this week. I am glad I made phone calls. One bill was not only paid over the phone they set me up for auto pay, they don't have a website. Two others told me of better times to come in on different days. Sounds like Monday and Fridays are horrible. I was suppose to go to 4 stores(rebates combined with sales) BUT two of those might not happen as the one appt was cancelled so I won't be in that area. I am not sure the savings is worth the trip and the rebates don't have expire until next month. So instead of running around using $20 of gas and waiting in long lines today I am home making soup (was suppose to be creamy enchiladas from The Prudent Homemaker) but decided to do a soup(carries better for hubby in his thermos) of dried diced potatoes, dried carrots, dried red onions, dried celery, dried parsley, dried oregano,powered marjoram , 2 cups of diced turkey, 6 large bouillon cubes and 8 cups of water. Was good...think I will do beef bouillon cubes, diced beef and add dried mushrooms next time and see how that goes. Might toss barley in there also.

Hubby has 10 % of what he needs to save for the trailers he is wanting. He should get his first paycheck this week so he can fill his truck up as he as made his fuel last 4 wks ...he has a 40 gal tank. His pay goes into his savings for the 2 trailers he wants to buy.

We have 50 % of what we will owe on taxes, might be more with the changes of deductibles.

We have 50 % of what we want saved to pay for health ins in 2 yr when Hubby's old employer no longer pays our share.

As I remind myself daily when looking for ways to save Money that I am saving for the gravel and gardens and maybe some Christmas lights that are LED at this time.

I have saved 35 % of the amount needed for the gravel for the deck.

I have 75 % of the amount to cover what I feel I need in the gardens.

I probably forgot something LOL

Planning the garden

Garden goals

#1 to grow a variety of produce that will feed us from season to season of all FOUR seasons.

#2 to have a rotation of plant families so disease is kept down

#3 to be organized, know what variety did best , what worked and what didn't and what we preferred.

#4 to be able to handle the gardens on my own with little to no help from Hubby. That way if I am in hospital with my Crohn's Hubby can handle it on his own.

#5 To acknowledge that some of my tried and true varieties will not work in this area. I am farther north and altitude is lower (less time canning 😄) but I do have longer growing time due to "protection" of being on the east side of the highest point in OH.

#6 to have salad greens during the winter or most of the winter so I needed more variety so we don't get tired of the same old thing.

#7  To NOT overwhelm myself with upkeep, harvest, replanting, and processing the gardens.

I was advised to read Elliot Coleman New Organic Grower. I just started that and it has helped with setting up the rotation. I have had his Four Season Harvest book for years.I used my swag bucks to order it for my kindle

I am learning plant family names, at least to recognize what plant goes in that family even if I can't pronounce it 😉. Some list them under sub-families. And some spell the names differently so that's a pain at times.

Allium (onion and garlic) I have 11 varieties

Amaranthaceae (spinach, Swiss chard, beets) I have 20 varieties (several winter garden)

Asteracese (salad greens, sunflowers) I have 38 varieties. (that's about 9 per season, most are leaf not head lettuce)

Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, mustard, kale) 45 varieties Several of the winter garden is in this family.

Cucurbits (cucumbers, summer sq winter sq,melons) 23 varieties. I was give 2 varieties of pickling cucumbers and I chose 11 winter squashes as I usually don't grow these as I could pick them up at the one farm market that was close from where we lived last year. I also wanted more variety that 4-5 since we will be eating them during the winter.I also added watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. We'll see if the longer growing time helps.

Grasses  this is my Japanese Hulless popcorn. I won't grow sweet corn this year since I have several neighbors in the area that grow sweet corn. I only need to grow popcorn every 2-3 yrs depending on the incoming crop and how much I share.

 Lamiacea mostly herbs 27 varieties... instead of buying plants I am starting from seeds

Legumes (beans beans peas LOL)  32 varieties. I added mung beans this year along with 8 dried beans varieties.

Morning Glory , not growing the flower  but am growing sweet potatoes, using one of the sweet potatoes that the Amish neighbor gave me to grow slips. It was from her brother who lived here 17 yrs ago.

Solanaceous (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, okra) 20 varieties . I added 2 varieties of each of eggplant and okra and 4 of peppers I plan to dry. PLUS I added 3 varieties of small potatoes.

Umbelliferae (carrots, celery ) 14 varieties there are a couple herbs in this also ..cilantro being one.

PLUS  we will be growing what is called green manure... like buckwheat, clovers, corn salad , Claytonia , and annual rye.

We measured the south garden .We have a 8 ft gate to the pond that I was leaving a path from the driveway to it open but Hubby and Amish neighbor, Eli agreed they would both be okay using the other gate that comes from Eli's pasture on the south side of our pond.  SO the south garden is 40 ft wide and 112 ft long.

North garden is perennials. I have rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, asparagus, chives, garlic chives and 1 sage plant. I put my fall garlic there also. The area left to plant (as I already marked space to plant more berry bushes, is 24 ft wide by 74 ft long.

We have  3 areas in back yard by house that can be planted or have containers. One is 9x5, the other two are both 5 x 11.

We have a fence line at the kennel east side is 16 ft , south side is 48 ft that we can use for planting vines.

We are still debating on whether to do low tunnels or green house depending on $$ for late fall,winter, early spring growing.

I started Egyptian walking onions on the west side of the sidewalk at the flower garden on the north side of the house. I have 3 hostas that need moved from that area, they have out grown their spot. SO I will put smaller plants there that can handle the shade. I might save some of it for lettuce during the hotter parts of the summer.

Following Elliot Coleman New Organic Grower book I listed all the plant families on index cards. I wrote what varieties was in each family. I then highlight variety by what season it could be planted in. Green highlighter is spring, summer is NO highlighter, orange highlighter is fall and blue highlighter is for winter. I have a few that has all four.

The ones that can be planted for a winter crop will be pulled as I don't want to plant them during another season.

Then I will focus on summer only... I will list what needs to be started as a transplant and by what date so I can mark that on my garden calendar and make sure I have enough supplies.

A lot of spring crops can be grown in the fall also, certain varieties do better in fall than spring and vice versa so I will do them last. Listing transplants also and their start dates on my garden calendar.

Hubby found a couple metal filing cabinets in the barn so I can use them to organize files with plants and such. Since I am not taking my laptop out in the gardens I want sheet paper and a clip board to write notes on while I am in the garden and then will put over on to computer (called Scan and save)

Back to reading and organizing

After Reading The Prudent Homemaker

Where Brandy listed what she wanted to improve in her home, gardens and personal, made me think about looking at more than just the finances, gardens, pantry etc...

We are close to living our dream life... we are in the country in our own home doing our own maintenance when it needs done (instead of waiting months before the landlord decides it's worth doing or not doing which drove us nuts). We have the land we wanted to grow the gardens we want. We have an income but still need to work for the items we want that are WANTS not needs.AND we like that as it give purpose to be out and about.

We still have things we need (like ramps for wheelchair access and railing on the porches for ins reasons) that cost $$ that we are saving up. Hubby took part time work to save up for the 2 trailers he wants to buy that will bring more money in to the home in the long run.

SO what is left?

Home...

the mudroom is a dumping ground for anything that is to go to the barn or Hubby dumps things on the counter top for stuff he means to put away that he forget to put away because he goes into the I'll do it later mode.

My rocker in the bedroom is breeding magazines. I have canceled all except the 4 I read but Hubby finds one some where and puts it there so I can read it at night. I don't read magazines at night LOL

Area beside the kitchen frig which is at the door to the basement gets loaded with stuff that should be put away in the basement. Funny how we walk to the upstairs to put something away but not the basement.

Kitchen, Hoosier counter on over load, counters constantly is loaded especially the bfast bar area and my roll cart at the stove gets dumped on all the time.

In the laundry room, Hubby shoves boxes off odds and ends under my clothes that are on racks (Don't have closets yet). I think I might have got this stopped this weekend when I put the two boxes he did it with ON HIS DESK.

My office... MY Desk is the worse, but it's now over flowed to my table. I have 4 boxes in the corner plus of course the 3 drawers in the desk ... I need a bigger circular file and a filing cabinet and about 8 hrs to work on it.

Sewing room, box after box after box. I need to build shelves to sort the fabric and yarn on and set up my sewing machine. SO I can sew aprons, curtains for entire house (warm weather and cold), pillows and the Christmas gifts I didn't get done this year.

We would love to have the barn decluttered before the end of summer... I doubt if we will get that far as the house is the priority on that.

IN the garden

I would love to have flowers that I can at least have 1 bouquet a week if not two. I have plans for planting flowers.

Herbs, as I am starting a new garden from bare nothing I really have to focus on getting the herbs rolling. I did transplant my chives, garlic chives and sage that seems to have survived. My thyme and oregano didn't. I have garden mints that I will have to remove part of, not something I use a lot of.

I would like berry bushes, a new grape harbor with seedless grapes that is NOT on the driveway. Hubby has to almost put the F350 in the yard to not clip the concord grape harbor.More perennial onions. I started a few last fall and they seem like they are okay so far.

Personal...

No Crohn's attacks that put me in the hospital... think of walking a tight rope on that one.

Eating healthier... I don't eat enough protein and with the work I am doing here I definitely can't put off not changing my diet.

Learn German.

Have at least 1 get together with friends and neighbors this year.

2019 A New Year.

Budget is in place...

I joined Goodcheapeats.com for the Jan. pantry challenge.

I joined  Frugalwoods.com for the Uber Frugal Money challenge.

Then we went out to eat last night at the local Chinese buffet... granted I sat down and went to sleep at 2:30, thinking I would just take a break until 3 and Hubby woke me up at 4 when he came in and wondered why I didn't wake up when the dogs carried on. I'm still recovering from the crud most likely or worse I am getting it again thanks to Son 2 that ended up in Urgent care the day after we met for dinner.

So while at the Chinese buffet, which I had a coupon for, and have 3 more so we can eat out ONCE a month and I am taking it out of the grocery budget. We have 12 days to the next pay and we are doing fine. We talked about our goals for this year, two years, 5 years, 7 years *we will be full retirement age for SS* and 10 yrs.

We talked about the south garden, that I measured wrong big time. I thought it 40 ft x 40 ft west of the pond gate, the gate was 8 ft and then 37 ft x 40 ft east of the gate...NOPE It's 80 ft x 40 ft west of the pond gate. the gate is 8 ft (Hubby thought 10 ft which is why he was out measuring) and the east section is 24 ft x 40 ft. Which made us both realize that neither of us knew what the north garden was. We will be measuring it this weekend.

We talked about over lapping big projects... aka gardens along with putting in the deck and redoing one of the porches or back stoop steps. Continuing to go through boxes. Down to 4 in the office and 12 in the basement as I finally got through all of them in my bedroom.  We talked about lack of storage and closet and how we are glad I didn't put the closets in where I thought to as it would have not worked well at all.

We talked about changing how we eat. I brought up that March I usually start buying what we term as spring crops, asparagus, beets, radishes, fresh greens, peas, snow peas ...when reality those crops don't come in until late April, some times May. I buy summer crops in late May/June but those crops don't really come in until mid June. We start eating winter squash in Oct when really we should not be eating it until late Nov or Dec since it's what we should be eating come Feb/March. If we are going to eat from what is in the garden in season...we have to think about when the harvest is coming in , not the planting time.

We talked about sweets... I will eat one piece, maybe 2 of pie, cake or brownies.I maybe eat 2 servings of ice cream or sherbet. Which sticks Hubby with eat the rest. He still needs to lose weight. Cookies I will scarf down, M&M's also especially after Hubby makes his trail mix of M&M's, dried fruit, peanuts and cashews. That's he snack at break at work.It's my breakfast most mornings.

We talked about me making room in the kitchen refrigerator freezer for bfast items, like homemade McD's egg mc muffin, sausage egg burritos, pancakes, waffles and French toast.

We talked about healthy sweets that put dairy in our diet, Both of us have low calcium levels.

I brought up that with the work load for me going up with starting into the gardens and yard work, that I needed a day of baking that I can do the baking for the week. We needed a menu that focused of using up what was needed to have a place to put the harvest in when it comes in. We decided that baking day should be Saturday, maybe Friday and Saturday depending on the type of bread thinking of brioche and sour dough. IF I am putting bfast items in the freezer then how much. Hubby thought a month supply of 5 days with weekends being a brunch instead of bfast and lunch. With changing the menu plan from beef on Saturday to soup so I am just putting it together and letting it simmer. Having beef on Sunday instead.

I will testing this "new" menu and routine starting tomorrow.

Blessed Be

examining the budget and the pantry

I'm sitting here drinking my last cup of coffee for the day, smelling the beef broth I am making from odds and ends of beef roasts we had during Dec that I had tossed in the freezer until a "broth" day. Makes me hungry so I will probably have a cup of beef broth for lunch.

End of the year I tally what I have spent in the kitchen and gardens... What I saved us that we probably would have spent if I had been working outside the home.

I have already ordered all my seeds for the coming season. I will need to order garlic IF my garlic does not do well. I will know that come Sept. We are adding berry bushes also this spring. I have $1200 left in the garden budget from this year since we didn't really plant anything. SO that will be added to this coming year's budget. I know I will need trellis and black plastic and other odds and ends that comes with starting a new garden so it will be higher in cost this year.

Years ago I used to do the twice a year Pantry Challenge that Jessica has over at goodcheapeats.com... It really helped when I had to clear the pantry after Daughter 2 and her 4 sons moved out... then again when Daughter 4 and her two kids and Son 2 moved out at the same time.It also showed me how our eating habits had changed.

Now my pantry challenge is different... I will need room for the new produce coming in. I need room in the freezers and room on the pantry shelves.

2018 I spent $6,603.42 on food, that included any produce I bought to stock and to restock 3 empty deep freezers. Of that $6,603.42 I spent $1, 211.99 on meat, that is including 9 turkeys, 6 hams and 6 briskets (that I cut to make 24 briskets) along with other meat.

SO I spent $5,391.43 at the grocery store for other stuff than meat. This is the only year I did not put eating out as part of the grocery budget as I knew it would be on the high side with working here daily.

As I kept track I know that $3594.29 was for fresh produce, which 80% I could grow on my own and the majority of that is NOT stored in my pantry. That's $2,875.43 I could have saved.

Hubby was talking to a friend about how I save us enough money that it would match me working full time at $10/ hr.

$10/ hr for a 40 hr week is $400

$400/ wk for 52 wks (1 yr) is $20,800

$20,800 minus the 25% tax we pay is $15,600.

$15,600 divided by 52 wks is $300 a week...

He could have took the taxes off the week and multiplied in by 52 also but the friend needs things broke down this way.

With the way I price things out, push him to price things out, do the pantry, the gardens, drive our autos etc. On average I have saved that during a year. This year I save over that with researching mortgages,loan to fix the house and Hubby's truck... not counting anything else.It's what I used to pay off the hospital bill.

My goal is to match the $15,600 this year even with the extra expenses of medical ins/copay/deductibles and have it in the savings.

We will see how this goes

Planning the garden

I would rather look at this picture of the south garden from Autumn than look at the muddy mess it is right now. We are having a warm rain, a blessing as it's December in Ohio that it's not a freezing rain with it being New Year's Eve. This has been one of our wettest years.

I spent 3 days , 8 hrs each day going through seeds, writing out a sheet of information for each one that will be on a clip board and taken to the gardens during the season to monitor how each does. I don't know what varieties work best here.I listed each on spreadsheets by their family I have 14 families (did you know that beets, spinach and Swiss chard are the same family?) and then listed them by what season they could be planted in.

That is simple except I have 245 varieties between herbs, flowers (most edible) and 4 seasons of veggies. Not counting we will be adding to the berry bushes and might have to replace strawberries if they didn't take in the transplant.

I have chose some more heirloom so I can provide my own seeds. And will have to make sure they don't cross breed with another. One person said they put their seed plant(s) in pots and keep them separate from the rest of the gardens so they are easier to not let cross breed.

In the past year I spent just under $5000 for veggies and fruit to put on the table...not can or freeze for later use.

Amish neighbor gave me a sweet potato to start my slips with. I got that in a jar of water as of yesterday.It's the variety her brother and brother in law grew when they lived here.

Now, I have to figure out a rotation plan so I am not planting something after something else that shouldn't be plus Hubby would like to see a spot that rests each year plus plant green manure each fall, annual rye does good around here.

I also need to figure out what needs started in house to be transplanted.

We took a walk around the property and I was pointing out where I could plant things that wasn't in the gardens... I could see the look of " more work for me" on Hubby's face until I pointed out I could put weed barrier along the fences and use the fences to plant vine plants and he wouldn't have to run the trimmer along the fences... that's at least an hour if not more of work he did this last summer. I could plant 3 areas that have been trouble areas for him to get mowed as he has to use the push mower to mow them. My thoughts are to change it so it works for us and be easy to maintain.

I talked to my Amish lady neighbor as she is the one that does the gardens, she has 3. When an Amish person looks at your gardens and then back to you and says "weed barrier and black plastic, cattle panels with stakes"you listen. I've paid attention of how their gardens are set up and watched how them maintain them. My neighbor does most her gardens by herself. Her oldest 3 are old enough to watch the youngest 4 while she is in the gardens especially since they are outside playing where she is at. Towards the end of the season the oldest 2 were starting to help pick and the other 2 olders ones watched the youngest 3 but were right where she was at.

She told me to be in the garden by (meaning her laundry is washed and on the line and she's fixed breakfast for 9 and did the dishes by hand by this time also)8 am the latest and start at the row that is away from the house. Stop at 10:30 and fix lunch which is at noon for them. Process what ever you picked after lunch. Do the house work, fix dinner and go back out to the gardens after dinner for at least 1 or 2 hrs, process that before bed. She "puts up" over 3000 quarts of veggies, over 2000 of fruit, over 3000 of meat (they don't have freezers or refrigerators) not counting the jam, jelly, juice she cans also.That is also not counting the root cellar of sweet potatoes, potatoes, and winter squash  or the onions she stores. She said "it's not energy, it's routine". Putting food up is the priority over housework, not being in the gardens in the heat of the day is also a priority. She also told me that if I wasn't planning on selling at the auction to pull the plant once I have enough for the pantry and replace it with something else. EAT FRESH FROM THE GARDEN. She does not pull any veggies or fruit from her pantry when the garden is in full swing.

So I asked for her routine...
Monday is laundry and cleaning the home

Tuesday is baking, ironing and mending and more laundry (9 of them, laundry is pretty much daily and takes 4-5 hrs to do not counting drying time on the clothesline).

Wednesday is for more detailed jobs or something that pops up, sometimes she will go help clean whomever is having Church that coming Sunday or go help a family member. And laundry

Thursday she helps her mother in law(her parents live out of state) and laundry

Friday laundry and maybe errands if her Hubby is able to go also. She very seldom goes in the buggy without him.

Saturday, laundry, clean home which is over 5000 SQ FT, do laundry, baking, preparing Sunday's meals

Sunday, church or family on off church week (church is every 2 wks), it's the day of rest. She tries to not cook much, cold bfast, lunch at church and maybe soup or sandwiches for dinner. In the summer, it might just be salad, popcorn or something else that is light.

She offered the wisdom that to get my home routine in place that reflects the time I will be in the gardens, then in the "off" months I will have time for sewing and such.

Blessed be

in the kitchen

As the year ends one of my habits is to go through my kitchen to get clear away what isn't working for me and to set how I want it to function for the new year.

Hubby bought me a new cast iron griddle and a separate cast iron grill that fits over the middle burner of my gas stove... which we can celebrate that the stove is now fixed, under warranty and I no longer have to use a lighter to ignite the largest burner I have.

I have to have something for Hubby to pack in his lunches that could be eaten cold if he doesn't make it back to the post so he can reheat it. I bought a thermos from Amazon that I had saw on The Prudent Homemaker blog that she had looked at.

Mondays I will clean both refrigerators as Tuesday is our trash day. I will be noting what I have to throw out in the trash or compost..I will also be keeping an eye on leftovers. I've been packaging them and put them back in the freezer for nights we get in late or I am sick and Hubby doesn't feel up to cooking for himself.

The food budget is $250...non food is $40 with the note the dogs are a separate budget.

I have a calendar on my kitchen wall with the "menu" . It's more of what protein I will be cooking that night.

Monday is Mexican, that can be beef,pork, poultry or beans , something we did when we first got together was go to a local Mexican restaurant and have a drink (soda or coffee as Hubby worked nights and I was driving) and got the "snack" bar for free. It had refried beans, salsa, sour cream, black olives, scallions,  and fresh cooked tortilla chips. I now have a tortilla press and many of the spices etc I need to make our own Mexican. (Dec 31st we will have BBQ pork ribs).

Tuesday is pork( pork loin, tenderloin, chops, roasts, ground pork, sausage patty and bulk, smoked sausage, and ribs)which works this week as I have leftover pork roast in the freezer that will go with the leftover kraut and some mashed potatoes for Jan 1st.

Wednesday will be Asian... when Hubby was working in Alabama for 2 yrs and I stayed in Ohio raising the last 4 kids as they were in the last 2 years of high school. I would go to the local Asian restaurant after going spending time with church friends.. Since I don't want my meal swimming in sauce that is high is sodium and years of working in classes with a Thai chef. I will be starting back to cooking my own. Hubby prefers beef and I prefer chicken... I am still floating thoughts of doing both but using the same veggies or doing one this week and the other the next week. I will be going back to making my own egg rolls, either with cabbage or bean sprouts and will try my hand at pot stickers aka fried dumplings ,once we eat through the 3 bags we have in the freezer

Thursday is poultry. I still have 5 frozen turkeys and 18 meals of shredded turkey in my freezers. I also have 26 meals of chicken so I think we are really set in that area.

Friday is a floating day... either vegetarian or seafood. ... pizza or calzones could fit in there also

Saturday is beef , 24 beef briskets, 6 prime rib roasts along with chuck roasts, chuck steaks and hamburger.

Sunday is left overs that I don't shove in freezer, soup.or breakfast

Since I have home made soup canned, it can be real simply to use for Hubby's lunches when supper isn't something he wants to carry.

The idea is to write down what I buy, what I cook and what is tossed with note of why.

Planning a frugal 2019

Laundry is rolling, home blessing is almost done and I decided it was time for a coffee break and chat for awhile...

I hope you are finding joy in your days, finding the beauty that is before us in the midst of our daily lives.

Today is Monday

Hubby started work today, he has tomorrow off and it will be packed with having lunch with Son 2 and seeing his parents and my dad.  Son 1 is coming for dinner tonight on his way to see his mother.We have already gave Christmas money to the daughters as they have children were struggling meeting ends.


We usually sit down after Christmas and plan our goals we want to meet and our finances for the next year.

With Hubby working this week, we did it over the weekend.

Projects still to do...

Deck built with ramp... everything bought and here except for the gravel needed to go under it.A friend has a gravel dump trailer that our F350 truck can haul. So it's just going to be the cost of the gravel with no delivery charge.

Awning to go over French doors that lead to deck...

Rework driveway and gravel...

28 ft livestock trailer ...

28 ft flat bed trailer...

Building a "box" on top of the trailer we have to have an enclosed trailer.

Clear last of plants around pond and gravel edge...

Front porch redone...

Kitchen porch redone...

Back door stoop redone...

Gate to back door at house on sidewalk...

Widen sidewalks to fit wheelchair...

Trim apple trees...

Trim dogwood...

Trim lilac bush...

Plant 2nd lilac bush...

Plant maple tree...

Design and plant 4 season gardens with 4-5 yr rotation availability...

Rebuild garden shed at gardens...

Build small green house...

Get home energy audit...

Replace all windows (all doors have been replaced) on house ...

Put siding on the entire house...

Paint porch area on barn that is not metal siding...

Install lights in dog kennel area of barn ...

Install lights in "garage" area of barn...

There are things like installing closets (in barn that can be repainted and used) and shelves (in barn that can be repainted and used) and the endless changes we will do as we live through the seasons and years.

Tuesday MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Wednesday < Hubby is at work while I go over 2019 budget again

As our IRAs are making money invested in the stock market and the stock market is losing like is did in 2008 and this  Dec being as bad as the Dec in 1931. We had a meeting with our finance guy over the phone (saving us gas money)... we talked about losing half of what we have as the worse that could happen (it gets that low we will cash out and put it in a savings acct) and making it last until Hubby reaches full retirement of Social Security. What would our income be? About 1/4th of what it is now.

So Hubby and I talked about things and then decided continue with the withdraws as is (which freaks our finance guy out some) BUT cutting the budget as much as possible and putting the "rest" of the money in a savings acct. Won't earn as much but won't be losing either.

Hubby is working part time for state hwy dept. All money he earns after paying for his fuel and any meals he has to eat out though he plans to pack daily , will go towards by the trailers.

We will know where we stand with federal and state taxes in April, we do know we have to pay to the school that we moved from and hoping that we get refunds enough to cover most of that. We requested twice as much to be withheld for Federal and State since we knew he would be earning money on odd jobs and hope there won't be a really with paying the taxes.

My Job, as Hubby puts it is to cut the budget, save money aka follow behind and and remind him to turn off lights, unplug stuff that is electric vampire and grow enough garden to provide for us for the year including during the winter.

I went back over the budget as we had forgot somethings when listing it... like maintenance on the tractor that he can't do himself while under warranty, tow truck when the F350 wouldn't start this very morning  as we having nothing big enough to tow that. He is hoping it's because he forgot to "plug" it in as it's diesel.

Goal is to keep the electric down below what is budgeted.

 I called our "trash" company and they have another service that will lower our bill by 50 % BUT I am limited on how much I can put out. Our Amish neighbor said we should get a burn barrel from a neighbor of his brother's and only burn paper products (not plastic or metal which some people we know have done) and he could use the ashes in our field that he rents along with our own gardens and is going to help us set up a compost... we don't have much to compost to begin with.

Last year I had to restock the freezers as we had ate pretty much what was in them also the pantry was only half full and we didn't put out much garden.I was able to put up enough to get us to mid summer thanks to the kindness of the neighbors and the family we bought the house from. The total budget for food and non food was $600 a month. I cut it to half of that amount.

This week I will be planning out the gardens. I'm glad I picked up 3 more turkeys and 2 hams than what I planned.

We found a place to get bigger bags of dog food for the same price as the smaller bags.

We will take down the Christmas lights and put what little Christmas we put up away by this weekend.Not that the LED lights on timers raised the bill much.

I will continue to use the drying rack and clothesline on the kitchen porch as much as possible.

When I use the oven I try to put more than one dish in it at a time. One pot meals will be common.

We budgeted 2 tanks / month of gas for my car, two for the old truck and 1 for the F350... as Hubby will be paying for fuel out of his paycheck or what he earns hauling for the Amish. I planned the 1 tank in case we have to use that truck for so reason that we can't drive the jeep. What ever isn't used for fuel or maintenance goes back into savings for that month.

We won't be doing a lot of driving to go visit. In fact we just had two different couples of friends that kept asking us to come down and go out to eat and I was honest and told them that at this point and time we couldn't afford to always come to them as they are an hour away and we definitely couldn't afford to eat out where they wanted to go. They were more than welcome to come here  and I would fix dinner for all of us or we could bring something to share for a meal at their home every other time. We haven't heard from the one couple , the other is coming tonight for potluck dinner after Hubby gets off work.

Have a safe and Happy New Year's

Blessed Be